Boy oh boy

All the publicly funded art museums in the Wellington region are now run by women, but if you think that’s going to give women artists a break, think again. The 2014 New Zealand Festival programme has just been announced in Wellington and if you love what one man can do in a gallery space, you’re going to be like a pig in visual arts muck at this Festival (also directed by a woman).

City Gallery: a Noel McKenna show and a Laurence Aberhart show and William Eggleston show and a Simon Starling show

The Engine Room: a Paul Cullen show

Pataka: a Jens Parkitny show

The Adam is doing a group show but don’t hold your breath on the representation thing: 10 of the 12 artists are male. The Dowse is only down for Shapeshifter which it claims is “One of summer’s most keenly anticipated arts events. “ Although this outdoor sculpture display hasn’t exactly been a female fest in the past, you never know your luck.

So is there any chance of seeing the art of the fifty percent? There is, but apart from a commissioned work from Yuk King Tan at Te Papa, it’s out on the geographic edges that another bunch of women directors have brought a little balance to the overall programme:
 
Pataka, Porirua: Tiffany Singh

Expressions, Upper Hutt: Tracey Moffat

Mahara, Kapiti: Frances Hodgkins