PROP by Ralph Hotere and Bill Culbert
The name remains on the map but the exact place is no longer there.
In the early 1990s the headland known as Observation Point was demolished to make way for port development.
The campaign to preserve Observation Point - PROP for short - gives this soaring wall of iron its name.
Do-it-yourself builders often use sheets of corrugated iron to retain unstable sections of land.
This sheet of iron is so vast it might be shoring up a whole hillside.
Among the many stories told about Observation Point are those of an old Ngai Tahu pa or fortified village.
Updating those fortifications for the late 20th century, Culbert and Hotere combined forces to build a symbolic shield to protect the face of the headland.
Poised on this field of black are bars of icy white and blue light.
Their reflections play across the iron valleys, just as the lights of houses and shipping beacons ripple across the night-time waters of Otago Harbour.
Against the popular notion that politically urgent artworks are aggressively noisy and hardly ever abstract, PROP confronts willing viewers with a staunch and provocative silence.
The result is among the most powerfully restrained protest works in contemporary New Zealand art: at once a rampart, a shelter and an act of protection.
- Justin Paton, 2001
This work is on display now in the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
Gigs
Alibi, the Octagon. Fridays, from 10.30pm: Hemi and Bede.
B Bar & Bistro, Dowling St. Sunday, 7.30pm: Mathew Marshall.
Bath St. Saturday, 10pm: Cartoon Beats presents It's Not Real with SoNic Smith, Haszari and Stranger Danger.
Circadian Rhythm Cafe, 72 St Andrew St. Fridays, 5.30pm: Philtre Jazz Trio.
The Craic, the Octagon. Saturday, 9pm: The Nuggets.
Dunedin Musicians Club, 12 Manse St. Thursdays, 5pm: open mike night.
Isis Lounge, 68 Princes St. Every Thursday: Oxo Cubans jam night, from 8pm. Every Friday, 8pm: Oxo Cubans, party night.
Pequeno, the Savoy. Thursdays: Mojaz, lounge music from 8pm.
Ra Cafe and Bar, 21 the Octagon. Tonight, 9.30pm: Bevan & Wills.
Tomorrow, 5.30pm: Jimmy Higgs; 10pm: DJ Dalboy.
Saturday, 11pm: DJ Jordan.
Refuel, Otago University. Tuesdays, 8pm: Jazz in the Pocket. Friday, 8pm: Tikei -- Phat 10 Taster Party. Saturday, 9pm: Clap Clap Riot. Wednesday, 9pm: TFF and guests.
Robbie Burns Pub, 374 George St. Thursdays: Calder Prescott Jazz Quartet, 8.30pm.
Rosie's Bar, Victoria Hotel. Thursdays, 9pm: open mike night. Gear provided.
Tonic, 138 Princes St. Friday, 9pm: Julian Temple.
Terrace Bar, the Octagon. Friday, 9.30pm: Will and Mitch. Saturday, 10pm: Twitter and Bisted.
Family fun
Blueskin Bay Library. Preschool story time, every Friday, 10.30am. Excludes school holidays. Free.
Every day until August 16: Library Discovery Guides - let a staff member help you rediscover the library.
Friday, 10.30am: Gather round and join a nationwide storytelling session of Itiiti's Gift by Melanie Drewery.
Dunedin City Library, 230 Moray Pl. Every day until August 16: Library Discovery Guides - let a staff member help you rediscover the library.
Knox Church, 449 George St. Friday, 1.30pm-2.30pm: preschool music for children 0-5 and carers.
Memorial Hall, Cromwell. Saturday, 8pm: Charity Ball - Old-time family dance.
Mosgiel Library, Hartstonge Ave, Mosgiel. Preschool story time, every Tuesday, 11am. First Friday of the month, 3.45pm: Kids Book Club.
Everyday until August 16: Library Discovery Guides - let a staff member help you rediscover the library.
Otago Museum, 419 Great King St. Explorer backpacks for 7- to 12-year-olds (free).
Guided tours daily at 11.30am and 3.30pm. Meet at the information desk.
Weekends, 10.30am and 2pm, Atrium level 1: children's creative activities.
Every weekend during August, 2.30pm, Search Centre: "Game On! The Origins of Oware". Learn the rules and play this ancient African game.
Every weekend during August, noon and 3.30pm: Interactive trolley: West African Cloth Stamping.
Port Chalmers Library. Preschool story time, every Wednesday, 10.30am.
Every day until August 16: Library Discovery Guides - let a staff member help you rediscover the library. Free.
Visitor Information Centre, Octagon. Daily, 11am: Walk Dunedin, inner-city walking tours.
Meet at the Visitor Centre.
Music and performance Glenroy Auditorium, Sunday, 5pm: The Zukerman Chamber Players.
Hutton Theatre, Otago Museum. Monday, 7.30pm: Society of Women Musicians August Recital Meeting featuring a programme of chamber music: groups from Columba College; Motet by Vivaldi for Soprano [Rae Sherbutt] and String Quartet; and works for string quartet.
Marama Hall, Otago University. Lunchtime concert, Wednesday, 1pm: Guitarist Matthew Marshall plays works by Albeniz, Schubert, Marshall, Domeniconi and Monnot.
Nichol's Cafe, Cromwell. Wednesday, 7.30pm: Guitarist Matthew Marshall. Otago Museum, 419 Great King St.
Lunchtime music every Friday and Saturday, noon.
This week: Sandra Crawshaw and Charlotte Francis; George Arthur .
Plays
Allen Hall Theatre, corner Union and Leith sts, today and tomorrow, 1pm: Lunchtime theatre: A Man Walks into a Bar, written by David Geary and directed by Tessa Greenwood.
Evening show tonight, 7.30pm.
Fortune Theatre, Stuart St. Until August 15: Damian Callinan: Spaznuts.
Talks and films
Dunedin Film Society, Red Lecture Theatre, Great King St.
Wednesday, 7.30pm: Gaslight , directed by George Cuckor.
Croque-o-dile Cafe, Dunedin Botanic Garden. Tuesday, 9am: Mind The Brain - coffee morning for parents, children welcome. This week's guest speaker: Dunedin cook Judith Cullen.
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, the Octagon.
"Frances Hodgkins: femme du monde" guided tours: 12.30pm Wednesdays, 1.30pm Sundays until August 31.
Sunday, 3pm: Last Riot. Video work made for the Russian Pavilion of the 2007 Biennale.
Wednesday, 10.30am: Dunedin Public Art Gallery Society coffee morning. Guest speaker Max Bellamy, film-maker. All welcome, no charge.
Otago Museum, 419 Great King St. Free daily talks, 2pm.
Topics in August: Mondays: "Buddhism"; Tuesdays: "Legend of Osiris"; Wednesdays: "Amazing Polynesian Voyagers"; Thursdays: "Human Hair Garments"; Fridays: "Mapoutahi Pa";
Saturdays: "Native American Peace Pipes"; Sundays: "Coral".
Daily at 4.30pm: Special Exhibition Gallery talk "West African Cultures". Free.
Exhibitions
Anchorage Gallery, 19 George St, Port Chalmers. Until August 30: "Detail", works by Heather Dunckley, Rod Eales and Jo St Baker.
ArtSouth Gallery of Fine Art, 105 Main St, Gore: "Dreamworks", works by Keith Morant.
The Art Station, Dunedin Railway Station. Until August 30: Edinburgh Premier Art Awards, featuring works from around the South Island.
The Artist's Room, 2 Dowling St. Until August 21: 5th Birthday Group Invitational Show.
Featuring Geoff Williams, Sam Foley, Michel Tuffery, Colin Wheeler, Jenny Dolezel, Olav Nielsen, Steev Peyroux, Margaret Silverwood, Alan Ibell, Elisabeth Vullings and many more.
Aurum Wines Cellar Door, 140 State Highway 6 (1km north of Cromwell). Until September: An exhibition of Eastern Tribal Rugs.
Bellamys Gallery, Macandrew Bay. Winter exhibition: Works by Ewan McDougall, Manu Berry, Max Bellamy and Pauline Bellamy. Open Wednesday to Sunday, noon-5pm.
Blue Oyster Gallery, basement, Moray Chambers, 30 Moray Pl. Until September 2: Eva Wuerdinger: replace and Martyn Reynolds: Samuel Georgia Oscar/Turning back and forth. Through different methods, Reynolds and Wuerdinger explore the way space is defined.
Open Tuesday-Friday 11am-5pm, Saturday noon-3pm.
Brett McDowell Gallery, 5 Dowling St. Chris Weaver "Slice".
Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery, 21 Centennial Ave, Alexandra. Open 10am-4pm.
Until September 24: "Our Wider World", photographs by Gilbert van Reenen, matched to poetry by Brian Turner. Dunedin City Library, 230 Moray Pl, Reed Gallery, third floor.
Until November 1: "Samuel Johnson 1709-2009: Life & Afterlife".
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, the Octagon. Until November 8: Joanna Langford: "The Landless".
Joanna Langford is known for creating magical worlds in which architectural structures are formed from ephemeral materials.
Until August 16: "Ey! Iran: Contemporary Iranian photography", depicts a surprisingly familiar culture.
Until September 6: Russian Art in New Zealand.
Until September 20: "I was Russia".
Until October 25: "Frances Hodgkins: femme du monde" and "Frances Hodgkins: family and friends".
Ongoing: "Hail Falls Noisily on Bamboo Leaves".
Ongoing: "The Grand Tour": Works from the Dunedin Public Art Gallery collection.
Gallery at Glenfalloch, Glenfalloch Gardens. Collection of contemporary Works by 6 Peninsula Artists.
Gallery De Novo, 101 Stuart St, Dunedin. Until August 20: "Reflections", new paintings by Angela Burns.
Gallery Thirty Three, 33 Helwick St, Wanaka. Until August 28: "The Harvester of Eyes" by Maryrose Crook and Jason Greig.
Gallery on Blueskin, 1 Harvey St, Waitati. Until August 23: "Voyeur", bronze sculpture by Wellington artist Megan Ransom.
Gateway Gallery, 27 Ross Pl, Lawrence. Perpetual Collective: Ron Esplin, Bob Wyber (jewellery), James Stewart (chair-maker), Pamela Brown, Gay Webb (masks and torsos), Ray Ansin (glass), Ben Woollcombe, Margaret Palmer-McKenzie, Blue Hall (wood), Murray Ayson, Gilbert van Reenen and others. Open Thursday-Monday.
Harris Smith Art, 86-88 Bond St. Paintings by Jeffrey Harris, sculptures by Nicole Page-Smith. Open Monday-Saturday, 1pm-2pm, or by appointment.
Hocken Gallery, corner Anzac Ave and Parry St. Until October 8: "Charles Brasch - In the Company of Artists".
Hullabaloo Art Space, Melmore Tce, Old Cromwell historic precinct. Until August 23: "A Central Wedding" by Pauline Bellamy and "Crepuscular Chart" by Manu Berry. Hours 10am-4pm daily. Closed on Mondays.
Lakes District Museum, Arrowtown. Until October 26: "Speaking of Change - Memories of the Wakatipu 1900-1980".
Luminous Gallery, George St, Port Chalmers, August 15-September 30: "Works of Light", art by Karijn Molema.
Milford Galleries, Dunedin, 18 Dowling St. Until August 19: "The Road to Erewhon" by Michael Hight.
Milford Galleries, Queenstown, 9a Earl St. Until August 26: "Southern Traverse" by Bruce Hunt and Neil Fraser.
Moray Gallery, 55 Princes St. Until August 21: "Questions & Obsessions", new work from Benjamin King, Saskia Nickless and Michael Twaddle.
Nadene Milne Gallery, 16 Buckingham St, Arrowtown. Until August 28: Elizabeth Thomson and Russell Moses.
North Otago Museum, 60 Thames St, Oamaru. Until October: "Potions Emporium in the Time Ma-Shed".
Otago Museum, 419 Great King St. Until May 16, 2010: "Charles Darwin: Evolutionary Thinking", Nature Galleries, level 3, free.
Until October 4: "Charles Brasch - A Great Good Man", People of the World Gallery. Free.
Special exhibitions gallery: "West Africa: Rhythm + Spirit". Free.
Otago Settlers Museum, 31 Queens Gardens. Until October 11: "Paint-box Pioneers: Visions of the Past", from the museum art collection.
Ongoing: "Across the Ocean Waves", Otago immigration in the age of sail.
Until June 2010: "Willkommen to Dunedin: A History of German-speaking People in Otago".
Sew Hoy Gallery, 29 Stafford St, Until August 25: New Works by Gavin Ashworth.
South Seas Gallery, 1088 Brighton Rd, Brighton. Weekends, 1pm-5pm.
Until September 19: "By the Sea", recent paintings by Janet Weir.
Stuart St Potters Co-operative, 14 Lower Stuart St. Until August 30: Peter Gregory and Judy Ringland Stewart.
Until August 17: Guest potters Elise O'Neil, Marcus Wainwright, Liz Rowe and John Paxi.
Taieri Gallery, 123 Gordon Rd, Mosgiel. Until August 25: selection of works by Lynlee Heenan and prints by Lindsay Crooks.
Temple Gallery, 29 Moray Pl, Dunedin. Until August 28: "Fabric" featuring works by Works by Miranda Parkes, Heather Straka, Michaela Cox, Lynda Cullen, Jay Hutchison, Alan Ibell, Phil Frost, James Robinson and Issac Leuchs.
Toi O Tahuna Fine Art Gallery, Church Lane, Until August 28: Weston Frizzell: "We are Weston Frizzell". Queenstown.
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