Culture 101

Big Screens, Small Towns: Starlight Cinema in Taupō's Tamasin Prince

After appearing in RNZ's story on rural cinemas, Tamasin Prince joins Culture 101 to talk about what's driving booming audiences in small-town New Zealand.

Venice Biennale: the jury resigned, Russia returned and New Zealand is back with a pavilion

The Venice Biennale jury resigned two weeks ago after announcing they wouldn't award prizes to countries whose governments have been charged with crimes against humanity by the ICC. The biennale has since moved to an anonymous public vote, with winners to be announced in November instead of this month. Russia is participating for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine, prompting protests from Pussy Riot and a threat from the European Commission to pull €2 million in funding. Perlina unpicks the politics with art critic and curator Deena Jezdic, who has been in Venice, and with Sarah Hudson of the Mataaho Collective, who won the Golden Lion in 2024 and is watching events unfold from Aotearoa.

Karen O'Leary ahead of Poneke House Party

Actor and comedian Karen O'Leary joins Culture 101 ahead of her appearance at Poneke House Party, in Wellington.

Kiwi Richard Lewer wins the prestigious Archibald Prize and how he's spending the money

New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based artist Richard Lewer has won Australia's most prestigious portrait prize, the Archibald, for his life-sized painting of fellow artist Iluwanti Ken, painted on country in 46-degree heat in the APY Lands.

Fast Favourites: Dame Gaylene Preston

Dame Gaylene Preston failed her art school degree. The F appeared in the paper the morning results were published. What followed was a move to Cambridge with her husband, a job as assistant librarian at a 900-bed psychiatric hospital, and the discovery that film could give institutionalised patients a voice and a way to prepare for the terrifying prospect of being released into a world that wasn't ready for them. She joins Culture 101 for Fast Favourites, and to talk about Grace: A Prayer for Peace, her new film about artist Dame Robin White, available on RNZ Video.. A visual poem rather than a conventional documentary, it follows White's 50-year practice across New Zealand, Japan and al-Mahdi, and has become the first New Zealand film selected for the Hiroshima Film Festival.