Shannon Novak

An ambitious exhibition that's taking over both Tauranga Gallery and other sites around the city offers marginalised artists a rare opportunity to show their work and share their stories. Curator, artist and activist Shannon Novak advocates for the LGBTQI+ community, and he's the driving force behind the Manawatia Takatapui/Defending Plurality exhibition. Its focus is diversity and inclusivity, not just in subject matter but through multi-disciplinary art. There's photography, sculpture and painting, as well as flags and vinyl work on windows, floors and walls. Shannon's own contribution is a colourful, abstract installation. It covers the art gallery's ground-level atrium and spills outside the building. Even with his strong links to marginalised communities, Shannon Novak tells Lynn Freeman there was some reluctance from artists he wanted to include. WARNING: This interview contains references to suicide. For people affected by some of the issues raised, the phone number of Lifeline is 0800 543 354, while that of Samaritans is 0800 726 666.

Listen to artists Christina Pataialii, Deborah Rundle, Shannon Novak and Jeff Nusz in conversation with Te Tuhi Artistic Director Gabriela Salgado, 1 December 2018. The artists discuss the development of their new exhibitions at Te Tuhi, alongside the main lines of research that inform their practice. The kōrero is concluded with a Q&A with audience members.About the artistsChristina Pataialii’s recent paintings address objective and subjective cultural narratives that focus on more recent global shifts towards cultural and national redefinition, the rise of Western nationalist ideologies and current fixations on regression to a ‘golden era,’ contemplating the concept of a shared national identity. Pataialii graduated with a BFA (2015) and an MFA (2018) from Whitecliffe College of Arts and design. Recent exhibitions include Debt, RM Gallery, 2018;Thoughts and Feelings, mother?, 2018; Projects, Auckland Art fair, 2018; Never an Answer, The Vivian, 2018; Slow Jamz Till Midnight, Blue Oyster Project Space, 2017; The Tomorrow People, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, 2017.Deborah Rundle is an artist living and working in Tāmaki Makaurau. Principally utilising text, she investigates the ways in which power plays out in the social and political domain in order to muse on possibilities for change. Frequently calling up the past, her artworks engage in both a critique of the present, and a lament for the failure of a future once promised. Recent exhibitions include Hybrid Spring, Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington, 2018; March Mostra, BSR Gallery, Rome, Italy, 2018; The Tomorrow People, Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Wellington, 2017; DOWN TIME, Play_station Gallery, Wellington, 2017New Zealand artist Shannon Novak works with sound and explores contemporary gay issues. He creates compositions for objects, locations, and people much as musicians might compose for/about places, persons, or experiences with emotional resonance for them. Trained initially as a pianist, his practice encompasses painting, sculpture, and installation, with a focus on using geometric forms to explore and render his understanding of the interrelationships between sound, colour, form, time, space, and social context. He also examines the ways in which the plurality and tensions of gay desire muddy and morph geometrical purity and idealism.Jeffrey Nusz is an interactive artist based in Auckland. His installations and online pieces attempt to offer new perspectives on complex and invisible phenomenon through playful interaction. Nusz enjoys collaborations as a way of exploring the creative process of other artists and discovering places neither could reach alone. In 2010, he co-founded Screens, an online gallery for interactive art, which among other work, featured his collaborations with John Ward Knox, Seung Yul Oh and Jae Hoon Lee. As creative lead of the Google Data Arts Team in San Francisco from 2014-2017 he created interactive work with international artists for a global audience.Image: Deborah RundleAuspices 1943-, 2018 (still)looped digital animation, 15’00”courtesy of the artist

Shannon Novak Interview by Waveney Russ on Radio One 91fm Dunedin