The first session of Reading Environments | Envelope is titled Void and focuses on Te Kore and the open spaces within buildings, marae ātea and elsewhere. We will read Anna-Christina Engels-Schwarzpaul and Carl Te Hira Mika ‘Silences Generating Space’ from Dorian and Kakalis (eds) The Place of Silence, and Whiti Hereaka’s prologue to Hereaka and Ihimaera (eds) Pūrākau.


"And in the infinite void of Te Kore there is a hum, a hum of recognition: a prediction of change. We have started something. It is a beginning and in less than a second everything expands into…"
- Hereaka, Whiti. ‘Prologue.’ In Pūrākau: Māori Myths Retold by Māori Writers, 22-29. Auckland: Vintage, 2019.

Reading Environments is a reading group open to all, for reading, listening and thinking together. Hosted by Tim Corballis (Science in Society), Su Ballard (Art History), Bonnie Etherington, and Adam Grener (English Literatures and Creative Communication), Reading Environments brings together academics, students and interested members of the public to delve into and discuss work in – and adjacent to – the Environmental Humanities, helping us navigate the changing environmental contexts of the planet.

The Reading Environments series will continue on three Thursdays to accompany The buildings notice me, selected by Tim Corballis senior lecturer in the School of Science in Society, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. The readings complement the exhibition’s focus on architecture, engaging with space, ambience and enclosure within buildings, gesturing inwards towards human bodies and outwards towards the cosmos. The three topics within the Envelope theme will respond to the exhibition as a whole: each session will begin with a brief walking introduction from the foyer to the Lower Chartwell Gallery, touching briefly on works that resonate with the readings. We will make an effort to include anyone with mobility issues in the walk.