We're big fans of Ian Wedde. The affair started after reading his charmingly erudite Making Ends Meet: Essays and Talks 1992-2004, and blushingly continued when we recently came across his Beautiful Golden Girl of the Sixities poem.

Wedde's lecturing skills are well-polished. So the gig he's lined up for on Thursday (22 June) promises to be a treat. Unfortunately for us, it's not in Auckland: it's at the Adam Art Gallery in Wellington, in conjunction with The Captain's Ghost exhibition.

The exhibition sounds like prime fodder for Wedde to get his teeth into:

… Auckland-based artists Mark Adams and Christine Hellyar, along with Sydney-based photographer Debra Phillips, draw on the reciprocal and transformative nature of cross-cultural exchange. The artists focus on the processes of cross-fertilisation, exposing the seeds that were planted, and the ghosts that remain.

The three artists in this exhibition set out to re-discover these sites of encounter, and to explore the dynamic complexity of the relationships forged during Cook’s voyages in the South Pacific.

If you're in Wellington, we suggest that you tear yourself away from the World Cup highlights, and pop along to Gate 3 on Kelburn Parade at 6pm. You can get more information about the show from Emily Cormack on emily.cormack@vuw.ac.nz - or give her a call on (04) 463 5229.