UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT

Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, New Zealand, 2023.

The Michael Fowler Centre is a convention centre in Wellington that opened in 1983, named after the mayor of Wellington at the time, Michael Fowler. Under the Spotlight explores Shannon Novak’s relationship with the building and two key interactions Fowler had with local queer communities during his mayoralty (1974 – 1983): the mayoral election in 1977 and sister city campaign in 1981.

The work manifests in five acts over time following “Freytag's pyramid”, a five-act dramatic structural framework developed by Gustav Freytag, a German novelist and playwright of the mid 19th Century. The framework breaks a story down into exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. The first act existed temporarily on social media; the remaining four acts appeared on stage in the Michael Fowler Centre auditorium.

Junctures (Exposition)

Shannon Novak, Online, 2023.

In 1994, Novak attended the “Capital Teen Convention” at the Michael Fowler Centre. This event was organised by Youth For Christ (YFC), a worldwide Christian organisation working with young people. YFC chapters from around New Zealand met to talk about their faith and compete for awards in fields like drama, music, and art. Novak, a teenager at the time, entered the art competition with a drawing based on the crucifixion of Jesus. It was during a time he was in the closet and struggling to reconcile Christianity with being gay. He won an award for his artwork and accepted this award on stage in the Michael Fowler Centre auditorium.

Junctures (Exposition) took the form of temporary social media stories, shared the day before the physical works were installed onsite at the Michael Fowler Centre. The composition of each story is based on the colours, fonts, and structure used in an original Youth For Christ newsletter printed in 1994 that reported on the event at the Michael Fowler Centre.

CITIZENS FOR CARMEN (RISING ACTION)

Shannon Novak, Auditorium, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, New Zealand, 2023.

In 1977, queer icon Carmen Rupe ran a campaign to become mayor of Wellington. Her policies included legalising sex work and homosexual law reform. Michael Fowler (the sitting mayor) won. Regardless, Carmen’s mayoral campaign stands as an important milestone in increased of visibility and support for queer communities.

Citizens for Carmen (Rising Action) is a framed portrait of Carmen that sits centre stage in the Michael Fowler Centre auditorium. The image is an edited version of the original portrait photo taken by Victor Morey in the 1960’s in Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia. The photo is edited to emulate the style of the mayoral portrait of Fowler that still hangs in the Michael Fowler Centre. The title of the work is from the heading on an election campaign advertisement run by Carmen.

INtimate arrangements (climax)

Shannon Novak, Auditorium, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, New Zealand, 2023.

In 1967, Carmen opened a café and sex on premises venue in Wellington called “Carmen’s International Coffee Lounge”. Customers would arrange their teacups and saucers in particular ways to indicate their preferences. If a cup was placed upside down on a saucer, the customer wanted heterosexual sex. If a cup was placed on its side on a saucer, the customer wanted sex with a transsexual or drag queen. If the cup was placed underneath the saucer, the customer wanted homosexual sex. Intimate Arrangements (Climax) is made of 100 teacup and saucer sets placed on stage in the Michael Fowler Centre auditorium. This number reflects the maximum Carmen was allowed at the café of 100 customers a day. The work echoes teacup and saucer configurations used during the time the café operated, but also manifests new configurations based on the many sex related possibilities and terminologies used today.

One teacup and saucer set is coloured and shaped different from the rest (purple and more ornate) and placed at the pinnacle of one teacup and saucer configuration. This embodies Carmen as a guiding light and leader for queer rights.

Interface (falling action)

Shannon Novak, Auditorium, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, New Zealand, 2023.

In 1981, Fowler travelled to San Francisco to propose the city have a sister city relationship with Wellington. San Francisco was one of the more prominent homes to queer communities at this time. Fowler had a shaky relationship with queer communities in Wellington having recently rejected an advertising request from the Lesbian Centre. He stated it would “encourage deviations from the norm”. Wellington gay and lesbian activists decided to make queer communities in San Francisco aware of this situation and the proposed sister city relationship. One of these activists, Gavin Young, travelled to San Francisco and met with a group dedicated to gay liberation called Solidarity. Young says:

“We identified Solidarity as the activist group to talk to. They met in a former funeral home and I presented to them the request by the Lesbian Centre in Wellington to advertise on the buses being denied along with Fowler’s backing of the decision. They asked how could they help, so I explained that Fowler was to speak at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce in July and asked if they would be willing to protest that event. They said ‘Of course!’ and arranged a placard painting session at the old funeral home a few days later”.

The protest took place and was successful. The sister city relationship never eventuated. Interface (Falling Action) captures the moment Wellington and San Francisco queer communities connected and began planning the protest. Two laptops sit on tables centre stage in the Michael Fowler Centre auditorium, one streaming live weather data for Wellington and one streaming live weather data for San Francisco. The screens lean on each other creating a triangular form reflecting increased strength through partnership.

SOLIDARITY (DENOUEMENT)

Shannon Novak, Auditorium, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, New Zealand, 2023.

Solidarity (Denouement) builds on Interface (Falling Action), showing the moment of unification between Wellington and San Francisco queer communities during and after the protest of Fowler’s visit to San Francisco.

The work is made of a large LED sign supported by two pyramidal structures placed centre stage in the Michael Fowler Centre auditorium. The image is a hypothetical island or country created by merging the cities of Wellington and San Francisco.