What the critics say

The two emperors could have been an opportune time to broaden the total experience: see some great Chinese movies (of which there are many), learn more about the contemporary culture via the medium of television. A Chinese film festival at an adjacent cinema ... a Chinese season on TV One. Oh well, back to reality and more Australian renovation shows.

But if it's headlines that are wanted, Britain's Channel 4 was on the button when it screened Beijing Swings this month, a documentary about China's radical underground art scene, which included footage of artist Zhu Yu eating flesh from a dead baby. Presenter Waldemar Januszczak, the Sunday Times' art critic, thought Zhu Yu's reasoning - that we are all meat in the end - was deluded but honest. "It is worth trying to understand why China is producing the most outrageous, the darkest art of anywhere in the world," he said.

Channel 4 invited feedback from the public, which was overwhelmingly along the lines of "sickened", "disgusted" and "you really are lower than the lowest life-form".

Beijing Swings was just one programme in a season devoted to examining the People's Republic of China during a period of major social and economic change. The series included films, documentaries and, strangely, a Graham Norton special, set in Shanghai. Back here, as the wonders of the Qin-Han dynasties unfold at the city gallery, there's little to speak of elsewhere except a wasted opportunity.

Taranaki bound:

If you are thinking of going to the Taranaki Festival of the Arts, it's time to get booking. Organisers say the February 27-March 13 event is selling well. Favourites so far appear to be the satire Nixon's Nixon, a hit in London's West End and off-Broadway, Lenny James' Sons of Charlie Paora, which impressed in its Auckland debut last year; and the world premiere of the new New Zealand opera The Prodigal Child. But there are many more reasons to visit the festival and the city of New Plymouth, Mr Cruise and his samurai movie the least of them. Tickets are available from Ticketek.

Take a bow:

Eighteen semifinalists from around the world have been chosen to compete in the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. They will battle it out in Queenstown from May 31-June 2, with three finalists performing with the Auckland Philharmonia at Auckland Town Hall on June 6. None of the semifinalists is from New Zealand, apart from Natalia Lomeiko, whose nationality is listed as "Russian/NZ". The competition, which was launched in 2001, has already attained a high reputation internationally and director Anne Rodda believes this year's event will mean acceptance into the World Federation of International Music Competitions. The winner receives $40,000, a Naxos recording contract and an Australasian performance tour.

Contributors please:

Visual arts ezine www.nzartmonthly.co.nz is looking for lively writers to offer reviews, opinions, stories and listings. The site, which is completely contributor-driven, tries to offer broad coverage of the arts in New Zealand and Australia and is refreshed each month. For further information, visit the site or contact the.editors@nzartmonthly.co.nz

Anthony Goicolea and Patricia Piccinini:

Fascinating work by two artists who manipulate digital images and create their own semi-surreal worlds. New York-based Goicolea, who exhibited at Artspace last year, returns with more images of himself in multiple form doing things nice young men should not; Melbourne-based Piccinini has created an odd little cloned "life form" which she pictures out and about - its reaction to society, and society's to it; Gow Langsford Gallery, January 14-February 8.

Looking North:

This collection of historical works from the Hocken Library is well worth a look, especially as the selection of paintings, maps, photos and books about Auckland, circa 1840s-1890s, rarely leaves Dunedin; University of Otago House, 385 Queen St, until January 24.

- Linda Herrick