Bodega Mart
Isaac Tait
20th June - Saturday
2:30-4:30pm
Location: Tiny Bus Boarding from Bay 8 towards The Shed Gallery
free, experimental, absurd
A bus trip will take you to the Shed Gallery to view Kiwi absurdist dairy art installation.
Bodega Mart is an art exhibition masked as a classic Kiwi convenience store, but with a twist. The concept arose when artist Isaac Tait did a podcast with one of the arts facilitators at The White Room, a community creative space where he practices his art.
One of the questions he was asked was “What would you like to see in disabled spaces?”, his response “They should be run by disabled people”. Following this he was asked what he would do if he ran The White Room. He laughed and responded “Turn it into a dairy.” This is where the seed spawned for the concept.
"A Bodega is a small grocery shop, especially in a Spanish-speaking neighbourhood in New York. This is where the name came from. In New Zealand our version is the dairy store. A New Zealand Icon. Bodega Systems Dairy Mart came from the solar system to corrupt us into capitalism. I didn't know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective (Monty Python and the Holy Grail... braille.)"
Isaac's dairy will open on Saturday, 20th June from 3pm - 5pm, as part of Tiny Fest, with parody art 'products' on the shelves, and other mysterious creations intended to create an immersive experience invoking nostalgia, embracing the bizarre and absurd, as well as leaning into his commentary on New Zealand and American culture, and social issues such as capitalism and ableism. He wishes to challenge people’s perceptions of disability, and reality itself.
Come along to the opening night for art, live music, free mystery ice cream, and miscellaneous strangeness.
The exhibition will run beyond the festival, until the 5th of July and will be open Wednesdays - Sundays, 10am - 1pm.
About
Isaac is an Ōtautahi Christchurch-based absurdist artist, performer, and poet whose work challenges societal norms and perceptions of disability. Drawing inspiration from nightlife, avant-garde jazz, pop culture, and everyday experiences, his practice moves fluidly across painting, poetry, performance, and installation.
Known for his sharp humour and prolific creativity, Isaac has exhibited widely through The White Room, the Christchurch Art Show, CoCA Toi Moroki, and solo and performance projects across the city. In 2024, he received Creative New Zealand’s Early Careers Development Fund for his upcoming exhibition Bodega Mart — a surreal, nostalgia-fuelled take on the classic Kiwi dairy.