Author(s): Michael Stevenson; Todd Niall; David Craig; W B Sutch; Alan Rodgers-Smith

New Zealand

Published on the occasion of La Biennale di Venezia 2003, New Zealand Pavilion, La Maddalena, Venice. This is the story of the intrepid Trekka, hailed as the only New Zealand-made production automobile. It is a story revolving around a period of isolationism and protectionism in New Zealand history when acquiring a new imported car was expensive and almost impossible. Various schemes were developed - the Trekka among them - to create a New Zealand vehicle. Some of these schemes involved directly bartering primary produce such as butter and wool with countries behind the Iron Curtain. The exhibition provides an intriguing narrative about New Zealand's ambivalent relationship with the rest of the world on the 1960s and 1970s and beyond. Michael Stevenson is a passionate archivist of New Zealand culture who makes work that playfully probes the New Zealand cultural and social condition. His work delves into the margins and footnotes of our story as New Zealanders, researching our past to speculate on our present.