GAMER: Night School
GAMER: Night School poster, 2025.
Sung Hwan Bobby Park
Sam Low.
Steven Junil Park.
Bea Gladding and Nathan Joe.
GAMER: Night School artists and participants, Sunghwan Bobby Park, BTM collage workshop, 7 July 2025.
Sunghwan Bobby Park, BTM collage workshop, 7 July 2025.
Sunghwan Bobby Park, BTM collage workshop, 7 July 2025.
Sunghwan Bobby Park, BTM collage workshop, 7 July 2025.
Sunghwan Bobby Park, BTM collage workshop, 7 July 2025.
Sunghwan Bobby Park, BTM collage workshop, 7 July 2025.
Sunghwan Bobby Park, BTM collage workshop, July 2025. Detail of collage.
Sam Low at the Flavour Room workshop, 8 July 2025.
Sam Low, Flavour Room workshop, 8 July 2025.
Sam Low, Flavour Room workshop, 8 July 2025.
Sam Low, Flavour Room workshop, 8 July 2025.
Sam Low, Fermented fruit making station, Flavour Room workshop, 8 July 2025.
Sam Low, Flavour Room workshop, 8 July 2025.
Sam Low, Flavour Room workshop, 8 July 2025.
GAMER: Night School artists and participants, Sam Low, Flavour Room workshop, 8 July 2025.
Steven Junil Park, Dressing as a Daily Act of Becoming workshop, 9 July 2025.
Steven Junil Park, Dressing as a Daily Act of Becoming workshop, 9 July 2025.
Participants sharing their significant garment, Steven Junil Park, Dressing as a Daily Act of Becoming workshop, 9 July 2025.
Steven Junil Park (right) and Nathan Joe (left), Dressing as a Daily Act of Becoming workshop, 9 July 2025.
Participants sharing their significant garment, Steven Junil Park, Dressing as a Daily Act of Becoming workshop, 9 July 2025.
Participants sharing their significant garment, Steven Junil Park, Dressing as a Daily Act of Becoming workshop, 9 July 2025.
Steven Junil Park, Dressing as a Daily Act of Becoming workshop, 9 July 2025.
Nathan Joe and Bea Gladding, The Purpose of Space, 10 July 2025.
Nathan Joe and Bea Gladding, The Purpose of Space, 10 July 2025.
Nathan Joe, The Purpose of Space, 10 July 2025.
Nathan Joe and Bea Gladding, The Purpose of Space, 10 July 2025.
Bea Gladding, The Purpose of Space, 10 July 2025.
Nathan Joe and Bea Gladding, The Purpose of Space, 10 July 2025.
Nathan Joe and Bea Gladding, The Purpose of Space, 10 July 2025.
Nathan Joe and Bea Gladding, The Purpose of Space, 10 July 2025.
The second gathering of the Parallax: programme is four night school sessions in collaboration with GAMER.
GAMER (Gay Asian Makers Experimental Residency) was born from a need to embrace collective and process-based practice. What might artists across disciplines learn from each other? What might artists within a community learn from each other? The result was a micro-residency across disciplines. Curated by Nathan Joe, the first iteration of it ran for just under a week earlier this year at Te Wā, Ōtautahi Christchurch.
With GAMER: Night School, select participants of GAMER return and invite the public to engage in their practices.
The participants returning to lead Night School workshops will be Sung Hwan Bobby Park, Sam Low and Steven Junil Park. The Night School will close with a conversation between Nathan Joe and Bea Gladding on the final night.
BTM Collage with Sung Hwan Bobby Park
Monday 7 July, 6–8:30pm
Max 8 participants
As part of Sung Hwan Bobby Park’s ongoing development of his BTM universe, participants are invited to create three-dimensional collages through the layering and covering of unexpected objects. Park explores the unexpected intersection between sculpture and collage.
Flavour Room with Sam Low
Tuesday 8 July, 6–8:30pm
Max 8 participants
How might we consider questions of taste and flavour and storytelling more closely? In this workshop Sam Low invites us to explore the stories embedded in the spaces we often don’t see but hold dear. A series of sensory tasks are designed to engage smell, memory, taste, and focused attention. Each awakens the senses, evoking emotion, and sharpening perception through food. Tracing nostalgia through our senses of taste and smell.
Dressing as a Daily Act of Becoming with Steven Junil Park
Wednesday 9 July, 6–9pm
Max 8 participants
Steven Junil Park will share his experience of discovering identity through dress. When dressing our bodies is to navigate an industry fraught with environmental, social, and ethical issues, how can we find joy and self-expression through the clothing that we wear? Let us explore our relationships to the clothing we already own: leaning into the rich emotional, social, memorial, cultural, and spiritual dimensions of what clothing can mean to us, rather than the standards the industry offers. For this workshop you are invited to bring an item of clothing that is significant to you in any way.
The Purpose of Space, Nathan Joe and Bea Gladding in conversation
Thursday 10 July, 6–7:30pm
Max 30 participants
What is the purpose of space and collective practice? Who is it for and what does it do? In this conversation between Bea Gladding and Nathan Joe, they will reflect on what it means to have been part of different arts spaces, traversing those that are institutional as well as those that are grassroots. This will be followed by an opportunity to engage in group discussion and dream collectively.
To express your interest in the workshops please fill out the google form.
If you have any questions please contact jingcheng@artspace.org.nz
Biographies
-
Bea Gladding, also known as Mr Meaty Boy, Ngāti Porou, Ngāpuhi, is a multidisciplinary artist, producer, and a true powerhouse in Ōtautahi’s arts scene. Bea is the Artistic Director of Te Wā, known for pushing boundaries and building vibrant creative communities. Identity is at the heart of Bea’s work—unapologetically embracing who they are and championing Māori, Pasifika, LGBTQ+ women, and non-binary individuals in spaces where representation is still too rare. Drawing on the energy of underground dance music Bea is building experiences in new contexts and discovering captivating intersections in collaborative works.
-
Nathan Joe is a playwright, performance poet and theatre-maker. In 2022 his play Scenes from a Yellow Peril had its world premiere at the ASB Waterfront Theatre. In 2023 his play Losing Face had its world premiere at Q Theatre as part of the MATCHBOX programme. As a curator, he was the Creative Director of Auckland Pride for the 2023 and 2024 festival, and prior to that the Programming Assistant at Basement Theatre. Independently, he is also the creator behind DIRTY PASSPORTS and GAMER. Most recently, he toured his work A Short History of Asian New Zealand Theatre to the 2025 Kia Mau festival.
-
Sam Low won MasterChef NZ in 2022 and he’s an award-winning barista and latte art champion, as well as an Instagram superstar. He is passionate about modern Chinese gastronomy and focused on honouring traditional cuisine through an immigrant diasporic lens. As the author of Modern Chinese, Sam often explores Chinese cuisine with a contemporary lens, blending tradition with questions of innovation and assimilation.
-
Steven Junil Park (he/they) is a Korean-born multi-disciplinary artist based in Ōtautahi. He is known for his work under the name 6x4 where he produces all manner of functional objects from recycled, repurposed, or vintage materials, focusing on the medium of clothing to address questions of identity and place. His practice is heavily process based, where materials come alive while being worked to create a language for communion with the intangible. He explores the potential for the hand-made to express and understand the human experience, viewing the tacit knowledge gained from craft practice as a way to understand what it means to be a person. He is a strong believer in the power of craft, where the transformation of materials from one state to another can double as a powerful way to transform the inner self.
-
Sung Hwan Bobby Park is a Korean visual artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. His multidisciplinary practice, notably sculpture, photography and live performance, often meld into singular, impactful experiences exploring queer identity. Park's work, including his ongoing "BTM" series of ceramic "bullet-proof helmets" reflecting on his South Korean military service, delves into identity complexities within heteronormative and colonised contexts. He is the recipient of the 2023 Arts Foundation Springboard award, 2023 Waikato Contemporary Art Awards runner-up, and a 2019 Portage Ceramic Awards finalist.