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This week's stories The art of the Berlin underground railway Berlin's underground train network will be where Serbian/New Zealand artist Biljana Popovic will be spending much of her time as Creative New Zealand's Artist in Residence in the German capital this year. Biljana is an artist and spatial designer and the U-Bahn is a space she finds fascinating. Feb 18, 2018 02:50 pm Novelist Stephanie Parkyn's wild colonial adventure Expat Kiwi writer Stephanie Parkyn's new novel Into the world is so exotic it can only be based on real life! It's the story of a Frenchwoman who disguised herself as a man to escape the French Revolution, and ended up on a rescue mission in the Great Southern Ocean. Marie-Louise is a steward on board one of two ships searching for a missing explorer. Feb 18, 2018 02:35 pm From a stately home to Auckland's Splore Festival A genuine English aristocrat who literally ran away to join the circus, these days has her feet firmly on the ground running arts festivals in New Zealand. Lady Emma Vickers is the Performance Director at the Splore Festival - the annual, boutique music and arts festival held at Auckland's Takapuna Regional Park since 1998. Feb 18, 2018 02:25 pm BodyCartography Project - still crazy after 20 years! One of New Zealand's most experimental dance companies, BodyCartography Project, is marking its 20th year with four ambitious works, one of them 13 hours long. The dancers are making history at Te Papa Tongarewa, creating the first dance work the museum's ever commissioned for its permanent collection. BodyCartography's connection with Te Papa goes right back to its opening, where they danced in, around and above the building! Feb 18, 2018 01:47 pm Nisha Madhan is aggressively anti stereotypes! Auckland actor, writer,director and producer Nisha Madhan has had two things on her mind recently.- to challenge the stereotype of an Indian Kiwi and to perfect the ultimate onstage death! It's part of the research that's going into her new autobiographical play. Feb 18, 2018 01:33 pm Our first Oscar contender - 1955's Snows of Aorangi It was the first New Zealand film to be nominated for an Academy Award - up against the likes of Walt Disney, no less. The short feature Snows of Aorangi directed by photographer by Brian Brake was part tourism film, part travelogue, part lyrical ode to New Zealand by poet James K Baxter. Feb 18, 2018 12:48 pm What's missing with the end of the video store? The old video and DVD store is going the way of the the village blacksmith - with one or two niche exceptions. But in an age of web-based streaming are we losing something - or more to the point are our film-makers losing a shop window for their wares. Documentary maker Costa Botes thinks so. Feb 18, 2018 12:32 pm 20 years of Te Papa Te Papa - Our Place - has had a chequered career since it opened on Wellington's waterfront 20 years ago. The idea of merging our national museum and art gallery collections into one purpose-built site was both bold and heavily criticized. The deliberately "abstract" design for Te Papa had its passionate fans, and foes. Feb 18, 2018 12:17 pm     Older stories Apirana Taylor - Ka Tito Au Kapiti Writer’s Retreat In praise of the design of Kristian Frederikson Flowing Water - Witi Ihimaera and composer Janet Jennings. Fast Blues Shuffle - Dean Whaitiri Boat date on Auckland's waterways New Lease of Life for the Sarjeant Not all audio is available due to copyright restrictions   Visit the full archive of stories from Standing Room Only