Art critic and writer Anthony Byrt is the Kaipukahu University of Waikato Writer in Residence for 2023.
Art critic and writer Anthony Byrt is the Kaipukahu University of Waikato Writer in Residence for 2023.
Northland art critic and journalist Anthony Byrt, 43, is the Kaipukahu University of Waikato Writer in Residence for 2023, taking over from Diana Clarke.
He has written for the international art magazine Artforum for over a decade and has also written for magazines such as Metro, North & South andthe New Zealand Listener.
For the duration of the 12 months residency, Byrt has already three projects on his list: Spending time on the road with New Zealand artist Shane Cotton for his new book, beginning an interview-based collaboration with painter Judy Millar and launching into research about the 1945 stand-off between New Zealand and Yugoslav forces over Trieste, Italy.
“While it’s ambitious to take on three projects in a year, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to contemplate that level of ambition without the support of the university.”
University of Waikato creative writing senior lecturer Catherine Chidgey says Byrt is one of Aotearoa’s most esteemed non-fiction writers and the university is delighted to welcome him to campus.
“Anthony’s three fascinating projects promise an abundance of creative nourishment, and we’re excited to follow their growth over the course of his time with us.”
Byrt's first book, This Model World: Travels to the Edge of Contemporary Art", was shortlisted for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards in 2017.
For the project with Cotton, Byrt plans to drive around the upper North Island to key sites associated with the artist’s work. He will also regularly meet with Millar to record conversations for his second project.
Byrt has already been researching the Trieste stand-off for a number of years but says he didn’t have the time to put his findings into book form.
“It’s a huge privilege to have the time to take on projects I’ve been thinking about for a long time and really care about. The parts are in place, the people I need are in place, all I was missing was the time. Getting this gig at Waikato was key to attacking projects like this.”
Byrt is moving to Hamilton with his wife and son from Mangawhai. For him, it will be more of a return to Hamilton, because it is the city where his writing career began more than 20 years ago.
Anthony Byrt has long been exploring contemporary art. Photo / Chloe Kay
“Hamilton is an ideal base for me, where I can have the time to consolidate and process the material I’ve gathered on the road. I’m also really looking forward to engaging with students and testing ideas with my colleagues at the university.”
Chidgey says the students will benefit from Byrt’s knowledge.
“One of the wonderful things about the residency is the opportunity it offers students to engage with some of our best practising writers; I know they will benefit in many ways from having a writer of Anthony’s calibre on campus.”
Byrt has a lot of experience in the industry. He was New Zealand’s Reviewer of the Year 2015 and was a Critical Studies Fellow at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. He was also a Writer in Residence at the Michael King Writers’ Centre in 2017, and joined the centre’s board in 2018.
His most recent book, The Mirror Steamed Over: Love and Pop in London, 1962 (2020) was longlisted for the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards in 2021. The Mirror Steamed Over is an untold story of how a group of young outsiders reinvented art in the early 60s in London.
The residency is jointly funded by the University of Waikato and Creative New Zealand.
