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Saturday Morning for Saturday 12 August 2023

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8.10 Dr Ratu Mataira: Kiwi physicist joins the nuclear fusion race

Physicist Dr Ratu Mataira is on a mission to harness the power of the sun.

The 31 year old leads OpenStar Technologies, a Wellington based start-up building a 'levitated dipole' fusion reactor prototype.

Fusion is the process that happens inside the sun and other stars, when hydrogen atoms "fuse" to make helium, releasing tremendous amounts of energy.

Recreating the process here on earth is viewed as the  "holy grail" of energy, with the potential to create vast amounts of emissions-free electricity. 

Dr Ratu Mataira:

Dr Ratu Mataira: Photo: supplied

9.05 Gabriel Krauze: raw writing from the streets of London

Gabriel Krauze's extra curricular activities were a little different from the average English literature student.

While completing his degree at London's Queen Mary College, he was involved in gangs, drugs, stabbing and robbery.

This double life is captured in his gritty debut autobiographical novel Who They Was, which was long listed for the 2020 Booker Prize.

Gabriel Krauze is appearing at WORD Christchurch in late August.

Gabriel Krauze Photo: supplied

9.45 Megan Dunn: worshipping art

Megan Dunn

Megan Dunn Photo: Supplied

Art writer and author Megan Dunn is taking us to church.

A surprising amount of art can be found on the walls and windows of Aotearoa's places of worship.

Milan Mrkusich, Doreen Blumhardt, Nigel Brown and Shane Cotton are just some of the creatives whose work adorns churches. 

Megan's art pilgrimage takes us from Saint Joseph's in Grey Lynn, to Parnell's Trinity Cathedral, St Faiths Anglican Church in Rotorua, and an exhibition about Wellington's recently demolished First Church of Christ Scientist.

 

 

Aerial view, First Church of Christ Scientist c 1984 courtesy of Athfield Architects (PHOTO: Meg Campbell)

Ceramic capitals and tiles by Clare Athfield, Darren Matthews and Neville Porteous, First Church of Christ Scientist, 2015 (PHOTO: Jane Ussher)

Ceramic capital from the First Church of Christ Scientist, c. 1983. (PHOTO: Sam Hartnett)

Doreen Blumhardt ceramic wall reinstalled after the demolition of the First Church of Christ Scientist, Khandallah, Wellington, February, 2023 (PHOTO: Simon Devitt)

Milan Mrkusvich - street facing window at St Josephs, Grey Lynn (PHOTO: supplied)

Milan Mrkusich Stations of the Cross, St Josephs 2021 (PHOTO: Bronwyn Holloway Smith)

Milan Mrkusich chapel window 2021 (PHOTO: Bronwyn Holloway Smith_)

Nigel Brown window Trinity Cathedral (PHOTO: Peter Dragicevich)

Holy Trinity Cathedral, Shane Cotton, Glassworks (PHOTO: supplied)

Holy Trinity Cathedral, Shane Cotton, Glassworks (PHOTO: supplied)

Gaillee window St Faiths Church Rotorua (PHOTO: Andrew Warner)

Rotorua Christ on Water (PHOTO: Dan Windisch)

Altar, St Faiths Church, Rotorua (PHOTO: Andrew Warner)

Sanctuary, St Faiths Church, Rotorua (PHOTO: Andrew Warner)

God Julian Hooper 2021 (PHOTO: Sam Hartnett)

10.05 Celebrating hip hop's golden anniversary with Darryl Leigh Thomson

A party in New York's Bronx neighbourhood on August 11th, 1973, DJ'ed by Kool Herc, is considered to be hip-hop's genesis moment.

The art form that was born that day has since gone global, becoming a significant popular cultural force.

Darryl Leigh Thomson aka DLT was a pioneer in the Aotearoa hip hop scene.

As a founding member of Upper Hutt Posse his turntable scratching skills feature on New Zealand's first rap single, 'E Tu', in 1988

He also produced No.1 hit 'Chains', which kickstarted Che Fu's solo career. 

He joins Kim to share some of his favourite hip hop tracks.

Darryl Leigh Thomson aka DLT

Darryl Leigh Thomson aka DLT Photo: Supplied

11.05 Jared Davidson: how prison labour built New Zealand

Some of New Zealand's most important roads, buildings, botanic gardens and great walks were constructed by forced labour, in an era where idleness and waste was deemed more criminal then crime.  

Historian Jared Davidson's new book Blood and Dirt - Prison Labour and the Making of New Zealand reveals the extent to which convicts were used to bolster a labour shortage gap in the latter half of the 19th Century.

Davidson's other books include Dead Letters: Censorship and Subversion in New Zealand 1914-1920, Sewing Freedom, and The History of a Riot.

Photo: BWB/supplied

11.30 Prof John Plotz: finding new meaning in old books 

Among his varied interests, leading Victorian literature scholar and prison educator Professor John Plotz revisits forgotten novels, giving them a second life, and explores the redeeming value of books for former prisoners.

Professor of Humanities at Brandeis University, Plotz is the editor of the B-Sides series on Public Books.  His first book Portable Property examines the objects Victorian Britons took with them when they traveled abroad, to persuade them their national identity was intact. 

Professor Plotz is giving this year's University of Otago Dalziel lecture on August 25 in Dunedin, related to his current work about science fiction and satire; how it makes you think by making you laugh.

Photo: supplied

 

Books featured on this show:

Who They Was
By Gabriel Krauze
Published by HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN: 9780008375034

Blood and Dirt - Prison Labour and the Making of New Zealand
by Jared Davidson
Published by Bridget Williams Books
IBSN: 9781991033406

Music played in this show

Song: Rapper's Delight
Artist: The Sugar Hill Gang
Time played: 11:05

Song: E Tu
Artist:Upper Hutt Posse
Time played: 11:10

Song: The Message
Artist: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
Time played: 11:25

Song: Chains
Artist:  DLT ft Che Fu
Time played: 11:35


Song: Silver and Gold
Artist: Ermehn
Time played: 11:45

Song: Kupe
Artist: Tipene Harmer
Time played: 11:55