Bodega Mart Bus Trip

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 afternoon for art, live music, free mystery ice cream, and miscellaneous strangeness.

Full festival programme available at tinyfest.org

Bodega Mart will run beyond the festival at The Shed Gallery, Richmond Community Gardens, until the 5th of July and will be open Wednesdays - Sundays, 10am - 1pm.