Dan Chappell on the transformation of Rotoroa Island in the Hauraki Gulf  into an ‘island of art’ and ceramicist Richard Parker, Virginia Were on the wealth of visual art experiences in store for visitors to the Auckland Arts Festival and the artists reinventing and recycling obsolete technology; and Sue Gardiner’s reflections on the first decade of the 21st century. 

Columnist Josie McNaught worries about arts funding and bureaucrats, while Matthew Collings asks whether nationalism still deserves our attention and John Perry gives his latest market insights. We profile Kushana Bush, visit the studio of Peter Roche and speak to John Pusateri in Dublin. Visiting US curator Johannah Hutchison discusses her favourite things about NZ sculpture and German painter Sandro Kopp shares his thoughts on portraits in the digital age; Phil Dadson reports from the Silk Road and Aaron Kreisler joins a curators’ tour of East Asia’s art centres; and our reviewers visit Northland, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Berlin