139 Vivian Street, Te Aro, Wellington

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington’s Te Aro Campus transformed into Whanga (The Cove) - an immersive visual arts sanctuary offering a moment of calm amid the festival’s energy. Visitors could explore installations, student films, and creative activations led by the University's talented students and staff. It was a free, family-friendly place to relax, be inspired, and discover the breadth of the University's creativity. 

Key details

Airbrush Glitter Tattoos

Rainbow Circus brought high-energy colour to CubaDupa with their Glitter Tattoo and Airbrush Tattoo station. Pain and commitment-free.

Animation Film Showcase

Curated by Raqi Syed, Miramar Creative Centre  

A collection of short, animated films created by students from the one-year Master of Design Technology programme at the Miramar Creative Centre.

• Bound (5m37). Mason Garner, Nadia Koolina, Lucy Allen, Yoonseo Hwang, Ray Xie. Bound is a CG animated short film about Turnip, a forgotten imaginary friend. When Oliver, a runaway child, stumbles into his world, their friendship fills the enchanted Knot Woods with laughter and adventure. But the woods have their own magic, and the longer Oliver stays, the more he begins to change. Turnip must face a painful truth and learn that the depth of a friendship is not tied to its length. A poignant tale of love, loss, and change, Bound is a tribute to the friendships that shape us forever. 

• The Catch (6m23). Jingxuan Tong, Andrew Tian, Jack Fagan, Adam Leach, Angua Muir. A lonely fisherman clings to the past in a polluted future, hoping to revive his once-thriving life by catching fish. After days of struggle, he catches a small fish and achieves the impossible, but all it reveals is the stark contrast between his vibrant memories and the lifeless sea before him. Realising he can’t reclaim the past, he releases the fish and decides to restore the ocean instead, embracing a new purpose for the future. 

• Echoes of the Wild (7m33). Shaz Bell, Lewis Candy, Billy Chang, Ryan Holloway, Wujun Ren. Echoes of the Wild follows Jamie, a young boy struggling to cope with overwhelming challenges in his personal life. When it all becomes too much, he flees into the forest, hoping to escape his turmoil. However, his fears manifest as dark, haunting entities—the Echoes—that relentlessly pursue him. While deep within the forest, he encounters a living version of his cherished childhood toy. This gentle, mystical guide leads him on a journey of self-discovery, helping him build the courage and resilience needed to face his fears and navigate life’s challenges without being consumed by them. 

• End of Summer (6m14). Haojun Huang, Xiang Wang, Ben Liang, Lisa Preston. A boy navigates a fleeting childhood friendship and discovers his own queerness across three pivotal summers in 1990s southern China. 

Aotearoa Poetry Film Festival Showcase

Curated by Alfio Leotta and Tyler Tesolin. 

The Aotearoa Poetry Film Festival is an event entirely devoted to the celebration and showcase of poetry film.  Poetry film, or video poetry, is a fast-growing art form that combines poetry, moving images, sound and music. This special curation for CubaDupa included some of the best films submitted to the festival since its inception and will showcase the diversity of video poetry produced both in Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas.  

• Red Buckets (3m51). Patrick Moser, USA. An experimental animated reflection on a failed attempt to clean fish as a privileged child on the southern coast. 

• Ara, Made of Stardust (5m07). Sofie Dieu, Australia. Ara, Made of Stardust is a short film commissioned by Michael Sollis for the Griffin Ensemble that explores how the lack of dreaming impacts our connection to our environment, leading to devastating effects. This work aims at alleviating the veil of forgetting that patriarchy and imperialism imposes on us to the point that we have lost our sacred relationship to dreaming and to our very own being. 

• Vā Hina (5m50). Nālani Wilson-Hokowhitu, Aotearoa New Zealand. Vā Hina is based on over twenty years of research, lived experience, and a 2000-year ongoing lineage of ancestral voyaging. It is a film created to honour the ancestor Hina, who shapeshifts throughout her life as mother, lover, grandmother, and guardian. 

• SONNET (4m44). Jan Peeters, Paul Bogaert, Belgium. How useful is good advice if you’re too stressed to focus? Can a couple of rhymes prevent one from falling? 2 characters + 1 dialogue + 1 monologue + 8 lines here + 6 lines there = 1 sonnet. 

• Shades of Grey (2m57). Lyon Pol, Netherlands. Shades of Grey is a short poetry film that explores the complex experience of being mixed race in a white-dominated society. The film captures the feelings of isolation and confusion that arise when one is not fully accepted by either their family or their wider community. 

• SENSIBLE (7m). Axel Chemin, France. “In the heart of emptiness, as well as in the heart of man, there are fires that burn.” SENSIBLE invites us to experience a sensory and hypnotic journey, through dance and the works of Yves Klein. 

• The Distance Between the Staircase and the Sky (7m). Katerina Athanasopoulou, UK. Ascending a staircase in the centre of Athens, there is room for reflection on everyday life, both otherworldly and mundane. On a planet lit by neon, and on a beach powered by cicadas, we twirl into a void measured by walking—one step at a time. 

• La Vie en Rouze (4m10). Elle Kunnos de Voss, USA. A lonely peacock is trapped in the looping memory of vapid nights—while he craves meaningful solitude. La Vie en Rouze explores the strange relationship between social constructs, greed and loneliness. 

• Hymns of a Tiny World (4m46). Izabella Itzia Anguiano-Jacobs, USA. Come spend a day with the birds of New Zealand. See their daily mischief and hear their wonderful song. 

• Whirlflow (4m48). Kathleen Mantel, Aotearoa New Zealand. Poet Amber Esau performs a surreal and hallucinogenic exploration of Waitākere Ranges in west Auckland. 

• Waves of ghosts (3m34). Jack Nicol, Andy Day, Dominic Hoey, Aotearoa New Zealand. Poet Dominic Hoey performs a memoir on the west Auckland of his youth, shot on 16mm and produced by Studio Butter. 

Ask a Philosopher

By Sondra Bacharach, Ramon Das, Simon Keller, Jesse Spafford

Have a burning question? A whimsical wondering? A provocative ask? The philosopher is in. And they welcome your questions and curiosity.  Ask them anything—from the profound to the mundane.

Be a Tree 

By Kevin Romond

For CubaDupa, Kevin Romond presented a site-specific installation that reimagines human identity to bridge the gap between viewer and environment. Through real-time AI-driven image generation, viewers witness their own forms transform into living, breathing arboreal structures. 

The work invites a reflection on Te Ao Māori and our shared lineage with the forest. By seeing ourselves as part of te ngahere, we engage with the mana of the natural world, collapsing the distance between our physical self, the digital self, and the organic environment. This immersive metamorphosis creates a space where technology and the organic spirit converge. 

Kevin Romond is a multi-faceted artist exploring poetic visuals and interactive environments through generative technology.  

Ngāherehere Matihiko / Digital Forest 

By Simon Ray and Tanya Ruka

Ngāherehere Matihiko / Digital Forest gave visitors a unique forest experience.  Here, abstracted natural elements are deftly combined with living trees, shifting light and colour, and pockets of sound.  Catch a glimpse of nature in its myriad forms. Trace your way through the forest. Or lose yourself completely in a sea of green.

Sponsored by  Cool Moves, Berhampore Nursery, Drapers Fabrics and The Fabric Store.

SHH, 3D-printed vine

By Byron Mallett

This delightful and whimsical installation explored the relationship between humans and nature.  Wander past the electronic rata vines, but make sure not to be too loud, they're shy! When all is hushed, watch what happens…the vines come to life. 

A jack-of-all-trades digital media designer, Byron Mallett likes to duct-tape technology together to see what happens. From mechanical flowers that bloom in silence, to animatronic office furniture, Byron enjoys bringing the principles of animation back into the real world.  

Synaesthetic Sanctuary 

By William Shaw

Synaesthetic Sanctuary bridges art, technology, and environmental storytelling, encouraging deeper emotional engagement with New Zealand’s native birdlife. His project explores alternative ways of perceiving sound by translating native New Zealand bird songs into generative visual forms.  The work is inspired by synaesthesia, phonaesthetics, and the richness of Aotearoa’s natural soundscape. 

William Shaw is a Wellington-based visual effects artist. Using procedural tools and custom workflows in Houdini, Shaw moves beyond conventional scientific sound graphs to create intuitive, sensory representations of rhythm, pitch, and texture.  

The Amazing Travelling Photobooth

A fun photo station where one could capture their festival vibes as digital and printed photo memories.

The City Generator 

By Arden Callagher

Arden Callagher’s work investigates how communities can become active agents in shaping the spaces they call home, by creating dialogue, connection, and a sense of collective ownership over place. Above all, the work is driven by curiosity and a belief that play is a powerful tool for meaningful engagement. She asks: What do we love about Pōneke? What do we want to celebrate? How can we incorporate play into our everyday lives?  

Get hands-on with this interactive activation designed for the whole whānau—explore a scale model of the city, colour in the cityscape, and start a conversation with a stranger about what makes this place home.  Your voice, our city, a playground. 

Arden Callagher is an artist and Architectural Graduate based in Pōneke. Alongside her architectural practice, Arden's work draws on participatory design principles to engage communities in broader conversations surrounding the urban landscape and home-space. Her practice is informed by feminist and activist-led approaches, weaving together the built environment and the lived experience of the people who inhabit it.  

Sponsored by Warren & Mahoney.

Te Herenga Waka Film Students Cinema Showcase

Curated by Paul Wolffram, School of Arts and Media, Miramar Creative Centre. 

A selection of short films produced by students from the Master of Fine Arts in Film programme at Miramar Creative Centre.  

Creative documentary stories and fictional films from some of Wellington's top young filmmaking talent. The selected films take audiences on a journey. Be entertained with imaginative narratives. Get deeper insights into humanity. See through the eyes of Pasifika. 

• Missy Fishy (11m54). Erin Murphy (director), Master of Fine Arts.  An unusual discovery at the beach turns Miss Fish’s world upside down. Can she resist the call of the sea or will she be doomed to a fishy fate?  

• Bill Tito: The Unread Story (19m50). Dini Aristya Wulandari (director), Master of Fine Arts. Humans are like books, each with their distinct covers, shapes, and sizes. But the real treasure lies in the stories within, tales that make each of us unique. And one of these exceptional stories belongs to a man named Bill Tito. 

• Mawhialeo ote Alowha - Our Love (16m). Valeriya Golovina (director), Master of Fine Arts. Meli and her husband Avito reflect on the pivotal decision of their lives. With much trepidation they left the tiny atoll of Tokelau for New Zealand seeking a better life for their son. 43 years on, they find themselves pulled between family and a longing for home. 

• My Years of Fear and Trembling (14m). Acacia Wong (director), Master of Fine Arts.  After writing a novel inspired by her relationship with her mother, Taiwanese-New Zealander Alina Wang must learn how to separate from a complicated and destructive relationship and choose herself. 

• Ruru (9m). Sophie Hampson (director), Master of Fine Arts.  A young girl recruits a mysterious shadow on a nighttime forest trail to help face her fear of the dark. 

Te Herenga Waka Media Design Students' Showcase

By Tyler Andrews, James Bodnar, Sean Cajilog, Vivian Chang, Brooke Darrow, Roshan Dixon, Jack Fagan, Lucy Jaeger, Louis Jefferson, Jessica Jervis, Sicong ‘Kristina’ Huang, Elena Lee, Paige Loggenberg, Ivan Mangubat, David Midgley, Bethany Mihaka-Dyer, Zi Yong ‘Zed’ Ng, Eleanor Nugent, Erin O’Brien, Eugene Park, Thanathorn Phumsawai, Wesley Potogi, Annabel Preece, Ava Redgrave, Bon Wilton Scott, Khai Sheak, Devon Sopoanga, David De Vigne, Stacey Willcox, Andrew Yan, Wenlin Zhang, Xiangyu Zhu. Curated by Anne Niemetz

A collection of videos from students of the School of Design Innovation’s Audio-Visual Space course. Using the theme of ‘visual music’, the students have brought their own soundtracks to life as a feast for the eyes.

Zines and zinemaking

By Wellington Zinefest, Visual Narratives Lab and Te Aro Library

Chill DIY zine zone, complete with all the materials you need to make your own zine, collage or art.  Or get inspired by the zines made by our local community, available for your reading pleasure.  You could even drop your hard-earned $ into the Zine Vending Machine and get your hands on some limited editions! 

Whispers from Te Ngahere

By Vioula Said with the help of Zachary Irving, Megan Milano, Ethan Sheaf-Morrison, and Caroline Walmsley 

Whispers from Te Ngahere is an installation rooted in Wellington’s distinctive landscape, where dense native bush meets harbour winds, and moments of shelter are carved out within a highly energetic city. Inspired by the ngahere (forest) that threads through Wellington’s hills, gullies, and town belt, this sculpture looks to translate the wind’s subtle rhythms in the foliage into a spatial experience of quiet creativity. Housed slightly away from the intensity of CubaDupa, the work offers a pause...a place where the forest’s quieter voice can be felt rather than seen. 

Vioula Said is an award-winning spatial designer with a career spanning over 10 years, including as an exhibition designer at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Vioula brings a strong sense of storytelling and engagement to her craft as well as a firmly established sense of design. Her work pushes beyond space and interiors expanding into furniture, product, graphic design and jewellery. In this sense, her work is limitless and she enjoys the challenge of working in a variety of scales. She has a Master of Interior Architecture from Victoria University. 

Vioula worked with students from the Design Innovation programme to bring this work to life.  Sponsored by Bunnings.