PARTY AS ARTY I

9th May, 2008

Level 2 Foyer, Art & Design Building AUT

Our first event as D.A.N.C.E. art club came after a conversation about the lack of social spaces and gatherings at our Art School. This was a bit of a social experiment to see what ingredients we needed to get people to come and hang out with us. We started with live DJs Chris Fitzgerald and Tuāfale Tanoa’i aka Linda. T; homemade 'Dodgy D.A.N.C.E punch' and upcycled decorations from Lil Mama’s Art K’lub. We were able to work around AUT’s building regulations thanks to Tuāfale who was in 1st year Masters. Tuāfale’s work involved large installations with invited guests so she booked out the Level two foyer of the AUT Art & Design Building for a late night 'installation' and we had access till the wee hours.

PARTY AS ARTY II

26th June, 2008

Level 2 Foyer, Art & Design Building AUT

Our second event was promoted using makeshift posters featuring images of attendees from the first party spread throughout the Art & Design building. Students were invited to show their video art in a moving image installation. Importantly, Vaimaila had her DJ debut as DJ Floorplay.

PARTY AS ARTY III

5th November, 2008

Level 2 Foyer, Art & Design Building AUT

Our final AUT event included a collaboration with artists Jessika Verryt (3rd year sculpture at the time) and Nova Paul (AUT tutor and practicing artist). Jessika installed a large red fabric sculpture in the courtyard and Nova put in a moving image piece alongside several student works. In the hall an interactive painting took shape over the course of the evening. DJs, Food and drink are now a staple of any event and were joined with further spatial interventions to warm up the cold blue lighting in the foyer with  coloured light gels and larger moving image installations.

28 August, 2008

Artspace, Auckland & Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh

In 2008, D.A.N.C.E participated in Rikrit Tiravanija magazine station no.5 project at Artspace, Auckland. “Since the 1990s Rirkrit Tiravanija's work has had a profound influence on contemporary art: "He is arguably the most influential artist of his generation. He has transformed the notion of conceptual art by taking his environments out of the museum to the ends of the earth, literally. He has travelled extensively for the last decade and has been a great mentor and teacher to many students all over the world." says celebrated curator Laura Hopton. 

As part of Tirivanija's project, D.A.N.C.E art club hosted a party, collaborating with artists Jessika Verryt, Tiffany Singh and art collective H.E.P.T. The event also included interactive installations like 'make your own pina colada' station with fresh coconut scraping set up in the gallery. D.A.N.C.E. art club member Ahilapalapa Rands was Skyped into the space via webcam from Pittsburgh, USA, along with Claudia Jowitt and Michael Pisano.