shapeshifters tag feed: newzealand

Starting conversations about creativity

davidmacgregor — mon, 09 jul 2007 20:52:38 +1200

A couple of years back I began a conversation with two guys who had started a publishing company. When me met they had a contract to be the publishing partner for a university. We'd been introduced by a mutual friend who figured something interesting would come of the meeting.

it did. Within a year we had developed and launched the world first magazine dedicated to conversations about the creative economy. We called it Idealog and set about telling the stories of New Zealand creatives working to make their mark on the kiwi economy on the world stage.

Within a year of launch Idealog was number one - in the business category.
That was gratifying but what really mattered was that it showed creativity was top of the business agenda.

I'd like to see magazines for business that focus on telling the stories of creativity in business emerging around the world. Form networks and exchange stories.

The act of creation is often carried out alone and through loose private networks. Share ideas that are often ignored because they fly 'under the radar' - hook up with people who can help you get things done.

Let me know if you are interested in some of the strategies we developed to get to market quickly.

If you are in New Zealand feel free to get in touch. If you are involved in the creative sectors and considering moving to New Zealand let me know. I will see what I can do to connect you with people who can help.

Idealog began with a conversation just like this

Singapore Swing

vheeringa — thu, 26 apr 2007 00:19:58 +1200

I hear Singapore is good this time of year. Does anyone have publishing contacts in that fair city? I'm looking specifically for a magazine publisher with a creative bent.

Depressingly good

vheeringa — mon, 16 apr 2007 22:33:47 +1200

I recently came across this incredible artist whose work is so good I did nothing else last night but look at his web site - and get incredibly down about things! Check it out:
http://www.chrisjordan.com.
Does anyone know him? He is amazing. As a kid I was always trying to translate numbers into things: so many bricks in a wall equals 1000; so many threads in a jumper equals 100,000. That sort of nerdy stuff. Chris Jordan uses his ability to reflect large numbers in such a wonderful visual form - but with a point. All his work highlights the waste of consumerism. It's very sobering to see so many plastic shopping bags in one place; and that just represents five seconds across the US.
If anyone knows Chris I'd be thrilled to be introduced. Otherwise I will cold call his email.

Shapeshifters Unfolding

storytracker — wed, 04 apr 2007 04:04:01 +1200

Please welcome the first Shapeshifters ambassadors in South Africa, Brazil, Costa Rica and New Zealand. You might already know Mduduzi (Johannesburg), Alice (Salvador), David (Escazu), Nicole (Auckland) as they are frequent users on the site. In their new role they will help us to develop a global community according to the needs and circumstances in different places of the world. If this experience turns out to be a success we intend to establish additional ambassadors that share experiences with other creatives, assist new users with hands-on advice and thus help the entire community to learn across all borders of nation and thinking.

Black Sheep = Mental Real Estate

vheeringa — fri, 30 mar 2007 10:31:41 +1200

A Kiwi made film http://www.blacksheepthemovie.com premiered in Auckland last night, which by itself is not news. What's interesting is what the film embodies: mental real estate. The tagline is "There are 40 million sheep in NZ. And they're pissed off". Kiwis are sick of being known as the sheep capital of world, so its a great idea to turn the thing on its head and play to the stereotypes. We've done a story about the director Jonthan King. http://idealog.co.nz/articles/features-march-april-2007/mons...
His story may interst you. But I think the idea of mental real estate is one that has universal resonnance. Check it out.

New Zealand / Idealog

susi — fri, 02 feb 2007 03:41:43 +1300

Does anybody from the shapeshifting New Zealanders know somebody from the creative economy magazine Idealog? I would love to get in contact with the people there concerning Shapeshifters.

Looking for a Marketing Amigo

Nicola — sat, 20 jan 2007 12:01:53 +1300

Kia ora I'm on the hunt for an Auckland-based, small marketing company or individual, particularly someone with knowledge of the local luxury goods + services market. If this is YOU or you have someone you would like to recommend then give me a *shout out* here.

Intimate theatre

neogine — fri, 29 dec 2006 21:25:51 +1300

If you're in Wellington NZ during late Feb early March during the Fringe Festival then catch this if you can (Warning: We're biased since we're a sponsor ;-).
Only 12 patrons per show, performed in a small but stylish hotel suite, you feel like a fly on the wall watching the comings and goings of an inner city hotel room. Sometimes concurrent timelines overlap and crash into each other, sometimes you're actually looking back in time. Wonderful, short, sharp, captivating.
Full site isn't up yet but bookings will be able to be made online from the 9th of Jan at http://www.hoteltheatre.co.nz There's a temporary blog up at the same address for advanced information. Support the arts!!

Vinyl toys

neogine — tue, 26 dec 2006 23:39:16 +1300

I'm looking for a manufacture of spun vinyl or cast vinyl moldings. Spun preferably as I understand it's cheaper.
Some friends and I are going to do a series of vinyl toys in limited runs and thought someone here might be able to point us in the direction of supplier they've used themselves. We're based in New Zealand, but any where in the south pacific or south east asia is an option we'd consider.

Uncovering your own story

neogine — tue, 26 dec 2006 22:24:04 +1300

I like to introduce a friend of mine who has an incredible skilluncovering peoples "true story" or narrative that underlies their life. Those things even they don't realise about themselves or can't articulate but wish they could uncover.
How is this useful to the creative community?
Well if you're inventive, you'll find a way, but we've used her as a workshop facilitator for narrative brand building in business. This may sound like an odd use for something that sounds like a self-help tool, but businesses are ultimately driven by people. So we've used her amazing abilities to uncovering hidden meaning inside organisations that are struggling to find their identities.
Her name is Stephanie Pietkiewicz and you can reach her via stephanie@neogine.co.nz.
I'm sure she'd love to here from anyone with a story to uncover ;-)

Looking for a brilliant web designer

oboeboy — wed, 20 dec 2006 00:41:45 +1300

Nomad Soul Records is looking to collaborate with a web designer. We are interested in expanding the confines of what great web design can be. We seek an artist/designer. We'd like the Nomad Soul site to be slightly experimental, fresh, aspects of texture, and motion. The site would feel like a world unto itself. Of course it's primary function is to sell, but equal to this is building community. It could almost have the feel of promoting a film and using filmic cinematic qualities in the site itself. It could be edgy and inviting. Playing with ideas of mood, moving fonts, ghostlike shadows, mystery. All the while being very easy to navigate and intuitive. We are offering a set fee. Please contact us at: russelw@xtra.co.nz

Looking for a PVC Guru New Zealand

Nicola — wed, 29 nov 2006 09:53:02 +1300

Howdy Im on the look out for an industrial designer that can work with PVC. If you live in New Zealand that would really rock.

Business incubation in Wellington, NZ

CreativeHQ — tue, 28 nov 2006 16:53:34 +1300

Hi all, I'd like to introduce you to myself. My name is Shona and I work at Creative HQ, a business incubator in Wellington New Zealand. Creative HQ specialises in assisting high-growth start-up businesses realise their commercial dreams through intensive mentoring, coaching, motivation and challenge. We offer entrepreneurs a challenging and rigorous programme not for the faint-hearted. Our objective is to build solid foundations for businesses that are capable of scaling to be globally competitive organisations. Creative HQ accelerates the growth and increases the potential of early stage businesses with executive horsepower, people networks, knowledge and infrastructure. Creative HQ is about getting improved results out of early stage businesses through active challenge and intervention in a caring, work hard, play hard culture. We focus on intellectual property and product based busineses that can be scaled to NZD $5million+ within 5 years. We also support specific sectors with dedicated programmes (eg. Fashion, IT). Creative HQ is on a journey, driven by passion and the desire to make a difference, living the Creative Hq entrepreneurial spirit and values to create the premier development programme for high-growth businesses in the Wellington Region. since our inception in 2003 we have produced eight award-winning high-growth companies and are looking at graduating a further five next year. Creative HQ operates as a Business Unit of Positively Wellington Business and the WREDA trust, Wellington's regional economic development agency.
Currently we are opening our doors for our 2007 intake of residents. We are looking for new talented entrepreneurs and their exciting start-up businesses to join our 2007programme. If you'd like to more about us or what we do and if we can help or youtr business in any way, then please contact me on New Zealand 0064 4 381 4444 or at shona@creativehq.co.nz and I'd be happy to chat to you. If you just want to browase around a taster of what we offer, then check out our website by visiting http://www.creativehq.co.nz

Going to Antarctica?

ericpoe — sun, 22 oct 2006 23:42:56 +1300

I just got this information in from Auckland (thank you, Jillian) and thought I´ll pass it on to all the New Zealand creatives that we met on our World Seeding Tour.

New Zealand artists from across all genres are invited to apply to travel to the ice of Antarctica and find inspiration for their work. The application deadline for the "Artists to Antarctica Programme 2007/2008" is 15 November 2006.

The programme is run by Antarctica New Zealand and Creative New Zealand and is "open to successful New Zealand artists and writers from all discipline who are well-established in their careers." The programme covers cost of travel to and from Antarctica, acommodation, food, field equipment and training, clothing hire and transport in Antarctica. Creative New Zealand provides selected artists with grants of up to $ 10.000 to work on a project inspired by their time in Antarctica and to cover materials and travel and accomodation in Christchurch prior to departure.

Find more information and an application form at
http://www.antarcticanz.govt.nz
or phone (03) 358 0200

...just in case you go there. We creatives in all other parts of the world who live far away from Antarctica would´nt mind if you share your experiences in the ice with us. It might help us to get a better and more personal impression of this part of the world that is so heavily influenced by climate change. It seems that newspaper articles about global warming (actually heating) do not touch our souls anymore.

Good luck for your application.
eric

When drag and disability collide

diversitynz — sun, 10 sep 2006 08:50:05 +1200

I am about to embark on a creative development project on drag and disability. The project will explore notions of androgyny, gender creation, shape shifting, functional diversity, disablement and identity in performance. It will provide an opportunity to experiment with image, form, function and focus, to develop a truly unique and entertaining character, who is both visualy provocative and conceptually inspiring. Read more about my thoughts here.

I'm looking for people with ideas or experience in innovating and synergising artistic and social concepts, either specific to this project or with other artistic genres and issues. Any performance opportunities welcomed also! ;-)