PEACE MARCH 20 CREATIVE ARTIST ACTIVISTS - One from the past, one from the present…

Social marketing. There are so many articles on this today it’s not funny. But the term is co-opted by business as if business is the only socializing force there is. But social marketing can mean something else and one of the first social marketers was one of the most innovative, most inspiring and in many respects his spirit inspires the Free Articulator.

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Dr. John Hinchcliff - The future of Education in the Post-Industrial Age

Every Creative Artist knows that thrill of imagination unleashed upon the as yet seemingly blank canvas and page of our future, and the realization that there is opportunity for change and hope for improvement. This thrill is not a simple intellectual pleasure, nor is it one of those isolated moments of emotional intensity, it’s a soaring high of integrated feeling that sets neurons and endorphins rushing into the moment of creativity that is explosive and exuberant in its nature, and we revel in it!

That’s what I feel when I read various parts of the following address on the Future of University, a speech that Dr. John has delivered many times and which has been published in an academic journal in the USA but never before publicly released. Once again, I recognize that here is a man who sees the world (Us, Humanity) the way I do, in trouble, but also harboring the incredible potential for true greatness free of the folly of ideas that are no longer relevant, indeed, part of the problems we now face as humanity.

Dr. John does not spare the institution of academe from criticism and makes particular relevant reference to the 40,000 studies of media violence world wide, and nothing done to address it by education. But why should education take care of our industry, anyway? Personally, I think we Creative Artists should.

A documentary, PBS Frontline: Merchants Of Cool, you can watch for free (55 minutes) addresses precisely how and why the problem Dr. John references is created and sustained, creating a dwindling spiral of declining social and cultural standards that is all too obvious to far too many.

In this address Dr. Hinchcliff makes some startling and confident assertions which I believe address the very heart of the relationship we as a human race need to rethink and redefine; the relationship between technology and humanity.

THE FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSITY: SOME ETHICO-EPISTEMOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS by John Hinchcliff

Mortar boards, gowns, professors, and hoods will still be found within halls of academe when the curtain finally falls on our civilisation. The University has gradually changed and survived for a millennium in the West and longer in the East. This long history, loyal alumni, significant endowments, cherished traditions, social prestige and momentum combine to suggest that the end is not yet nigh.

Undoubtedly, however, all-too-many manifestations of the University will perish. Those institutions without the capacity to change or a sufficient momentum inherited from their history, high status, or a huge bank balance must go the way of all flesh.

More importantly, civilisation itself is in jeopardy. The elite University could opt to sit comfortably on the sidelines lamenting and commentating lucidly on the decline. But if the education offered is transformative with a future focussed, altruistic, creative and empowering pedagogy then the University could contribute significantly and positively to our well-being.

The University confronts its future

Most contemporary futurists focus on the challenges of, and coping mechanisms required for, the Knowledge Society. This is fundamentally necessary given the dramatic technological changes and challenges beaming in at us. A good example is that offered by David Pearce Snyder in “From Higher Education to Longer, Fuller, Further Education.” I endorse his contentions that the single global electronic marketplace, dropping birth rates, declining enrolments, the international migration of high value jobs, the low numbers of new high-tech jobs, soaring costs of classroom teaching and administration, the efficiencies and effectiveness of e-learning, and the success of “edu-preneurs” are all combining to require a re-direction for higher education.

The University of the future, suggests Snyder, will be much smaller concentrating on three initiatives. First, because of the need for life-long learning, alumni will connect in collaborative on-line learning with educators. They will bring crucial “practical intelligence” from the workplace and help educate the neophytes.

Secondly, scholars will contribute to public enlightenment by adding new material to, and organising the exponentially growing knowledge within the “on-line ‘open knowledge’ system”. New trans-disciplinary subjects such as nano-ecology, isotope hydrology, forensic accountancy will appear, and even “new kinds of human beings”, will transform our culture. The university will focus on exploring the boundaries of knowledge.

And, thirdly, scholars will participate in “topical affinity groups” in cyber-space seeking to gain mastery and add to knowledge.

Unquestionably, as Snyder contends, the University must come to terms with the incredible challenges of the new technologies of the Post-Industrial Knowledge Society. However some key dimensions and difficult challenges will remain unchanged. Specifically, we have inherited the mantle of Western Civilisation’s determination both to progress and to control knowledge to the limit. Echoing the ambitions of the fifth century BCE, pre-Socratic philosopher, Protagoras, who said “Man is the measure of all things,” we are committed to the historical quest for rational, scientific, and technological knowledge. We hail Euclid for his theorems with their neat QEDs, Plato for his organising Forms, Aristotle for his system of classifications, Descartes for his clear and distinct ideas, Newton for his clockwork universe, and so on.

Certainly, we have been served extraordinarily well by the wide range of significant improvements to our health, communication, travel, comfort, and convenience made possible by this scientific and technological struggle to gain mastery over the constraints of ignorance. But an essential and primary commitment of the Knowledge Society is, as ever, to the expert “technical fix”. We do need more and more technical fixes in our high–tech age. And we increasingly marvel at the amazing advances. But the major and age-old question persists as to whether there is a technical fix to solve every problem, both mechanical and human. For example, are we at all confident that a blue-ribbon team of technical experts can design the optimal university, or healthcare system for a preferred future?

High Tech, Higher Ed, and the High “I” Society

A number of competent scientists and philosophers are projecting a future where the convergence of biotechnology, nanotechnology, computer science and robotology will progress us to the perfection to which we aspire. (Snyder cites Kurzweil and Dyson.) In this future “tech-utopia,” we will not need to suffer any disease or even die. For example, bio-gerontologists are conquering the seven factors causing our aging. And soon, it is alleged by highly reputable scientists, we will be able to replace all worn-out or inferior body parts, augment significantly our intellectual capacity by down loading the encyclopedia, dictionary and text books into our computer brain, sweeten our psychic dispositions with chemical fixes, nurture the god module in our brain for enhanced religious experiences, and so on and on……. until we become a perfect android. The quest for control and perfection is being won for us by the brilliant discoveries of our scientists and technologists. In the end, there will not be any need for professors, universities or even people.

If this is our future, then the following essay was written in vain. The researchers in our universities will help us achieve our earthly paradise. The future will be essentially technology driven. Glory be to the Technical Fix in the Highest. Some in academia, on the other hand, believe that another future would be preferable. We cling to the hope that we are not predetermined by a religiously technocratic imperative. We affirm the wisdom of Existentialists, Quantum Physicists, Chaos theorists, and other noetic thinkers through the ages who would chart a different destiny based on an alternative paradigm, embodying a different set of values and ethical assumptions.

In fact, we despair at the enthronement of the technical fix and endorse the call by M.I.T.’s Professor Joseph Weizenbaum “for a dose of “technology de-toxification”. We are not satisfied by specialist and empirical analyses of the issues that are often superficial and fragmentary, and characteristically fail to address the complexity of the metaphysical dimensions. In the same way we cannot be satisfied with the media’s infatuation with “bite-sized” information that passes for commentary. We fear the obsession with the will to power, to control, to regulate, and to conform while somehow and inconsistently advocating the right to do our own thing. “What’s more than this, I did it my way” has become a universal theme song. But who is the “I”? And why is there an “I”?

If our future is to succeed in the revolution of rising expectations according to “my way”, and if we are seeking to become the perfect, all knowing, materially replete and therefore successful species, then our universities should endorse the competitive self-seeking for growth and material enhancement. We should be efficient, effective, focussed, and drive with our university into Paradise. We should nurture future generations into the ethic of unimpeded productivity, enterprise, achievement and success. And, as a consequence of this drive, we should expect that our societies and universities will be aggregates of separate individuals who enrol only because higher education will enable them to maximise their own quest for success, whether it be status, salary, promotion, or personal affirmation.

Perhaps the human enterprise and the University depend on this ethic. After all, the Titan god, Prometheus (meaning ‘foresight’) struggled to steal fire from the chief god, Zeus, to enable lesser mortals to heat, cook and see. Prometheus through this act made life worth living and, as a consequence, he has been hailed as the Father of Civilisation. Of course, he and all succeeding generations of mortals have been punished with the evils, such as hard work and disease emerging from Pandora’s Box. But, we somehow believe that, with our intelligence, our increasing knowledge, our incredible technology and our persistence, we will lessen the sting of Pandora’s punishments and once again enjoy species perfection.

If the force of these expectations is too entrenched, we will be forced to endure what is left of our time as a civilisation with universities that reflect these preferred societal values. But some of us in academia hope that our societies and universities might reflectively and reflexively explore a value system more appropriate for self and sociality. We believe that a more altruistic ethic could be embraced to guide us and our society into a more sustainable, if less “perfect,” future.

Society, Community and University

Scholars of government and politics usefully distinguish between a “society” and a “community”. A society encourages individuals to maximise their own self-interested performance, providing they contribute some resource for the wellbeing of the group, do not harm others, and respect the need for the authority of law to maintain order and justice.

A community endorses the values of a society, but has a different emphasis. It seeks, in addition, to affirm the altruistic values based on caring for, and sharing with others, respecting the needs of our fragile ecology, and serving the greater good of the community before self-interest. When a member of the community succeeds or fails other members celebrate or commiserate with genuine personal empathy. Co-operation, trust, mutual respect, and responsible actions are taken as common practice. By this caring and sharing and by the commitment to the long term well-being of the community, the citizens shape a meaningful home for the future of their socio-cultural experience.

Unfortunately, this notion of an altruistic community seems rather quaint and old fashioned. Service above self organisations, churches, youth organisations such as Scouts and Guides and even sporting clubs are losing numbers and influence. The Ayn Rand ethic of selfishness which encourages the doing of your own thing seems to be in ascendancy.

A university committed to the values of Prometheus and Protagoras may well survive or even thrive into the future. But it may not be recognised as a beneficial force for the future well-being of our civilisation. While committed to furthering self-absorbed individualism and the mechanically focussed values of technocracy, history may ultimately condemn the university for having hastened the collapse of our civilisation. Correlatively, if our University is going to be a positive influence for society’s survival into the distant future, our educators and administrators need to review their epistemological assumptions.

In the long and august learning tradition from Protagoras, to Newton, whose world view has reigned supreme for several centuries, and through to our Meta-Industrial Information Society, many universities have willingly embraced the apparent advantages of intellectual control, certainty, de-contextualised detachment, objective examination, careful measurement, and the commodification of knowledge. Similarly, the institutional church through the ages has sought intellectual control and theological certainty to guard against heresy. There has been little respect in the Promethean pantheon of pedagogical (or theological) virtues for such woolly aberrations of human intellectual progress as uncertainty, mystery, paradox, chaos, ambiguity, enigma, complexity and doubt. These mean failure to mere mortals who prefer to strut their quest for omniscience, omnipotence and perfection like the gods.

Academia: an island of knowledge in an ocean of ignorance

Although they have been studied for academic credit in our University curricula, we have not allowed the irrationalities of the subconscious as explained by the behavioral sciences, or the mysteries of existence as explored by the Existentialist philosophers, or the confusions and uncertainties suffered by literary geniuses, or the collective insanity of self-aggrandising conflict in the world wars and arms races as described by historians – to have any real influence in the way we learn, teach or administrate. Strange philosophies like Taoism of ancient China, which is based on endless change, had to be anathema. And, it seems we have been incapable of attending to the wisdom of the twentieth century Quantum Physicists, Chaos theorists and Existentialists.

Niels Bohrs, the philosophical guru of Quantum Physics, Heisenberg, Born, Schrodinger and Pauli, all challenged the almighty presuppositions of certainty, control and order. These physicists described the phenomena of nature as being uncertain, unstable, spontaneous, paradoxical, ambiguous and confused. Like the Taoists, they perceived the world of Quantum Physics as comprising constant change and transformation. Chance is fundamental and inevitable. It is not a matter of our ignorance but, as Pauli said, of the “irrationality of matter”. Science can only take us some distance… beyond which there is mystery. No law of nature can tell us when, for example, radioactive disintegration will occur. Heisenberg introduced us to a convincing case for the Uncertainty Principle. Kurt Godel demonstrated mathematically that even mathematics can never offer us complete certainty. Arguably, the greatest twentieth century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, concluded that philosophy “will never reach the essence of truth about the world”. He turned to reading Tolstoy and the Gospels. There will always be some uncertainty and never a supreme and perfect answer.

The Existentialists such as Marcel, Buber, Sartre, Camus, Kierkegaard, Unamuno, Berdyaev, etc., have requested that we explore our subjectivity as well as our objectivity, our suffering as well as our intellectual discourse, our dying and our despair as well as our scholarly exercises in the ivory tower, our intuition and feelings as well as our intellect, and our willingness to take risks or “leaps of faith” out beyond our institutionally sanctioned certainties. In-depth, essentially personal, empowering, affirming, “I-Thou” relationships are crucial for some Existentialists. Replacing the Cartesian “I think therefore I am” with “I am therefore I think” the Existentialists sought to integrate the search for meaning within the uncertainties and complexities of our unique individual and community experiences. Importantly, the Existentialists challenge us to go beyond the rational, the neat formula, the analysis, the empirically verifiable and the technical.

The writings of Henri Poincare, which led to Chaos (or Complexity) Theory, dealt another body blow to the Western infatuation with order, control and certainty. This was amplified and corroborated by the work of mathematicians and computer scientists, who, with their high speed super machines, perceived the chaos factor within many stable but complex systems. Many events turn out as expected. But there can be a complex set of “perturbing” factors causing instability, disorder, and uncertainty. The turbulence of tap water, the irregularities in the shapes of snow flakes, brain activity, the weather and the stock market etc, all manifest the reality of chance or randomness and the unpredictability of nonlinear behaviour.

No one is saying that there is not a crucial place for precision, order, classification, structure, Newtonian physics, the technical fix, etc. But we are saying that life is so complex that the order in Nature is open and beyond our human intelligence, and, it seems, beyond our technological possibilities of control which are finite and therefore limited.

We are saying essentially something that is self evident: we are limited, finite, imperfect people destined to be pilgrims in search of that order beyond chaos which must perpetually remain beyond our grasp. And the recognition that we occupy together the tiniest fragment of a corner in the unimaginable depths of a complex and, ultimately, mysterious cosmos with its countless billions of suns and planets must be pre-eminent in our mindsets. Again, we dare not pretend to Omniscience or Omnipotence.

Pruning old growth, renewing the roots

Forced to confront ambiguity and uncertainty, scholars and administrators in the university of the future will come to recognise that we must find complex – sometimes enigmatic – values-based answers to many of our human and Natural issues. Over-simplification based on slogans such as “progress” has been a motivating impulse of the organised, ordered, and controlled Newtonian world view for too long. From this we must recover. At last, we must explore and assess the values and epistemology shaped by leading noetic scientists and philosophers of the twentieth century!

We can also say that, because there is this incomprehensible complexity, the university of the future must empower its scholars to think differently and be capable of greater imagination and creativity. When there is complete order and control, there is no vitality. For example, a heart beat that is totally regular can indicate a coma, powerful anaesthetic, disease, or the onset of a heart attack. In a healthy heart beat there are small fluctuations. Of course, too much randomness in the heart beat can mean disability or death. So, in a community – especially a community of scholars in the university, while encouraging irregular and innovative “thinking outside the square”, there must also be an ethical responsibility to the well-being of the entire community.

Academic tradition has long extolled the virtues of curiosity, creativity and imagination among both faculty and students as hallmarks of scholarly enterprise. However, because career preparation has now become the principal public – and private—purpose of all post-secondary education, the university as a whole has become increasingly dominated by the utilitarian virtues of the marketplace, not the spontaneously sceptical quixotic virtues of scholarly inquiry. In this respect, futurist Snyder’s proposal that universities “spin off” their professional and career-prep schools poses intriguing possibilities for restoring academia’s broader scholarly mission just at the moment that the knowledge explosion confronts humanity with an urgent need for such scholarship.

However, I offer additional comments. First, it is as crucial for vocational, as well as research universities, to provide a learning that is creative as well as entrepreneurial, and ethically responsible as well as technically proficient. Some vocational universities already take a lead in requiring liberal studies in their curricula. Secondly, vocational universities will be involved in exploratory research but it will be a connected or engaged research where the learning process integrates practice with theory, each challenging and empowering the other to provide some action focussed outcome. Thirdly, as long as tenure and promotion necessarily relate to a sycophantic deferential to conservative administrative structures and self-interested funding agencies there will be a dearth of robust challenges to the old thinking. I would like to see every academic article contain an afterword, written either by the author or colleague stating why the article was worth writing and what difference the article will make in progressing us to a better future.

A post-industrial university for a post-certain world

A truly transformational Post-Industrial University might actually encourage us to live by the wisdom of Copernicus, who challenged the existing two thousand year old world view that saw humanity comfortably domiciled in the cockpit of the universe, with a controlling paternalistic God just out there beyond the seven stars. Our humility before – and our real sense of engagement within – the awesome depths of space will demand answers that both “deny our nothingness” and challenge us to recognise that our interdependence and co-existence depend on us caring for our little green and blue globe without which we are nothing.

In such a Post-Industrial University, academics and administrators might take to heart the wisdom of the Existentialists – theistic, atheistic and agnostic alike – who challenge us to acknowledge our subjective assumptions within the vagaries and mysteries of our human experience. Objectification, which leads to separation and alienation, will no longer be paramount. Academics will be participants involved in creative, responsible and risky thought and action. We will explore ourselves, our meanings, and our purposes in play, music, art, literature, philosophy and other dimensions of experience, in the humanness of our realities, beyond the pale of the technical fix.

In the Post-Industrial University, scholars will accept that their reflections on society and Nature should embrace the convictions of Existentialists and Quantum physicists. The definition of “scholar” will eventually include involvement in the actual intellectual and physical dynamics of the complex process of change. One of the clauses defining a New Zealand University is for it to be a “critic and conscience of society”. This does not just mean writing neat, double spaced, footnoted, objective and authoritative analyses of our problems. It means engagement. For example, there are about 40,000 articles available worldwide demonstrating a connection between media violence and violence in society. But how often do we find academics offering practical suggestions based on actual experience for ending this destructive, media encouraged, and uncivilised titillation of bestial brutality? In a sense, explains a Quantum Theorist, the non-involvement of academics is a form of relationship which exacerbates the problem.

If the issue in question is regarded as a problem “out there” in objective reality, to be fixed by some technical solution, then we can more easily and conveniently distance ourselves from the problem and lose our own sense of being contextually connected. All-too-easily – and irresponsibly – we can ignore any responsibility for personal involvement.

In a future where academic knowledge is holistic and chaos-tolerant, no longer will we attempt to solve problems by applying a localised dose of technical fix. As much as possible, we will seek to become fully aware of the interrelating and complex dimensions of the entire system to determine which part, or which relationships, may be responsible for the breakdown. Existentialists, Quantum Physicists and Chaos theorists require this holistic engagement with our problems however complex they may be.

So, in such a Post-Industrial University, academics and administrators will seriously encourage society to challenge leadership that, in the name of progress, pursues irresponsible, arrogant and greedy misuse of the sensitive and finite resources of Nature in the name of progress. Codes of Ethical Practice will be adopted as governing documents.

Most people now know and are deeply concerned about the various Damocles swords hanging over our heads, such as global warming, pollution, energy depletion, water shortages, terrorism – especially biological terrorism – ozone depletion, destruction of forests, poverty, organised crime, and nuclear arms race, etc. Most people now understand what Einstein meant when he said:

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”

Now we need to know what to do. Now we need some practical ethical principles to guide us into our future.

Of course, acting on our knowledge involves the risk of making mistakes. The university of the future which empowers (i.e. gives away power) and encourages people to think and act innovatively will recognise that making errors is always a distinct possibility. And, clearly, there should be no penalty for error. I recall reading with sadness that a Nobel Prize winning scientist admitted he submitted as his research proposal the results of already successful research to prevent the authorities being incredulous at his research plan, and judgmental should he not succeed.

“Leonardo Da Vinci…the world’s greatest inventor…illegitimate…was denied a classical education…was able to ‘think outside the square’ and be liberated to see the world differently”

Also, this should mean, as David Snyder suggests, that in the future, academic ability will not be dependent upon the status of scholarly credentials from a particular university. The creativity of a person can be hampered by mindsets that are imposed as sacrosanct by a particular institution with mana or by a pre-eminent culture. One biographer of possibly the world’s greatest inventor, Leonardo Da Vinci, recounts that, being illegitimate, he was denied a classical education focussing on Greek and Latin cultures. As a consequence, however, he was able to “think outside the square” and be liberated to see the world differently from his peers.

The Post-Industrial University must recommit itself to all of the its ancient, venerable purposes of scholarship, so that the campus can once again be a place – real and/or virtual – where knowledge and wisdom are pursued; a place where innovative ideas are tested freely among scholars – both students and professors – and where educated and responsible activists openly prepare themselves to change the world. It will be a place where great visions are shared and challenged and nurtured by plans for action. It will not depend on keeping the politicians and profit-driven corporations placated for research grants. Teachers and administrators will not fear for their next promotion if they dare to ask tough minded questions. It will be a place where people are taught to engage as critical and conscientious citizens, knowing how to work successfully within the system to build a better future.

Essentially, the post-industrial university would be a place where the baleful query of T. S. Eliot – “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?” – would never apply. At last, the university will recognise that all our knowledge must be subject to certain value-laden principles. It is these principles, both ethical and epistemological, that will determine the directions our society – and humanity – will take into the future.

Perhaps, as David Snyder suggests, alumni in the workplace, who engage collegially in life-long learning experiences with the community of scholars, will more readily bring to the learning processes a sense of the complexity of reality, a recognition of the need for practical values, and an epistemology which better connects with our “human-all-too-human” (Sartre) predicament.

If our universities do not recover a set of life-respecting ideals, we might legitimately feel quite pessimistic about the future. There is no reason at all to blindly expect that our civilisation is bound to persist “’til the end of time.” Twenty-six other civilisations have perished because of a lack of wisdom. We are not immune from the same fate. Indeed, our problems and life-threatening challenges are growing apace because our ethical and epistemological values are failing to impact on our developing knowledge and technological competence.

Some commentators are saying it is already too late. Perhaps our Post-Industrial Universities will prove them wrong?

The Creative Artist’s Challenge - 42 is not the answer

I agree with Dr. John on so much from the article above but it’s not up to academia alone; it’s up to all of us and artists have an important role to play. The imagination, skill and craft we have employed to the benefit of industry and commerce must now perform the harder role of inspiring humanity to improve its relationship with life, the universe and everything, for 42 is not the answer, the answer is in our ability to create an infinite potential for the human race that we may in fact evolve. As John Hinchcliff has pointed out, that will not happen when we move forward in the old paradigm of ideas that have so obviously failed us. Imaginations…get to work!

Dr. John Hinchcliff - A Creative Mover & Shaker Interview

This interview was conducted in Dr. John’s home in August 2007. I received a signed copy of his biography after being entertained by a neighbor who was obviously proud to have John Hinchcliff living next door - I was an hour early, so desperate was I not to miss the opportunity to talk with Dr. John.

I had finished Parihaka about 2 months earlier and had quite a few notes and questions prepared. I had no idea that he already had a biography, nor much more knowledge than the fact that he was an Auckland City Councilor, Chairman of the Partnerships Committee, a mayoral candidate, and the former Vice Chancellor of AUT University that he had lead and developed into a major progressive institution. I also knew that he was an activist who had as he put it “gone up against a nuclear submarine in nothing more than a dinghy on the Auckland harbor.” He laughed it off, I found that inspiring, courageous and not at all the foolhardy event he made of it.

Hinchcliff’s novel starts with the unfamiliar, but most appropriate context of Maori creation myths. This creation legend becomes the legend of the Mountain God, Taranaki and thus takes us into the story of Parihaka. There is a powerful relationship here, for Taranaki has a nobility that is paramount and a sense of reason that, for me, calls to the goodness of the best qualities of man. This same spirit calls to me of John Hinchcliff—there is a similar set of characteristics to this man; I understand well the choices made and the motivation behind that choice and I share it, as I settle into the story itself. It took me a little while to warm to this story, but once I got into it I discovered some beautifully turned phrases which demonstrate an acuity of observation that offers the author’s insight into human character and those expressions which can convey so much more of the deeper nature of man.

TFA: What prompted you to write Parihaka? Why Parihaka? What does Parihaka mean to you? How did you first hear about it?

Dr John: I read this book I referred to in my preface. An historical account of the story. My story goes half way, not as deep. It was an amazing revelation to me, that this happened in NZ and I never heard about it. So few people around the country had heard of it, even Maori people. I thought that this message should get through. It was important. So I thought I’d add a bit of subjectivity to it. Try my hand creating a story that made sense of the main historical one.

TFA: Why is it important?

Dr John: I grew up in Nelson. At the time there were maybe two Maori families there. One was the hero of the class, brilliant personality, rugby player, singer, and unfortunately he got killed in a car accident. But we never talked about Maoridom. Hone Heke, (two others) were the only names anybody had heard of.

Nelson was a perfect backwater; a couple of Chinese families, a Fruiterer and a Laundry. They were seen as alien beings, as were the Catholics on the other side of town. They were not seen as appropriate as friends. The lack of diversity was very evident there as well. So I thought if I could bring this to light, the more we could so something to understand each other. The more I got involved in understanding Maori culture, the more I came to like it.

I got involved in the nuclear movement. Then went to the States, and as I traveled across Asia met different cultures, beings and relations and started to get an awareness that diversity was a good thing.

Went to Israel; now there was a real place where people from so many different backgrounds were trying to come together and accomplish something with their diversity.

But I met a girl and then started to break through my own prejudices. I went back to the States and did my doctorate. We lost a child to miscarriage. Decided to adopt, and there are lots of babies available from other ethnicities. We took on a part-black, Willy.

The prejudice was amazing.

We went to get family photos and the photographer taking the pictures would move the colored child out of the way, and I would put him back. They didn’t want to stand up to me as I was a big 6-foot rugby player.

The women there were breaking through their prejudices but the men weren’t. The women were doing this because they were teaching in school. First two blacks to come to the university majored with me in the philosophy department. I stood by them, supporting and helping them when it got rough.

Our oldest daughter was intellectually handicapped and we put her in there. She was one of these vivacious characters, she liked everybody and everybody liked her. Totally naïve but everybody liked each other and she was so trusting. A black priest was run out of town for producing a pamphlet that had black hands and white hands clasping; all very interesting.

I became a leader in the peace movement as a result of discovering that natives on the islands of Ronalap, Christmas Islands were exposed to nuclear radiation as the winds blew over exposing the kids. We went out and protested.

A friend of mine organized this, a theologian. I kept talking with the Opposition, and my father in law was in the American navy. We went out and sailed against the nuclear submarines, and he thought we were around the twist sailing against nuke subs. The American consul came around and wanted to invite us to tea on the Pintado, an American sub. I said “I can’t do that, I’ve just been out protesting against it.”

Keeping the friendship with the other side I thought was always important. And that bringing people together through understanding, so that people would understand that ideology is important in bringing us together around peace. Parihaka was about the peace movement.

TFA: How did you organize life so you could write it? When did you write it and what sort of environment do you find conducive to writing? What’s the methodology you employ?

Dr John: I did it in stages. In Melbourne I did quite a bit. Wife said I wasn’t spending enough time with the family. It was a piecemeal production in some respects. That may have in part contributed to my putting it away for a while.

A quiet room. Did it all by hand. I love to write with a pen, I’ve got a fountain pen and I occasionally bring it out and write. I don’t really have a secretary or any more, so I have to learn to type two fingers. Whole novel written by hand. Sunday afternoon writing or a couple of nights or using holidays. I had a full time job so didn’t have the time to do it otherwise.

TFA: What sort of preparation did it take? And how long did it take to write it? How did you research the history? Where did you go?

Dr John: Most of the research was done in Melbourne because they had a fabulous library with dozens of books on Maori at the time of Parihaka. In NZ I read through the Hansard (collection of transcriptions of parliamentary debates around Parihaka). It was fascinating reading the early MP’s scholarly approach. They were quoting from Shakespeare in parliament and of course they didn’t have television and it was quite a revelation to see that they were very sensitive people, who read a lot. It’s not like that in parliament today.

Most of the first draft writing was done in Melbourne between 1980 and 1983. Then I put the book into my closet and forgot about it for a few years. As I was finishing my tenure at AUT I brought it out and thought I put a lot of work into that, and I should get it published. This was after I finished at AUT. In my last 2 to 3 years at AUT I would pick it out and do a little work on it and then put it back. And during 1990 I was working on the Hansard materials reading and studying.

TFA: How did Maori participate and what action did you take to ensure cultural authenticity and respect for Maori culture? Were there issues to deal with there? How did you approach them?

Dr John: I made friends with a kuia (the feminine counterpart of a kaumatua), Marjorie Rau. I wrote to her and received no response at first, and then I telephoned her and when we met she was very friendly and we got along great. She was keen to support me. So I went down to meet her and she had read the manuscript and made not many changes, but she had put all the Latin names by the plants for some reason. When I launched the book she came out and delivered this wonderful speech.

Before I started to write it I went to Parihaka, but there was not much to look at there. Met a man from the Taranaki Herald and he was very supportive, which was kind of ironic as they were totally opposed to the Maori and here was this editor totally supportive of my story. Whiti Huniera also helped me.

Subsequently I found out that there are still two divisions of Parihaka, that there had been a divide between the followers of Te Whiti and Tohu. It got bad after the book was finished and there was some acrimony. The Tohu people and the Te Whiti people have factionalized since the times of Parihaka. But they have a festival there now, every year. I sent the head of the festival a copy and he never responded and I wrote to him and he wrote back a very negative piece. And I was a bit taken aback and tried to go and see him and couldn’t. He didn’t seem particularly interested in following up on it.

Paul Reeves was from that area and he was very encouraging. Toby Curtis, head of Maori faculty at AUT at the time was also a big help.

TFA: Who are the principle characters and why did you choose those particular ones to convey the story? Turi? Marama? Daniels? Gwen?

Dr John: Te Whiti and Tohu were the main ones I wanted to come out clearly but thought if I took them through the eyes of people such as the daughters and the interchange between the Pakeha view of the world and the Maori leadership role and the changing view of the young lieutenant was the reflection for the Pakeha’s journey of understanding.

TFA: Why include a romance?

Dr John: It’s part of life, adding human interest and to bring out the interplay of the people who are projected into that setting to illustrate how life was. Some of my critics found this to be the weakest link of the entire book.

TFA: What do you consider the most important aspects of writing an historical novel to be?

Dr John: You have to really enjoy the subject the topic and the era and be willing to really look and see the contextual details to be as accurate as possible, knowing that it’s impossible to break out of your own particular mold.

TFA: How do you act as a caretaker of history when you’re writing what amounts to a fictional work? Did you have access to the writings, speeches and other materials that related the words?

Dr John: I remember reading other novels of what it is like to be a British soldier, you throw yourself into as many aspects of life in those times as is possible to get a sense of them.

I used the words that were spoken in that era when I found them. There was a sermon included that I made up, and there was one speech I found that flabbergasted me, I couldn’t believe it, but I used it word-for-word as it just seemed to me to epitomize colonial arrogance, treating the Maori as nincompoops, keeping the Maori in their place, the noble savage and the condescending nature of arrogance. There were times I couldn’t stand the language and so I didn’t use it, but other times I just did.

TFA: How did that work with the Maori who have an oral and not a written history?

Dr John: When it came to the Maori I just did my best, I gave it to a few Maori to read it who seemed to think it was okay.

I tried to get the historical details as correct as I could and I worried about that as I was writing it. You can’t always be definitive because you are not one of them and you weren’t there, alive in those times. So there is inevitably going to be reason for doubt. But there comes a point where you can’t move unless you take a leap of faith.

TFA: There are two romances in the story, a Maori romance which ends in tragedy and a Pakeha/Colonial romance which has a happier ending. What is the purpose of including these and what did you hope to illustrate, if anything by including this particular romance? Is the romance a context and canvas for the political nature of the history?

Dr John: It’s hard to bring all the events together and it helped to bring the Maori and Pakeha perspective together. It helps to bring in the different perspectives of other genders.

TFA: NZ is often touted for its multiculturalism and surely in the last few decades this has broadened considerably, is there some aspect of Parihaka that you wanted to put across?

Dr John: Just the simple fact that we could learn so much from their wisdom and ways of doing things which Pakeha in those days didn’t come to terms with. Yet, in those days some did. Pakeha would not have survived if it had not been for the Maori, who in terms of fishing, trading, farming, were far ahead o the Pakeha. I also found the story of the first cheese factory, a Chinaman Chou Chong, people don’t realize the value of these different things, skill sets and knowledge that people bring into the community, enriching it.

My favorite saying is: “In America they made a melting pot where you come to America and you throw away your history, your culture and your defective ways of doing things and come face to face with the great dream of America and doing things in the land of The Plenty. Whereas I think we should have a tossed salad, where people keep the integrity of their own culture and different ways of doing things so that the whole is enriched; with each flavor added to the feast, then it is so much better.”

When you’ve got a melting pot what happens is you come and toss it all into one pot and you stir it around and it all comes out with a unique flavor but you can’t tell any of the ingredients apart. But with a gourmet approach, you take a bit of this dish from the table and a bit of that from another, and you mix and match what you want and each time it’s different and each time it’s unique thus the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, but the parts are instrumental to the whole without being compressed into one dimension. Each culture is thus able to manifest the fundamental diversity of perspectives.

TFA: You’ve mentioned that you’d like to see it as a movie, what audience do you see it appealing to and who would you like to direct it?

Dr John: Everybody could benefit by learning about peace and the older generations who have not read much about Maori culture could benefit. I know some Maori had read the book and got a lot out of it about their culture. I don’t know about a director, I don’t move in those circles, but I know there’s a guy down in Wellington who did a big movie and he seems to know what he’s doing. I do enjoy going to movies but I don’t remember who is who, not even the actors.

TFA: In the chapter Council of Peace you refer to events of 1879 when Te Whiti spoke, and Benjamin Daniels finds the words of Te Whiti “claiming his sympathy” and in this passage you write about the power structures of worldly governance, saying: “The governments of the earth have built structure that exist only by the power of money” and then this is contrasted by Te Whiti naming how he has built his power… ”I have built up my power by the force of my will. No worldly considerations affect my followers. They are superior to the power of money.”

Is this in fact a true speech or is it is something that you have fictionalized in an effort to express your own views through the vehicle of an historical novel, about the nature of power?

Dr John: I suspect it’s a true speech. Dick Scott records quite a few of them and they were reported in the newspapers. I don’t know where the accounts are now; I threw away all my notes.

TFA: Doesn’t this passage equate with your position as a mayoral candidate running on a principled platform, rather than the traditional materialistic platform that perpetuates hegemonic rule?

Dr. John: Yeah, hope so. Just did a brief video clip where I said that I believe, I began by saying that Auckland is a great city a good city, but it could be a great city for all of us caring for the whole rather than the part. If we really got caring for people first then we wouldn’t be as dedicated to building pyramids and crystal palaces, that don’t mean anything to people on a lower income, who couldn’t even afford to go there.

TFA: It seems to me that capturing such moments correctly are pivotal in writing such a story, how do you approach that concept and work to respect it and honor it, without getting so caught up in it that the reader suddenly finds themselves reading authorial viewpoint?

Dr John: I never thought about it, I just let it flow. There were times I was preaching and I backed off and didn’t push my viewpoint. Maintaining that viewpoint of balance is important.

TFA: In a later chapter (p. 258) you refer to diversity and make a particular comment about the nature of Maori with respect of disability with a conversation between Captain Knollys and Benjamin Daniels, where Daniels says,

“Yes, they take care of their own. I’m particularly struck by their attitude to those who are mentally afflicted, or crippled, blind or deaf. No one is allowed to mock them, and they’re treated with special respect.”

Dr John: That happened to me in sense. I had a daughter (died 27) who had physical problems and intellectual problems. We took a drive down to a marae with a lovely Maori guy who was a brilliant orator and looked as rough as guts, and he took us to his marae on the edge of the Ureweras. And Miriam was given a place of honor because of her disability. They made a fuss of her and she had such an open personality, it was all just how it should be to her, she didn’t make a fuss about things.

TFA: On the same page you refer to Colonial land grab tactics, and this is but one of several examples where you appear to be focusing on the issue of colonialism as not necessarily the most enlightened of mankind’s actions during history. Later you close off the chapter with a piece of dialog that has Turi saying “I suppose even Queen Victoria and John Bryce could be little Christs if they worried more about caring for the people than conquering them.” Is this book meant in some way to set the record straight, and help to heal the deep rifts caused?

Dr. John: Yes. You could say that. You have to understand the mistakes of history before you can repair them. Through the process of repair you often come closer to people. If you’re prepared to reach out it’s a good way to come together.

TFA: What would you do differently, if you were to sit down and do it again?

Dr. John: I don’t know. No idea.

TFA: Is there another book coming?

Dr. John: Oh, yeah. If I don’t get elected I’ve got quite a few ideas, I’d like to do a play on Socrates and his brilliance which quite a few people misunderstood. He had three students who became quite evil people. His wife, who he hated, and it’s very interesting. But most of all I’d like to explore the difference between academic merit and wisdom. Sometimes I wonder about Socrates and whether or not he was playing mind games and I think people have not taken a hard enough look at his ideas.

I’d quite like to write a humorous novel on my experience at council because some very humorous things happen. I’d also like to write an account on the future, on what it will be like in 25 years time. I’ve been to the world future society conference. Kind of frightening. Have you heard of the point of singularity?

TFA: No.

Dr. John: The point of singularity. It is predicted that in 30 years time computer power will be so significant that it will be out of our control. Will we become servants of the machine? To what extent will we be part of the machine? We can replace all sorts of body parts and organs now, and we’re working on being able to transplant the head. If they can do that then they could put your head on the body of a twenty year old. People are saying they are going to live forever. We can heal all the diseases that cause us to deteriorate. And there are people who want to live forever, who would do that. It’s quite frightening.

***

I have to agree with that last idea, and am reminded of Queen’s song and the line “Who wants to live forever?” We had run out of time and Dr. John was tiring, so we wrapped the interview and agreed to take it up later in 2007, after I had returned from a brief sojourn in Seoul.

In December 2007 we returned to the last parts of this interview and a discussion of some particularly poignant parts of Dr. John’s mayoral vision. The rest of this interview was conducted by phone and parts of Dr. John’s mayoral manifesto are quoted.

Dr. John’s Mayoral Vision: Creative Artist Support

We must encourage wild card thinking, boundary riding with unusual ideas, and out-of-the-box concepts. We must not fear being unusual or different or radical in our challenges to the status quo.

However, as Aristotle would say, there needs to be a balance. Whereas we should respect those willing to challenge conventional wisdom with their crucial corrective, we must acknowledge that dissent can also be used maliciously to cripple social cohesion in a mindless and destructive way. Extremism based on sloppy intelligence and pious rectitude can create unfortunate and pointless mayhem just as easily as unfortunate and pointless reactionary conservatism.

As an important city, Auckland should be in the vanguard of creativity, not the after-guard making more rules and more and more regulations. We need those creative and sometimes maverick boundary riders who have confidence in their innovative beliefs and a willingness to expose them in serious debate to the rigorous examination offered by similarly concerned citizens.

Being open to creative initiatives means being able to respect valuable new perceptions, regardless of the people offering them. It is sad when a good idea is denied because of some epithet such as “do gooder”, “conservative”, “radical”, “holier than thou” or “reactionary”.

We need every possible initiative to focus on the mindset change. Because it is a moral and cultural challenge we need the energy and engagement of everyone including poets, artists, musicians, teachers, parents, business people, mythmakers, prophets, dramatists, photographers, etc.

~

The next questions are about the above passage.

TFA: With respect to this particular part of your manifesto what would you like to see artists doing?

Dr. John: There are different levels of mindset change, there are people who get the “Ah-hah” expression and then change. But mostly we change gradually. The new perception needs to be reinforced. So if there is an artistic manifestation of a challenge to the status quo then it can create momentum. If it’s a little, a lot of us want the fast answer (the silver bullet), the artist, if it’s a successful artist can do a lot more, and it’s a constant challenging and coaching.

TFA: What should Creative Artists consider when creating?

Dr John: Be authentic and express what you really feel, because people can see through when people see that you’re pushing something you don’t really believe in. Then, they need to understand the context and experience.

One of my favorite philosophers, Gabriel Marcel, a French existentialist, writer and philosopher said the tipping point was during the First World War and his job was to go around and speak to people whose family members had died.

He was given a number and an address. He said, “I went into their home and spoke to them about their loved ones. The number become a person so the subjectivity was crucial, and was subjective and lead to an understanding of life’s deepest meanings.”

Some people think they’ve got to go bohemian, experience drugs, etc. yes, that’s one level of experience but there are others, where people are dying of starvation, or where people are doing jobs they don’t like or have suffered personal tragedy or movements that are confronting the global arms race, so connect with the real issues, not the self-centered notions as such. That would be my hope, that artists would really get involved with the real issues in life and then be creative with what they see in real terms.

Oxfam or the Church World Service, are some of the best groups, Amnesty International and others; I don’t know that many artists join these groups and get to know what they’re about and what’s going on.

There are occasionally prophets who can make a huge impact. Al Gore’s presentation or some of these things that can sway thousands of people are worthwhile. Some of these issues could be picked up by Creative Artists and be very consequential.

Interestingly, Rotary has got behind a cause to end leprosy or polio and Rotarians all around the world are contributing money and paying for medical teams and communities are much more powerful than individuals and sometimes we think we have to be more individualistic, and our culture is like that, but if we combined our forces within a particular framework with something that’s achievable then it would encourage others and inspire us all.

I published three or four books on the matter of nuclear power and took a film around New Zealand, The War Game, very graphic, very meaningful exposition.

Lange was facing the American desire to come in here, and several went out, including George Armstrong and we organized the Peace Squadron to confront the nuclear powered submarine when the Pintado came in. It was the most thrilling experience to be standing up against this huge monstrosity of a submarine coming into Auckland’s harbor. Tremendous pressure was being put on Lange to allow these ships to come in. He was in Australia and Bob Hawke persuaded him to let the ships come in and support the ANZUS treaty to stand up against the Communists. And he came back and cabinet said “No, we can’t, the people of New Zealand won’t let us.” So he stood up against the United States.

So, it’s a matter of getting a focus, cause, and a belief that it can be done. Forming little groups to make a difference. We can’t perhaps change things holistically but Michelangelo was asked “How did you create David?” and he replied saying, and this is a favourite quote, “Just by chipping away at the edges.”

TFA: Would you care to make a comment about balancing that against the need to entertain people?

Dr John: We need to get a balance between work and play. There is not enough made of celebration that replenishes the mind and the body. The word sport comes from the word French desporter meaning: to carry away from work and the word Athlein, which means to compete for a prize.

A lot of sport is athletic contest, and sport’s primary purpose is to enjoy yourself. Part of the enjoyment is the rules of the game, part is the doing and the main thing is enjoying it, win or lose. You can paint for pleasure, or fun, or to make a living. And there is value in it. You’ve got to make a living.

But being able to have a freedom to express your innermost realities without it being judged or driven by the need to prove yourself is part of being.

A lot of us do all the time, and it’s all doing and being and doing and being “dooby-dooby-doo.”

Some people become so consumed by the horror story of the military industrial mediaplex that they hurt themselves in the process. Somehow, you’ve got to say “Do your best to hell with the rest.”

There are my dimensions to living. Life is too short to have to win, because at the end of the day someone will always beat you. It’s not the best view for civilization, there have been 23 civilizations we know of that have gone.

If you spend all your life worrying about these then you’ll go bananas. So if you focus on one then you’ll do best. We can’t live an ordered existence. Some strive to be perfect, but nothing can be perfect. The chaos factor is important to understand and it points to these rogue elements that we can’t control. If it was all organized and ordered it would be a dull existence.

~

In your manifesto you also state that you wished:

To provide the appropriate leadership for our all-important future we must have access to the guidance provided by expert futurists.

TFA: Who is an expert futurist?

Dr. John: Next year I will attend a futurist conference in Washington DC. I’m on the board of the NZ Institute for the Future, founded by Professor James Duncan in NZ. It used to get some funding, but Muldoon closed it down as being too radical.

Futurists are people who are looking at where the trends are taking us. They look at visions, and what the possible consequences may be.

We look at issues in depth, like energy, or global warming. We consider the futures of a city for example. Futurist thinking is taught in some universities. Some people would consider it science-fiction., but all great scientists have been inspired by authors such as Jules Verne, with Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Note: Allforart conducted surveys in Los Angeles in the mid-nineties, and spoke to a number of NASA scientists who, when asked where many of their ideas came from, all stated that it was from reading science fiction or watching science fiction movies.

~

TFA: Your manifesto stated: Futurist thinking is not just an intellectual exercise. And interesting dress rehearsals in city planning are not feasible. To cope sometimes the city must change direction. Every decision has a permanent influence. Invariably, with interventionist action, there is a cost to someone. And, because the action may relate to a trend not yet obvious to the voting public, the action and costs may not win public popularity.

Futurists primarily paint a variety of scenarios about what might happen based on an understanding of new developments. Also, ‘back-casting’ is important where we examine the processes of our progress to date. Some scenarios are based on global trends making it very difficult for a small player like New Zealand to be influential. But, by understanding the probable and possible scenarios we can sometimes deliberately intervene and make it more likely that a preferred scenario will become our future reality.

Obviously, with the wisdom of Chaos Theory, and an understanding of the new technological developments, many wild card factors can and will disturb the firmament. The rapid advances on many fronts of new technologies, make it particularly difficult for us to devise perfectly precise scenarios. But, regardless of how fuzzy they may be around the edges, these scenarios can be extremely useful tools for progressing our understanding of what we should do to create our most preferred future.

TFA: How might Creative Artists think with this?

Dr. John: The idea that if you think correctly you’ll get there, by thinking clearly and objectively then you’ll have it all summed up, just isn’t correct.

Einstein said “Creativity is more important than knowledge.” So Creative Artists have to challenge the existing way of seeing things, and realize that you take off the covers, make manifest the vitalities of reality that can’t normally be summed up by slogans, and captured in a single photograph, but can - through your work - capture the fundamental richness and truth of being human.

“Through your work capture the fundamental richness and truth of being human.”

~

TFA: You have also stated the following about political values and embracing social responsibility…

Dr John’s Manifesto: After years of participating in “good” causes, it is inevitable that my political focus will be classified as “liberal” or “left of centre.” Essentially, this is because I willingly embrace social responsibility and social justice as being politically correct in the sense that they should be the governing values in politics.

I respect the capacity of fair-minded people to think through the challenges, opportunities and difficulties of society and craft policies which will assist our citizens to live together with more justice, peace, and responsibility for the environment.

Some opponents see the principles I have enunciated as pious cant. But calling them “idealistic humbug”, or dismissing them with the pejorative “politically correct” label are thoughtless and deliberately destructive responses to what I allege is a progressive and appropriate world view.

Liberals should be similarly respectful of people committed to the right wing positions on the political spectrum. Their quest to conserve what is tried and tested deserves respect.

TFA: How might this apply to artists?

Dr. John: If you’re going to need some one to hold your hand then you shouldn’t get into it. So pulling together a strong community, a good community, then it’s one that enourages and supports you when things go wrong.

A community is where you belong because you want to help others, and you take pride in the community, as opposed to a society where you maximize your own self-interest, and where if society does well and you do poorly then you feel as if you’ve had a rum deal.

Helping others along the way so you can be strong, it’s how you orient yourself, it’s whether you accept the challenge or not and whether or not you have a team to help you. When you’ve got a supportive network you can move mountains.

Unfortunately, I did not have an opportunity to discuss this next point of the manifesto with Dr. John, but it struck me as one of the most important ideas to consider and explore, and therefore I am including it here for each of our readers to consider.

Dr. John’s manifesto: Point 6 Respect For Enterprise and Creativity states:

Respect for Enterprise and Creativity means creating a dynamic transformative zest within our structures to offer better business opportunities, services, and also greater opportunities for creative artist expression.

Find ways to encourage administrators to challenge existing procedures which impede entrepreneurial creativity. Success increasingly in the future will depend on those with the ability, resilience and courage to offer different and imaginative ideas which must not be curtailed by bureaucratic hurdles. [Mindset change]

Encourage a Centre in Auckland where inventors of new products can get them tested and assessed by competent technicians and business people without cost until an income is generated. [Some minimal financial resource or entrepreneurs’ subsidy]

Continue to nurture the creative arts which are bringing such credit to Auckland. Lobby for Central Government to locate an iconic and national art gallery on the waterfront e.g. Wynyard Point. [Ongoing. Lobby Government]
Work to ensure regulations do not unnecessarily hinder socially appropriate business practices. [Mindset change]

Continue to find ways to assist Auckland entrepreneurs expand their business horizons internationally. For example, the new strategic relationship with Hamburg in Germany should enhance trading opportunities with Europe. [Mindset change]

Find ways to augment and implement the possibilities of entrepreneurial development in association with such agencies as the Universities’ High Tech Parks, The Government Urban and Economic Development Office, the Economic Development Association of New Zealand, Committee for Auckland, Heart of the City, ANew NZ, etc. [Lobby]

Seek ways to attract international investors for Auckland’s economic developments.

Establish a City Development Fund to encourage investors to support innovative projects approved or endorsed by a team of expert entrepreneurs.

Establish a financial advisory service to enable Auckland companies to access funds available internationally.

Explore ways to manage our city’s assets in ways that encourage investment opportunities to enhance the city’s finances without adding to our ratepayers’ burden.

Establish a legal review of the myriad of regulations under which Council is forced to operate, perhaps with the assistance of the Law Commission. Regulations are important to prevent wrong doing. But their impost must not be so draconian that they frustrate and make unnecessarily expensive innovative developments.

Continue to encourage and support as strongly as possible cultural expression whether music, dance, theatre, art, sculpture, etc. This should include our varied ethnic cultural performances.

~

Before I read his manifesto I had no idea that Dr. John had contemplated so deeply the issues that face the arts, not just in Auckland, New Zealand, but actually around the world.

I think, given the nature of these ideas that you can see why I was so excited to engage in conversation with Dr. John Hinchcliff, whose vision is far reaching and embraces wholeheartedly a creative vision, that I believe, no matter where we are in the world, are capable of achieving and should strive to achieve.

Dr. John, thank you for time and generous assistance in cooperating with me to produce this Feature in the Free Articulator and thank you for including Creative Artists in your considerations of the future of humanity, and not only in your vision of what Auckland could be. Thank you too, for recognizing what we are doing with Allforart and the Free Articulator, your support is most welcome and much appreciated.

Dr. John Hinchcliff’s Parihaka - Review

New Zealand has a habit of being considered second, rather than first among nations, even when it has a clear claim to the position of first. There are reasons for this—we don’t have a large standing army, for instance. Rather New Zealand tends to avoid conflict, and seek the path of reasoned enlightenment and diplomacy. I didn’t fully understand our legacy for non-violence very well until I read John Hinchcliff’s Parihaka, and became interested in it as a place and the events that transpired before Gandhi’s peaceful protests in the 1930s.

Parihaka – the Gentle Bridging of a Cultural Gap, Dr. John Hinchcliff’s historical novel bridged the gap for me, taking me outside of the colonial history I had been taught to secure my spirit and loyalty to the supremacy of white ethnocentrism. It’s not a limitation I would have imposed upon myself. But, then, nobody consulted me about how I should be educated.

Hinchcliff’s novel starts boldly with the unfamiliar, but most appropriate context of Maori creation myths, and it is beautiful, simple and moving. As a storyteller who creates races and gives them a mythology, it is always interesting to read the ideas of real world races and how they have explained the world they live in to themselves.

I have always observed this about the Maori, always wondered at their seeming simplicity, yet behind this is a sophisticated set of social ideas that I find, in many cases more appealing than so-called civilized western culture. The concepts of iwi, hapū and whānau were strange new words until recently.

Before I learned otherwise, I believed that the colonial races plundered and destroyed the earth, and that the indigenous peoples cultivated and worked with it. Who then is factually, more intelligent? I often wondered. Now I know better, I know that all men plunder the earth, and that it is time we stopped. It was in this context that I came to Parihaka; eager to learn more of the things that were denied me when I grew up in Aotearoa, the Land of the Long White Cloud, and that for twenty years I distanced myself from.

However, there was also another aspect to reading this novel for me. I respect John Hinchcliff for his accomplishments, his connections and his position with respect to humanity, and I wanted to discover more of him, by reading this work—though it will barely suffice as more than an introduction, as the man has many accomplishments.

It will probably take a movie telling the story of Parihaka to let the world know that before Gandhi was Te Whiti and Tohu, the original peace activists and developers of non-violent protest and civil disobedience.

I’d like to see that film made, it’s a story worth telling and is a great part of the heritage and legacy of Aotearoa, New Zealand, who though small has established itself as a forward thinking progressive nation, that did a better job of managing the consequences of colonialism than any other nation, even though the job was not perfect. Truly, this demonstrates that we can and do get along and the path of peace is not an impossible one to travel.

For those interested in a gentle introduction told from the multiple perspective of Christian Colonists and Maori natives, to understand the conflict with some sound historical research, John Hinchcliff’s historical novel Parihaka is an excellent introduction, mingled with a little romantic tragedy, that adds a sweet poignancy to the bittersweet political consequence and backdrop that fuels resentment that today’s generations often remain unaware of, but at the mercy of.

I abhor discrimination in all its forms, Parihaka is a work that seeks peace and truth. It brings disparate people together and demonstrates they can get along.

You can buy Parihaka here.

Dr. John Hinchcliff - Futurist - 2004 Report - Ideas for Creative Artists to Consider

Dr. John Hinchcliff has graciously provided some insight into ideas that were under discussion at the Annual Conference of the World Future Society in 2004. This contains some remarkable ideas and insights that are even now making current news. I asked Dr. John about the Futurist Society and he provided me with the following information as insight into what they consider.

It is most encouraging to know that there is such a society. Read more

Dr. John Hinchcliff - Historical Novelist & Creative Philosopher

“Dr. John,” as he is known, is perhaps one of the most accomplished men I have ever had the privilege of meeting and getting to know. If I was running the world, having read his political manifesto, I would use him as a model for all politicians and world leaders; the Powers That Be will not like that idea, that’s for sure. Read more

Conclusion - Lena Semenkova Feature

Is Digital Photographic and Illustration Manipulation Art?

Yes, it is. Why? Because it has come of age and is no longer about technique, but about the use of technique to master the visual language and say something meaningful.

The moment that occurs, regardless of the proficiency of the artist, you have art occurring. Because now you have communication happening, and not just an empty communication devoid of message, meaning or substance, but a communication that stimulates the recipient intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, and culturally. You have full awareness as a viewer and a sense of marvel at the skill of the creative individual who has packaged a concept visually and made possible a realization that informs your own life, integrating seamlessly with it, in an almost undetectable fashion. Anything else is not art, because art is, at its most fundamental, a communication.

The question: “Is this art?” Is answered when you answer the following questions:

• Does it communicate?
• What does it communicate?
• How well does it communicate?
• What is the effect?

There is more to say about these questions and the range of answers given. But these are the fundamental questions to ask to determine whether or not something is art or not.

But people (and entire societies) forget this, and when they lose this fundamental principle and observation communication standards dive, in the end all you will see are the bones of a civilization left, the art that survived a people who decayed.

I titled this Feature Lena Semenkova: Camouflage of Contradictions for Lena is full of these seeming contradictions, doesn’t like groups that use the F-word, but will use it herself when she feels like it, among other equally and sometimes more colorful expressions. Has a spirituality and connection to God that she frankly admits while shunning all religions as she borrows their buildings to commune if she needs to, and she knows she doesn’t need to; and I think that’s the modern sensibility of spirituality today. It’s nobody else’s business, just yours, unless you trust others not to abuse your belief.

Full of contradictory camouflage, perhaps. But antisocial? It depends by which standards you’re going to measure her worth and value, but choose wisely, for becoming a trifle or a gem in this remarkable woman’s life is swiftly determined. Lena’s art illuminates the crises this world faces personally, socially, culturally at this time. Her collection is art that makes a collective statement about our new millennium and who we are within it, and we have some work to do if we are to heed the insights Lena offers us with her work, and thus it is collectible 21st Century art.

Lena Semenkova is a digital artist whose technique, while not up to her own standards yet, is already building a large following at deviantArt, the online community that purports to be the largest in the world and probably is. Among many who post their creations there, she is without a doubt standing up there with the best of them, something the staff at Deviant have already recognized, when they awarded her the coveted DD and featured her work on the homepage of the most trafficked art site in the world (something we didn’t know until we had interviewed her). To shine at such an early period in her career is in no small measure due to the astounding use of visual metaphor, which denotes a way of thinking and conceptualizing that is remarkable. It’s not all about the technique, or the mastery of the technique, Lena’s ability to communicate demonstrates mastery in the visual sphere and this is why we featured her in the Free Articulator.

This self-styled Psychobitchua is an adventurous, fearsome and courageous spirit who battles her own terrors, with an indomitable and indefatigable will, and a frank admission of their existence. Then she’ll tell you she’s shy. And she is, in reality, all these things, and therefore a fine human being, who demonstrates the ability of the artist at a high level. The ability to be.

We’ll keep you up to date with Lena’s career as and when it moves forward (just subscribe to be informed), in the meantime, browse her gallery and collect her prints—this is one of the new millennium’s finest visual communicators.

The Free Articulator and Lena Semenkova are grateful to photographers Sergey Schelkunov and Kotka who graciously gave permission to Lena for their work to be included in our first Free Articulator Feature. Their work is excellent and we are intrigued enough to talk to them about it in later Features. Stay tuned and thank you for your attention.

~

If you know an artist you think may appeal, drop us a line and send us their site. Features are by invitation but we consider all that come to our attention.

Do let us know what you thought of this, our first Feature - leave a comment. Or Articulate Now.

Feature Index

1. Lena Semenkova - Camouflage of Contradictions
2. Digital Art and Photomanipulation
3. Review: The Imitator
4. Review: The Waiting
5. Review: Superstar
6. Interview Part 1
7. Review: The Kingdom
8. Review: Like a Bird
9. Interview Part 2
10. Review: Ghost Rider
11. Review: All the snowflakes must die
12. Interview Part 3
13. Review: Red Skull
14. Review: Prisoner of Conscience
15. Review: War
16. Conclusion

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Review: War - Lena Semenkova Feature

War, most women seem to shy away from the topic. It’s usually a male preserve, though here and there you find a women beginning to encroach upon this one time exclusive domain of men, and that is still a subject debated, though I for one believe women should have the right and the experience of war, so they know what it really is about and not some distant event, speaking purely from a combat perspective. War is an abomination, and most particularly in this time when it is no longer a noble activity fought for anything more than power and control of resources

.

Lena’s image War is odd. It’s odd because, on one level of consideration, among all the other images it’s seems to be a strange topic for her to be engaging. But it is odd on other levels too.

A red-head, her long hair flowing over her armored shoulders blends into a smear of color that creates a long tail that appears to form the lower half of her body. The form and style is like an elongated capital letter ‘S’. Where her waist would be there is none, just the hair like some mermaid’s tail, swirling off into the background like some parody of a glossy hair commercial for shampoo or hair dye.

I wouldn’t recommend this brand. If you read the label it would seem that the constituent ingredients consist of blood and skulls.

This female warrior’s two arms are prominent in the picture. As she faces us her left arm is upraised to her face making a fist. On first impression it resembles the stereotypical defiant gesture that proclaims “I’m tough! Bring it on! I’ll pulverize ya!”

Her arm is tightly bound in a black leather bracer replete with shiny buckles and the impression is more fetish than function.

An ornate metal cross is chained across the back of her hand, but it is not large enough to afford protection. It seems more of an accessory.

Her right arm is held out horizontal to her right hip and extends towards us into the foreground. It forms a perch for a large dark-plumed eagle, whose gaze is directed to his left, out of the tall, narrow frame of the picture. The symbol of a nation? Depending from its hooked beak upon a silvered chain is a tiny skull. I guess it’s a free accessory that comes with the hair dye. There are rings on its talons. An eagle, a war bird instead of a poodle; very clever, Lena.

“…a war bird instead of a poodle, very clever”

It is her head that is most odd. She wears “a helm” that is so strangely designed that it sets the entire tone of the image offsetting the darker elements with something outrageous and ludicrous. It is difficult to describe this but I’ll have a shot.

Fastened by chains a headdress rather than a helm, assumes a precarious position perched upon her forehead. Two sets of paired chains, hang from spokes that extend outward from a circlet also made of thin coiled chain that circles the crown of her head. There is no protection from the implements of war here; I can see her hair through the circlet.

Extending from this circlet are ten far-too-long metal spokes, eight of them are simple. One of them has been flattened and ornately stamped and molded to form an ornamental nose guard. It’s in the six o’clock position. In the 12 o’clock position is the crowning glory. Instead of a spoke a large plume, perhaps an ostrich feather extends upward, increasing her height and making her completely noticeable.

“…lips artificially plumped”

The expression on her face and the pose is also initially looking a bit threatening. But, as you look to her eyes and her very full red lips I see something else. Her lips are full, the lower lip in particular is a pillow in the style Angelina Jolie became famous for, inspiring many young women to have their lips artificially plumped. Trailing from the corner of her mouth, almost as if placed there for effect is a drool of blood. It’s an artful detail, that sets off the impression that this fashionable young thing has just finished delicately consuming something sinfully delectable.

“this is a blood feast”

It’s the eyes that create this impression. They look sideways, out of the picture in that feminine expression that says “I hope nobody caught me eating (looking so bad).” You get the impression she would break into a nervous uncomfortable and gleeful giggle, if you were to say something; it would be as if you have caught her eating chocolate when she shouldn’t be. Only it’s not chocolate she’s been consuming, this is a blood feast.

On one level this work of digital art says to me (some) “Women flirt with death today” as if it is some fashionable accessory instead of the bloody banquet that it is. It speaks to me of a fashion industry that often trivializes the serious subjects of life and death, and that there is something obscene about this fascination. I’m not denying it can be fun too.

It seems to me that Lena’s portrayal of war, says it all. War is ludicrous. Nothing noble about it. Nothing fashionable about it. Nothing practical or useful about it.

TFA: There is another image, the last one I’d like to look at. It’s War. Among all the others it has such a rushed appearance; it is almost a smear on the canvas. A women, all dressed up in battle gear, appears out of a swirl of skulls and blood, as if straight from a bloodbath. It is a violent image. The figure looks as if she has just been feasting. It amazes me how you employ such subtleties, such tiny details to change the meaning. It’s as if you’re saying, “Women are just as guilty of the crime of war as men are.” What inspired War?

Lena: When I finished this piece deep at night, I raised my head to see the unhealthy orange light outside. The neighboring house was burning. No shit.

TFA: Wow.

Lena: I find it symbolical. The topic of war doesn’t let me go, I’m thinking about a few other pieces. This is probably the answer to your earlier question about how crisis affects art. You asked if the global crises we obviously have now affected my art and art in general. I usually don’t think about what inspires and affects me in a global perspective, but the tension in the air probably makes me think about a maiden at war rather than maiden in the garden, sewing and drinking tea with her happy family.

TFA: That’s a pretty radical viewpoint, running counter to much of how women, and female culture, portray themselves.

Lena: I read somewhere that a hurt woman is much more dangerous and crueler than a man.

TFA: This image, War, also makes a mockery of high fashion. The armor is more fashionable, than functional. It’s still important to her, how she looks; that her face is able to be seen. Even though it is partially covered.

Lena: Women are guilty because they choose to cook dinner instead of keeping men from fighting for oil. Women still have that “stepping aside when guys are playing” instinct.

TFA: Ah, yes.

Lena: I was inspired by Highlander 4 movie. Horrible movie. But they had amazing costumes of those modern motorcycle-riding-Vikings.

TFA: Yeah. I can’t help think of a woman wearing armor made out of knives and forks and kitchen utensils, now! [Laughter]

Lena: And a pan instead of helmet. Fork is dangerous weapon. Four holes with one strike. Think about it. Even Wolverine makes three with one strike. Thus, fork is cooler than Wolverine himself.

You can buy Lena Semenkova’s War now. Click here to purchase.

Feature Index

1. Lena Semenkova - Camouflage of Contradictions
2. Digital Art and Photomanipulation
3. Review: The Imitator
4. Review: The Waiting
5. Review: Superstar
6. Interview Part 1
7. Review: The Kingdom
8. Review: Like a Bird
9. Interview Part 2
10. Review: Ghost Rider
11. Review: All the snowflakes must die
12. Interview Part 3
13. Review: Red Skull
14. Review: Prisoner of Conscience
15. Review: War
16. Conclusion

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Review: Prisoner of Conscience - Lena Semenkova Feature

Psychobitchua didn’t want to talk about this particular image, but I do because like The Kingdom the image says a lot about her talent as a visual artist. The model in the picture was originally nearly nude, artfully draped with beads and pearls and ‘precious’ metals that had her looking as if she was fresh from a sheik’s sandy desert home where clothes are only needed to keep the body from losing moisture.

 

Our featured artist has so skilfully adjusted this image that you’re overwhelmed by the first impression. This is a stunning piece of work, displaying Lena’s immense talent and ability to create illusion. Study this picture and you’ll begin to see how Psychobitchua has artfully employed her skill and our mind’s wish to see what it thinks it sees to work for this image. Truly, Prisoner of Conscience is an astounding homage to one of her great inspirations, Johnny Depp.

But what’s it saying? A woman in piratic garb is on all fours, kneeling, perhaps on the rocks of a seashore we cannot see, and which for all we know maybe some isolated patch of rocky reef far from land. She is surrounded by the endless swells of the ocean. Her head is thrown back and up, in an almost wanton pose, as if she seeks to allure, but not quite. There is something fake here. The title is an intriguing one, and it took me a while to figure this one out to at least my satisfaction, and I’m only partially satisfied, I assure you.

This female pirate is a prisoner. Yes, she is chained and shackled to the reef by a metal stake which is driven into it. But where is her conscience? And what does her conscience have to do with this image? Is she shackled to her sexuality, to her gender? A pirate trapped in a woman’s body? Is this beautiful, wanton pirate the prisoner, or are we?

There are no more clues in this picture; only questions that endlessly engage and that is what art is all about.

Art engages the viewer in an endless story, never providing all the answers, but stimulating the imagination to participate in its own stories.

The secret of the Prisoner of Conscience may never be revealed, it may remain locked up in Lena’s (or our) beautiful mind forever, and perhaps that’s the best place for it to be, so that we are always engaged in creating our own stories, with our own conscience.

Feature Index

1. Lena Semenkova - Camouflage of Contradictions
2. Digital Art and Photomanipulation
3. Review: The Imitator
4. Review: The Waiting
5. Review: Superstar
6. Interview Part 1
7. Review: The Kingdom
8. Review: Like a Bird
9. Interview Part 2
10. Review: Ghost Rider
11. Review: All the snowflakes must die
12. Interview Part 3
13. Review: Red Skull
14. Review: Prisoner of Conscience
15. Review: War
16. Conclusion

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Review: Red Skull - Lena Semenkova Feature

Red Skull seems to be such a departure from everything else Lena does and that alone makes it interesting. I’m not usually a fan of still life art, though it seems to be almost a traditional requirement for all fine artists to paint still life images, or bowls of fruit as studies in preparation for more complex works.

I know from reading and many discussions with Marcelle La Cour, and with other painters, that the way Fine Artists (including film makers and photographers) look at light is very different from how most of us consider or even observe it.

Also, Lena’s images are generally about people, they contain and refer to humanity in a very clear way, and this artwork maintains that human connection.

Red Skull seems to be something of a commentary on alcohol. A kind of fat hip flask, with a grinning crazy one-eyed red skull wearing a pirate’s bandanna on his cranium, staring out of his label.

The label is a crisp parchment on the surface of the glass and the name of this hooch is clearly blazoned: Red Skull in the lower foreground of the label. What is in the bottle, and there is definitely something in it, is dark and shadowed and blends seamlessly with the shadows that are slightly behind and to the right of the image as we look at it; this is a very subtle message.

A monarch butterfly is perched on the cap as if about to sip or seeking entry to the contents of the bottle. It cannot get in. At the foot of the bottle just below the label and to its right as we look at it is another butterfly. It is quite plainly lifeless, a victim of the contents. And below this in faded typeface is the caption “Try in this life…OR ANOTHER” and a small red ‘X’ is the period.

Alcohol, has always for me, represented man’s flirt with death, for it is a poison, and when one drinks, one is drinking controlled amounts of a poison, and most people never seem to realize that this is what they are doing.

I know from later discussion with Lena that this particular piece was a commission, and for me it’s a clever statement that says more than most still life images, which to me are always more a demonstration of technique, than a communication of any substance with few rare exceptions.

The shoes of Van Gogh for example (and you have to see them to believe this) are to me a remarkable still life painting because it is such a detailed rendition that the shoes cease to be oil on canvas, rather you feel like they are real shoes and that is such a remarkable demonstration of technique that it is no wonder they have taken on a life and fame of their own. Red Skull, like all of Lena’s art works, says something about the realities of life and this is why I picked this still life image as part of this Free Articulator Feature.

The Red Skull has for me a jaunty, piratical air to it, it flirts with death, in some cruel macabre joke, “Avast, ye swab! Drink this little death to have some fun! Not too much mind!”

Feature Index

1. Lena Semenkova - Camouflage of Contradictions
2. Digital Art and Photomanipulation
3. Review: The Imitator
4. Review: The Waiting
5. Review: Superstar
6. Interview Part 1
7. Review: The Kingdom
8. Review: Like a Bird
9. Interview Part 2
10. Review: Ghost Rider
11. Review: All the snowflakes must die
12. Interview Part 3
13. Review: Red Skull
14. Review: Prisoner of Conscience
15. Review: War
16. Conclusion

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