Spark is back!

Attention: Arts editor

For Immediate Release

Spark is back!

Wintec’s week-long celebration of international media, arts and design returns for its eighth year.

Waikato Institute of Technology’s (Wintec’s) annual five-day festival of international media, arts and design Spark 06 – will be held in Hamilton from August 21-25.

Spark 06 is a unique festival that provides a forum for those in the creative industries to meet and learn from cutting-edge national and international artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers and media personalities.

The festival, which will be held at the Wintec city campus and other central Hamilton venues, is a series of presentations, talks, exhibitions and panel discussions designed to stimulate ideas and debate about the issues facing those working in the creative sector.

The event was originally open only to students but, due to its popularity, it has been opened to the public. It is now an important part of Hamilton’s arts calendar. Last year a fringe festival was added to the Spark line-up and included such features as ‘Trolley Inc’ a mobile gallery in the form of a tea-trolley and ‘Plush’ a cuddly-toy exhibition with a twist.

Spark 06 is organised by the Creative Industries Research Centre at Wintec. Festival Manager, Robyn Johnston says she is “very excited about moving the festival into satellite sites in Hamilton City including the Meteor Theatre and the Waikato Museum”.

Among the confirmed guests for this year’s festival are:

- Don McGlashan is NZ’s finest and most original songwriter. He was drummer and singer in agit-punk band Blam, Blam, Blam, singer and primary songwriter in The Mutton Birds, and founding member of The Front Lawn.

- Boredomresearch: Southampton-based couple Vicky Isley and Paul Smith specialise in scientific modelling techniques to produce beautifully crafted software art. They have produced a number of interactive sound applications, public artworks and online projects and their works have been showcased in the US and Australia.

- Flor de Lopez Hernandez is a Cuban academic and industrial designer from Havana City who will discuss the evolution of political posters in Cuba. The political poster has become a celebrated reference for new generations of artists and designers.

- One dot zero (UK): Back by popular demand the latest work by the master’s of digital film will have a showing at Spark 06.

- Derek Henderson: A New Zealand-born photographer living in Australia who works largely on fashion editorials for magazines such as ID, Arena, Homme Plus, Pavement and Vogue.

- Plus: New Zealanders Brenda Nightingale (Painter), Lala Rolls (Film-maker), Mark Braunias (Painter), Dave and Caroline Armstrong (TV Script Writer and Producer) Bruce Connew (Photographer), Morgan Samuels (Music Production) Lynn Freeman (TV and Radio Broadcaster), Peter Wells, (Film Director and Writer), Ashley Turner (Film and Set Designer), Catherine Griffiths (Typographer) and Alan Deare (Designer, ‘Inhouse Design’).

ENDS

© Scoop Media