White Fungus 6 On Sale Around the World
Press Release - July ‘06
Wellington-based arts magazine White Fungus is now on sale throughout New Zealand and around the world. The experimental
arts zine, which began as a free photocopied handout in late 2004, is now available at international locations including
San Francisco’s City Lights Books, Brisbane’s Institute for Modern Art and Singapore artist-run space the Substation.
Current issue, number six, features an interview with New Zealand Melbourne-based artist Ronnie van Hout and an article
on Islanded, an exhibition of New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan art that was held at Wellington’s Adam Art Gallery and
is now at Singapore’s Institute for Contemporary Art.
The issue also includes a full-colour comic drawn by Wellington comic artist Tim Bollinger and an article on
world-renowned New Zealand experimental sound artist Birchville Cat Motel.
The beginnings of White Fungus trace back to Taiwan where three of its creators, editor Ron Hanson, designer Mark Hanson
and music editor Rowan Laing, lived for several years before returning to New Zealand in late 2003. The name of the
magazine comes from a brand of canned food discovered in a local Taichung supermarket.
"Taiwan’s been through some pretty rapid economic development," Laing says, "and some of the English branding of
products can be a little haphazard or chaotic at best. It started to make us think about branding in general."
The magazine, while focusing on the experimental arts in New Zealand, looks to tap into a wider dialogue. German music
magazine Tokafi described White Fungus as being "an active opposition to the information model – instead of feeding you
with knowledge, they spark the fire of inspiration and the desire to go out and explore for yourself. It knows that
awareness comes into being through active involvement."
For more information on White Fungus, check out: www.whitefungus.com
ENDS