A cautious warning: this content is not for the faint-hearted.
The Cabinet of Curiosities: tiny lectures on the weird and wonderful. An evening with Ariana Tikao, Catherine Chidgey, Chris Tse, Una Cruickshank, Duncan Sarkies and Kate Camp, presented by Dr Erin Harrington.
“What is said in the cabinet of Little Andromeda, stays in the cabinet” … Little did Erin Harrington (the Cabinet’s presenter) know that I was on a mission to report back to a wider audience.
The setting was cosy, and yet mysterious. A rich, dark blue velvet curtain served as a unique background for the cabinet. Only a stand, a plastic chicken and a microphone completed the very minimal setting. The audience was intrigued and wondered what to expect.
Erin introduced the cabinet of living participants and explained that the plastic chicken, was, in fact, a horn to keep the guests on track and make sure they stuck to their allocated 10-minute time slot.
Duncan Sarkies, the first guest, shared his passion for Aotearoa’s chip bags and entertained us with a short history of New Zealand’s competing brand of crisps, the shape, the flavours, the marketing, the packaging… not a single crisp was left unturned, and he had the audience in tears of laughter.
Ariana Tikao took us on a linguistic tour of the “Patero”, the different Te Reo expressions for the flatulence, more commonly known as the fart. The short, the loud, the imperial, the soft and smelly, … Ariana illustrated Te Reo Māori’s rich vocabulary to define the human scented emissions. It was a loud, interactive presentation, where we were encouraged to repeat the different Te Reo Māori words for man’s most basic urge. A linguistic and humorous tour de force which had us all laughing again.
Una Cruickshank gave us a slightly macabre exposé on the history of lead poisoning. It was a very instructive, historical research on its different uses in construction, makeup and fuel. She highlighted the impact of the pollution for both humans and the environment.
Young Catherine Chidgey had a fascination for her mother’s treasured golden mesh bag. In adult life, it almost drove her to the limits of sanity, when she started a collection of vintage mesh purses. What initially started as an innocent hobby, came close to an all-encompassing obsession. She’d track them down on eBay at all times of the day and even keep extremely detailed notebooks with every single item. She shared the highlights and low points, of being “sniped” by competing collectors, the occasional virulent email exchanges with sellers, when the mesh bag arrived in a damaged condition. The author shared her experience as an avid collector in a candid way, alternating between self-deprecating humour and an honest confession of her darker side.
Chris Tse created an online fan-based website dedicated to Bic Runga. The release of her album Birds coincided with a student tour to China. He shared his anguish of leaving Aotearoa just days before the release of the new album and how he obtained a record thanks to an acquaintance working in a record store. He reminisced with a certain nostalgia about the era of the amateur fan-based websites, dedicated to an artist. The time and love he spent to help promote a musician he admired and how this era has disappeared with the emergence of social media.
Kate Camp delighted us with a more practical and down-to-earth experience. She showed up in full swim attire, a shell shaped paddling pool and a red bucket of ice-cold water. She shared her passion for daily swimming in the ocean and mostly, how to get properly dressed in a carpark without revealing the bits and pieces that would get one arrested for indecent exposure. It was a hilarious tour de force in stripping in public without revealing an inch of flesh, done with grace and class, but mostly an XL-size portion of humour and fun! Kate Camp made this evening unforgettable and got a roar of applause and cheers when she finished the sketch in 10 minutes fully dressed!
The Cabinet of Curiosities 2025 was a memorable evening, the audience left entranced and wiser than before. We learned about the history of Aotearoa’s crisp business, the impact of lead poisoning, how to express our scented urges in Te Reo Māori, the dark side of collecting, the music of Bic Runga, but mostly, how to change in style in a carpark and not get exposed!
Tanya
Matuku Takotako: Sumner Centre
More
Read books by:
Photos
Photos from Cabinet of Curiosities
WORD Christchurch
- WORD Christchurch website
- Follow WORD Christchurch on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok
-
Our WORD Christchurch 2025 page
Find books by writers from this year's festival and read our coverage of WORD events
Add a comment to: The Cabinet of Curiosities: tiny lectures on the weird and wonderful