Maximum Potential NOW public programme

Posted: Wednesday May 29, 2024

Blue Oyster reading group!

Read and discuss a selected text that is thematically connected to Maximum Potential NOW. This month’s reading is an excerpt from The Utopia of Rules by anthropologist and anarchist David Graeber; the section to read is ‘IV. The Utopia of Rules’ from the chapter ‘The Utopia of Rules, or Why We Really Love Bureaucracy After All’ and can be found online at The Anarchist Library.

Contact beth@blueoyster.org.nz if you need help finding a copy of the text.

This hour-long gathering will be held this time at Pearl Diver from 5:30pm, Wednesday, 5 June | Rāapa, 5 Hune, rather than Blue Oyster - join us for a mulled wine!

No RSVP is required.

Staff announcement

New staff members at Blue Oyster!

Beth Garey, after volunteering and doing a work placement with Blue Oyster through the Dunedin School of Art, joined us as Public Programmes & Gallery Manager earlier this year. Beth has spent most of her life in Ōtepoti, and studied Anthropology and Religious Studies at the University of Otago. She’s also a trained beekeeper and her art practice engages with site-specific materials and ecological relations with a focus on analogue processes. In 2023, she completed a graduate diploma in Fine Arts at the DSA. When not at work, you’ll find her making vegan snacks, in an op-shop or escaping to the Otago Peninsula.

Lee Richardson is our new Design & Publishing Coordinator. Lee is a graphic designer from Waihōpai currently based in Amsterdam, and will be returning to Te Waipounamu in July. He graduated from Ilam School of Fine Arts with a BFA in Graphic Design, and since graduating Lee has lectured at Ilam, and was a founding member of the artist-run project Hot Lunch in Ōtautahi with the major publishing project Leftovers. Recently, he’s been a participant in the Southland Institute 1:1 programme in Los Angeles, and presented at the Stand-in School for Graphic Design in Berlin. He’s currently working on a public programme for Tokonoma in Kassel, new work for the Paradiso Facade exhibition in Amsterdam and production and development of A Dinner for Scott in Waihōpai. Lee is super excited to get busy in Ōtepoti!

Lucy Hill is our new Gallery Assistant and you’ll see her if you come by Blue Oyster on a Saturday. Lucy has been a volunteer here, and was a participating artist for the Blue Oyster exhibition Pieces Spaces Species. She is currently completing a BVA(Hons) at the Dunedin School of Art, and her artwork explores the day-to-day environments around her home in Ōtepoti through sculpture, ceramics and walking