The Wayfinders

2025 Wayfinders 

MC - Allana Goldsmith

Five Trios

unique performances, crafted by:

David Eggleton, Richard Wallis & Ronald Andreassend

Tangaroa's Realm 

“The neon tigers of the new democracy / splish-splash through blood money; / abetted by a smarmy army of media savants / in a sticky part of the globe leaking oil, / with all the moral cachet of a shampoo sachet… / …for democracy is the burn off of body fat, / democracy is a Coke robot on every street corner, / democracy is the look of the outlaw / on the face of the consumer, / and the sound of branded chains talking crappucino….”

David Eggleton, the former New Zealand Poet Laureate 2019 - 2022, has been described as “a jazz-bop-beatnik poet whose poems never cease to amaze and astound in their creativity”. His style draws on the 1930s surrealists, the 1950s beats, the 1970s punks, and the 1990s rappers. He’s a visible ghost-writer, an anonymous voice-over, a shape-shifting poet in the street: an op-shop surrealist and lyrical word-spinner rhyming to a rhythmic beat. 

David Eggleton combines with guitarist and soundscape composer Richard Walls and designer-artist Ronald Andreassend to present their version of Illuminated Horizons as Tangaroa's oceanic otherworldly realm, providing a cultural and political vision of Aotearoa New Zealand's contemporary place in the South Pacific – Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa – which is at once resolutely local and yet not quite recognisable or predictable, it is a cabaret presentation that's lyrical, satirical, comic and fantastic.

Em Berry, Janina Nana Yaa & Rose Freeborn

Home from here

Home is where the heart is and sometimes there’s no one home yet. 

The collaborative project of musician Rose Freeborn, poet Em Berry and artist Janina Nana Yaa home from here is an open prayer for a better world and the conversations we are all having with ourselves.

Using modes of poetry, music and visual art to play one single unnamed character, Rose, Em and Janina embody the compartmentalisation of a lone mind— giving life to the dark, the light and all that moves between. 

home from here holds space for an intuitive discussion of our very humanity, giving opportunity for both cast and audience to connect, transmute and release. And get home from here. 

Jade Lewis, Hon Manawangphiphat of Club Ruby & Salii Salus

Worldbuilders

What amazing process to see @clubruby President Jade and vice president Hon work with Salii ( of The Henga Studios) in a true collaborative art, music and storytelling fusion, from stop motion to indie-pop this collab is sure to give us something amazing!

Club Ruby - an explosive Auckland indie-pop punk band blending chaotic theatre-kid energy with sharp, satirical songwriting. Think kazoo solos, heartfelt anthems, and a live show that feels like a sugar rush in a mosh pit. Unapologetically weird, wonderfully loud.

Paris Whitehead, Paul McLaney & Martin Sercombe

One Thousand Voices

 is a film poem, fractured elegy shaped by memory, dislocation and a yearning for belonging.   

  Through Paris Whitehead's layered and intimate spoken text, the protagonist moves through landscapes that offer both solace and sorrow. Nature becomes a charged terrain where absence echoes and memory takes root.  

  Martin Sercombe's intimate cinematography traces the South Island's elemental geography: the limestone headlands of Te Hapu, the shadowed fern bush of Hokitika and tidal mud flats in the morning sun. Each location becomes an emotional cartography, mapping internal states through the language of wind, water and light.   

 This three-way dialogue is completed by Paul McLaney's immersive soundscape, composed from the voices of the land and live instruments. 

Lex Shoemark, Luani Nansen & Noah Brown

Blank and Empty Boxes

This show is an exploration of this show is an exploration of self through art. Three Polynesian... Pacific and Māori... South Auckland... Poet... Musician--Multidisciplinary Artists–embody their–roles–roots in the exact amount of time you’re expecting. The name “Blank and Empty Boxes“ refers to a document before you have given your--heart--information to an audience. In this we intend to—follow the script as intended—tell stories of our

past, explore our present life and hopes for the future. Stick to the script

Wordcore Bands

Still Thinking

Lucie Blaze and Mitchell Vickery 

a dark synthwave dance and music shadowplay experience.

Shadowland by Still Thinking

Step into Shadowland — a boundary blurring experience by Auckland based duo Still Thinking (@still.thinking.band), formed by Mitchell Vickery and Lucie Blaze (im_lucie_blaze). Drawing from 1980s dark wave and synth-pop, their sound merges nostalgic textures with a contemporary edge.

Through a fusion of music, spoken word, animation, costume, and performance, Shadowland invites audiences to explore the hidden self — the shadows we repress, the masks we wear, and the question: who are we without them?

Still Thinking debuted in 2025. This is their second public appearance — not quite a concert, not quite a play, but something hauntingly in between.

Exhibition Artists 

Hebe Kearney - Blackout Poetry 

Demi Urges - Visual Installation 

+Trios and Bands 

2024 Wayfinders 

1. Daniel Foothead - Gerhart Lottermoser - Maxie Rodill

2. Liam Jacobson - John Goudge - Daniel Larsen-Barr

3. Amy Marguerite - Matt Reece - Becca Weber

4. Rosina - Rachael Naomi - Christian Jensen 

Mentors - Guiding Stars 

These are creatives and artists that contributed and added installation elements and immersive elements to the installations and the Wayfinder Events of 2024 

Tim Fastenedge 

Jon Baxter 

Joanna Cook/Becca Weber 

Lower Bar Collective