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At the Centre Pompidou hangs a dense, colorful ink painting on cotton in which two figures with white faces and blue skin hold court in a lush thicket of flora and fauna. According to the work’s title, they are Delirium and Peace. Measuring 7.4 by 9.7 feet, Délire et paix (1954) by Georges Coran still packs a punch more than 70 years later. The artist’s daughter, Claude Coran, had lent the work to the Pompidou for the blockbuster exhibition “Paris Noir: Artistic circulations and anti-colonial resistance 1950–2000,” an overdue correction of sorts that aims to shed light on the vibrant community of Black artists active in Paris during the latter half of the 20th century. Born in 1928 on the island of Martinique, Coran père spent the majority of his life in the French capital, where he died in 2017. Despite this, his art, which draws influence from the mythology and symbolism of Martinque and often inserts Black figures into scenes referencing Western art history, had never before rec...

The Hurricane faced the Brumbies in Canberra on Saturday night. Some facts and figures from the clash against the Horsemen by Hurricanes statistician Peter Marriott below. Round 11 v Brumbies: Won 35-29 The Hurricanes and the Brumbies have now met on 33 occasions. The Hurricanes have won 14 matches and the Brumbies 19. There have...

Moana Pasifika and Fijian Drua get together for a prayer after their match. Photo: Neueli Mauafu Neueli Mauafu | Reporter “Our respect for who we are, our faith and culture; to see that all coming together, it touches the heart” Faalogo Tana Umaga . A sellout crowd at North Harbour Stadium on Saturday afternoon set the tone for the Battle of the Pacific.  The only two pasifika teams in Super Rugby, Moana Pasifika and Fijian Drua battling it out for bragging rights in their rivalry, but more importantly for their pride for their Pasifika cultures. The game certainly delivered to its hype with both teams bringing their best game and also their physicality. Moana edged past their Fijian brothers this time with a 34-15 win. After the match, both teams huddled together on field, singing hymns and getting together in a word of prayer. Reflecting on it at the post match press conference, Moana coach Faalogo Tana Umaga stated that it was a special moment seeing it unfol...

Parents Taito Louis and Taunese Lene lost their son, Misiafa Lene to dengue fever early April. Photo: Taunese Misa-Lene – FB Ann-Tauilo Motuga | Reporter/Videographer Taito Louis and Taunese Lene are grieving the loss of their son, Misiafa Lene, who died on April 13 in Auckland after contracting dengue fever in Samoa. The 12-year-old was medically evacuated from Samoa to Auckland’s Starship Children’s Hospital for urgent care. However, despite every effort to save him, Misiafa died peacefully in his parents’ arms. Speaking to NZ Herald , the couple hopes the death of their child serves as a reminder for others to take precautionary measures during the dengue outbreak. “The pain is beyond anything. We don’t want another family to go through what we are going through.” Dengue fever is a viral disease spread by infected mosquito bites, particularly Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. Prevention of an infection can include wearing long sleeves and pants, using insect repell...

Above: Ian Galloway Park, scene of the match on Saturday between Old Boys University and Oriental-Rongotai. Photo: Tane Nathan. Monday morning edition (updates expected): We are now into week five of the Wellington club rugby competitions, so starting to go deeper into the competition. Just a few days until the next round kicks off. Round 5...

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced a new grant program for the design and creation of statues for President Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes. The sculpture garden is one of the president’s central priorities for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence next year, and was first announced in 2021 . The sculpture garden will feature life-size statues of “250 great individuals from America’s past who have contributed to our cultural, scientific, economic, and political heritage,” according to a news release from the NEH . The garden’s location is still “to be determined” but intended to “create a public space where Americans can gather to learn about and honor American heroes,” the release stated.  Interested applicants, who must be US citizens, are requested to submit a “two-dimensional or three-dimensional graphic representation of the preliminary concepts for up to three statues of selected individuals, accompanied by a descri...

Above: The Hurricanes and Brumbies are competing for the inagural Captain Shout Cup in their fixture in Canberra this weekend. Photo: Hurricanes Facebook By Kevin McCarthy. Thank heavens the Hurricanes have an easy game against the Brumbies in Canberra, and then a patsy at home against the Chiefs. In other words, with six rounds to...

Round 4 – just the Swindale Shield teamlists below (all line-ups subject to change on match-day). Swindale Shield 2025 Round 4, 26 April 2025 PONEKE () WELLINGTON AXEMEN ( ) Scorers added after match Scorers added after match Pōneke Line-up: 1.Lee Franzoni, 2. Andrew Jones, 3.Elijah Talalupe, 4. Adam McRandle, 5. Maea Tema-Schmitt, 6. Davis...

The foundation that oversees the Emil G. Bührle collection said Wednesday that it had reached a settlement with the heirs of a Jewish collector over a prized Édouard Manet painting. The work, Manet’s La Sultane (c.1871), is one of 205 works from the Bührle collection that have been loaned to the Kunsthaus Zurich since 2012. The new agreement, the foundation said, allows the painting to remain on view there. Bührle was a German Swiss industrialist who sold weapons to both the Allies and Nazi Germany during World War II. As a result of his arms dealing, he became the richest man in Switzerland at the time. He also lined his pockets directly and indirectly from slave labor in concentration camps. On top of this, Bührle, who died in 1956, is also known to have bought Nazi-looted artworks. The Kunsthaus opened a new wing to house the collection in 2021, sparking public protests. At the time, artist Miriam Cahn s aid in an open letter than she would remove her works from the instituti...

Tony Bechara, an artist who was beloved in New York for his intricately crafted grid paintings and for his patronage of El Museo del Barrio, died on Wednesday on his 83rd birthday. His death was confirmed by El Museo del Barrio, which did not state a cause. Since the 1970s, Bechara repeatedly painted multihued grids using a method that was as rigorous as the concept behind it. His mind-bending, eye-popping canvases sought to understand abstract notions such as randomness and controlled chaos, and though perhaps less famous than other experiments in the medium by his New York colleagues, these works have since emerged as some of the most cutting-edge painterly experiments done in an era when painting was commonly pronounced dead. But Bechara’s contributions to the city’s art scene extend far beyond what can be shown in galleries and museums. For 18 years, he was board chair at El Museo del Barrio, a museum that specializes in Caribbean and Latin American art, and he was also a truste...

Hami Grace was a wing three-quarter who played for Wellington and the North Island, and he was a Māori All Black. He played club rugby for Wellington College Old Boys and later for the Wellington Axemen. He also played Senior club cricket in Wellington and briefly first-class cricket for the province, so was a well-known...

U.S. artists Spencer Finch and Lindsay Adams have been commissioned for two new installations at the Obama Presidential Center, which is set to open in early 2026 in Chicago. The forthcoming building project, which has cost more than $200 million, is currently under construction at a 19-acre campus in the Midwestern city, where Barack and Michele Obama have a separate namesake foundation. The former spent several years in the city as a law professor at the University of Chicago and as a community organizer before moving into politics. Finch, who is based in Brooklyn, will create a 70-foot-long tiled mural for the Forum building’s lobby, drawing from various places referenced in the the former President’s memoir Dreams from My Father . Adams, who is based in Chicago and an alum of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, will adapt a 2024 painting of hers into fabric panels that are planned to be installed in the Center’s public café. In a 2014 profile of Finch for ARTnews , Hil...

Above: Jacob Denyer scores his try against Petone in round two. Photo: Jun Tanlayco By Adam Julian The conviction shown by Jacob Denyer on the rugby field extends to his behavior off it. The 20-year-old Tawa fullback, a Hurricanes Under-20 selection, maintains a full-time job as an administrator at the Te Rauparaha Arena. He’s the...

With a world in crisis and an art market spinning out of control, ace art-world consultants Chen & Lampert deliver a quiz full of  hard choices  for  Art in America  readers from far and wide. People say art is a young person’s game, and with all the hot artist and influencer portraits in magazines and social media, it feels like the industry insists that your painted face is as important as your painting. Last year, Marina Abramović launched a wellness line to share the beauty secrets that have made her a performance art maven for half a century. With the promise of the fountain of youth, should you ingest her ancient potions to gain the power to sit in a chair for three months straight? 1. Which of Marina Abramović’s wellness products promise to help you tackle “the art of living well”? a) Energy drops b) Immune drops c) GHB drops 2. Abramović’s concept of “living in the present” is simply: a) Being sandwiched between two naked people b) Telling young...

A group of ACLU-affiliated organizations filed a class-action lawsuit Friday in federal court in New Hampshire, seeking to reinstate the legal status of over 100 international students whose visas were abruptly revoked this year. The suit aims to protect students in New England and Puerto Rico who advocates say were stripped of their legal standing by the Trump administration without due process. Gilles Bissonnette, legal director of the ACLU of New Hampshire, called the move an unlawful overreach. “No administration should be allowed to unilaterally strip students of status, disrupt their studies, and put them at risk of deportation,” he said. Since late March, roughly 1,100 students across more than 170 US universities have had their student visas revoked, often with little or no warning, according to an Associated Press review. Several students have already secured temporary court orders halting deportation efforts. Earlier this month, a student at the Rhode Island School of De...

New Pacific housing research lead at MĀPIHI Dr James Miller. Photo: University of Auckland Indigenous Hawaiian architect and academic Dr James Miller will soon cross the globe to start a new role at the University of Auckland. Miller left a role as associate professor at Western Washington University to start at MĀPIHI – Māori and Pacific Housing Research Centre this month. The 39-year-old will lead MĀPIHI’s research in Pacific housing. Currently working remotely from Washington, Miller plans to move with his family to New Zealand in July. The new role appealed partly because of the level of support the University offers Pacific scholars, which is far greater than in most US institutions. “MĀPIHI is a unique centre that closely aligns with the research I’ve done in the Pacific, particularly in the Marshall Islands and Hawai’i, around housing security,” he says. Miller grew up listening to stories about life in traditional Indigenous Hawaiian housing communities, known as kauha...

Waimanu Pulu (Medical Doctor, Department of Health) Sheree King (HHSJ tutor), Oscilyna Kulatea (Paramedic, Department of Health), James Shilton (General Manager of Matavai Scenic Resort) Glen ‘Ping’ Gould (HHSJ tutor) and Margaret Smith (HHSJ tutor).  Front row : Minerva Ikimau (Director of Health, Niue) Hon Sonya Talagi (Minister of Health, Ministry of Social Services), Sefeti Adriana (President, Niue Chamber of Commerce), Catherine Papani (CEO, Niue Chamber of Commerce). Photo: Supplied Members of Hato Hone St John’s team have returned from Niue after teaching seven courses over four days in Niue’s capital Alofi. Eighty people working in health, emergency, government agencies and the local business community in Niue have had the latest in first aid training, thanks to a joint initiative between the Government of Niue and Hato Hone St John (HHStJ). Co-ordinated by the Niue Health Department, the Level 2 first aid course was the first in 12 years to be conducted on the island....

Above: Upper Hutt Rams fullback Todd Svenson, with Jack Wright in support, fends off OBU’s Malu Manuao in their first home win of the season at Maidstone Park this season.  Monday morning edition: Another short week coming up, with public holidays on Easter Monday and Friday (Anzac Day). Plenty of content coming up on Club...

Above: action from Thursday’s night’s affair at Hataitai Park that saw Wainuiomata beat the Wellington Axemen 33-13. Photo: Peter McDonald. By Scott Maclean & Steven White SWINDALE SHIELD TEAMLISTS AND SCORING 2025 RD3 Teams For Round 3 Premier teamlists, click the line above (the link opens a Word Document). Sadly, we still don’t have access to our...

Above: Petone fullback Jermaine Pepe in action on debut for his new club in round one against the Wellington Axemen. Photo: Mike Lewis Pictures.  By Steven White If he stays injury free, expect outside back Jermaine Pepe to influence more matches than not for Petone throughout the remainder of the club season, and by extension...

The Anzac poppy remains a powerful reminder of the cost of war and the value of peace, as communities across Auckland gather to remember. Photo: Auckland Council Local Democracy Reporting | Free Public Interest News Service By Mary Afemata of Local Democracy Reporting Aucklanders are being urged to gather in remembrance this Anzac Day (25 April), with more than 70 parades and civic services planned across Tāmaki Makaurau. The city’s main Dawn Service will begin at 6am at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum in the Auckland Domain. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown says he will attend as the day holds deep personal significance for him. “It’s my absolute privilege to once again take part in the yearly Dawn Service for Anzac Day,” Brown says. “As many already know, my father’s account of war had a profound impact on me, and while he was fortunate enough to come home, many others did not return. he main Dawn Service will begin at 6am at Auckland War Memorial Museum. ...

Floods devastated parts of Māngere during the anniversary floods of 2023. More than 160 homes in Māngere were deemed fully or partially unliveable following the floods. Photo: LDR / Supplied Local Democracy Reporting | Free Public Interest News Service By Mary Afemata of Local Democracy Reporting Two years after catastrophic floods, Māngere has become the first suburb in Auckland to break ground on a major climate adaptation initiative. The two flood resilience projects – Te Ararata and Harania – promise long-term protection for one of the city’s most flood-affected communities. Once complete, the projects will reduce the flood risk for more than 350 homes, including some currently facing an intolerable risk to life. The work is being carried out as part of Auckland Council’s $2 billion Making Space for Water programme. It will raise the country’s largest sewerage pipe and replace Walmsley Road Bridge to allow stormwater to flow more freely into the Manukau Harbour. Ma...

Fiona Bakulich was sentenced to two years and three months. Photo/RNZ Local Democracy Reporting | Free Public Interest News Service By Mary Afemata of Local Democracy Reporting Fiona Bakulich, a former funeral director, has been sentenced to two years and three months in prison for defrauding grieving families out of nearly $18,000 over seven years. Bakulich, who pleaded guilty to 12 charges in February, appeared in the Auckland District Court on Friday. Her crimes, which included not delivering promised funeral services and improperly handling human remains at the Waikumete Cemetery in West Auckland, were uncovered after floodwaters during Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 revealed misconduct at the burial site. Judge Evangelos Thomas emphasised that the emotional harm caused to families far exceeded the financial loss, saying Bakulich preyed on vulnerable individuals. Bakulich’s previous dishonesty convictions and a lack of genuine remorse led Thomas to reject any leniency in...

Rugby League Park looking a picture moments before kick-off on Saturday. Photo: Tane Nathan. Monday morning edition (updates expected): It is Easter weekend coming up, and that means rugby in Wellington. The third round of the Swindale Shield rolls around this Saturday, with six matches on Saturday, and as a treat for fans in town,...

John Pulu | Presenter/ Reporter/Director At the Brown Buttabean Motivation (BBM) HQ in Manukau, there are no excuses. The free gym was founded by community advocate Dave Letele over 10 years ago to help reduce obesity among Māori and Pasifika people.  “To me BBM wherever we are it’s a symbol of hope and you know we are activists for change so it’s pretty amazing, I feel really blessed,” Letele says. The man leading the change on this day is rugby league legend Manu Vatuvei.  “You should be proud, you should be confident in yourselves that you can do it alright, don’t even doubt yourself,” Manu tells his ‘from the couch’ class. It is more than just fitness, each session is transforming mindsets, one person at a time.  “Yeah really proud of these guys.” Manu says.   “You know they’ve come a long way within those five weeks, real confident in themselves and just going to try and have that self doubt out of their mind; that they can do things, yo...