Essays on the 2013 Auckland Arts Festival, the provocative, paradoxical and political work of Spanish artist Santiago Sierra at Te Tuhi and Sue Gardiner on artist’s using paper in a digital age. David Craig looks closely at the life and work of potter and worker in clay, Barry Brickell, before the artist’s major survey exhibition opens at The Dowse Art Museum; Art News visits some summer sculpture events in Auckland and beyond; and curator Justin Paton discusses Bill Culbert’s light-footed approach to his upcoming Venice Biennale exhibition. Hear Josie McNaught’s thoughts on what the Minister for the Arts doesn’t know, why Judy Millar worries that the construct of creative thinking is under attack, McCahon House resident Ruth Buchanan on her recent work, and Walters Prize winner Kate Newby as she engages with stones in Newfoundland. We profile Jennifer Mason, visit Rohan Wealleans in his studio, receive a dispatch from Paul Woodruffe while builds an experimental bach in a Viennese park, and collate reviews from Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Bondi, Sydney and Liverpool