JoFF Rae

Background

With a background in the 1980s and 1990s as a stagehand & sound engineer touring with bands in New Zealand, Australia & Europe, JoFF Rae worked with several artists & promoters on large scale productions while developing an interest & skill in New Media & design. During the 1990s his role was redefined to Production Manager & Line Producer; later still to Event Director & New Media developer; he commuted from Wellington, New Zealand to Melbourne & Sydney for various works in UK, Europe, US & Australia.

In 2001 JoFF Rae (under the nick RuBbErDuCk) worked with teenage hackers from Australia & Canada on IRC network AustNet to demonstrate media streaming & broadband for Southern Cross Cable with an installation SXPress Cafe at Internet World, NOW2001 & CeBIT as 2Xstreams PTY contracted to Jack Morton Worldwide. An award-winning project the exhibition was a practical & unique demonstration of streaming media on demand (several years prior to YouTube & Vimeo).

Later, in 2004 he established AgentC Guerrilla Media as an urban arts collective to develop artistic productions & urban arts projects; the entity was responsible for recordings with Emma Paki; youth & community event concepts; the formation of !@M3 Sk8 (Lame Skate & BMX Jam incorporated); & funded & produced a nationwide tours by New Zealand band Rhombus in 2008 & Salmonella Dub in 2009.

ARTIVIST : creative by any means necessary! was established in 2009 to "work with artists on art…".

Moving back to Wellington in 2013 he reopened the iconic venue The James Cabaret with a friend Jon 'Jammo' Jameson hosting several domestic & international bands & shows. The venue was the "home of music" for the New Zealand International Arts Festival.

Art and protest

As a youth JoFF Rae was involved in direct action motivated by artistic causes & social politics; he was employed in the late 1980s in the UK by OXFAM & by Greenpeace in New Zealand in the early 1990s. He has had direct involvement in high-profile clandestine actions & protests involving cultural, environmental & social issues. High-profile actions against French Nuclear Testing at Moruroa involved an active direct role in Bastille Day demonstrations & clandestine direct actions against the French Embassy in Wellington when a test was conducted.

In December 1990 JoFF Rae organised & participated in a "dramatic" protest action by disturbing the New Zealand Parliament for over 20 minutes & eventually dropping to the floor of the debating chamber from the gallery covered in horse blood demonstrating against sending troops to the Persian Gulf. JoFF Rae instigated several other peaceful protest actions with large scale demonstration marches in Wellington against the Gulf War with up to 10,000 marchers. Other actions involved graffiti in prominent places throughout New Zealand using the slogan "No Blood For Oil" in red & black.

In 2005 JoFF Rae was committed to a maximum security mental institution, a ward of the Henry Rongomau Bennett Centre, for 2 weeks over Christmas following a 6am raid & arrest by the Armed Offenders Squad after repeatedly protesting Police actions involving allegations of assault & misconduct. He faced several charges in the dispute which were eventually dropped. A diagnosis from the hospital stated "his delusions of grandeur have substance".

After the 2007 New Zealand anti-terror raids JoFF Rae provided resources for protests at the Rotorua Court House for initial charges against Tame Iti & other accused including video equipment to document the proceedings & actions. He edited video as a presentation for peoples in the Urewera mountain range near the town of Ruatoki where the raids occurred. JoFF Rae continued to provide practical support including production for events in the Tuhoe nation with artistic performances by Mau Dance Company & other arts projects.

Mayday Demonstrations, 1 May 2011, JoFF Rae was involved in coordinating & disseminating information & media including a video message from the internet activist group Anonymous to the New Zealand Parliament. The message was taken seriously & gained nationwide press. Several reports claimed the Government website had suffered intermittent failure.

The months leading up to March 2012 with the trials of Tame Iti and the Urewera 4 inspired a series of projects with Ha-Ha the prominent Melbourne based stencil artist and a campaign of "watch this space - Guilty of ART!//" statements in street art, graffiti and installations.

Art, production and concept development

JoFF Rae has developed unique templates & concept models for IP management, contracting & producing events. His work with shared profit & the Nash Equilibrium in contracting production & performance is unique & has been utilised in several successful event contracts.

He has produced idiosyncratic staging & visual production & content systems for works with the contemporary band Rhombus & fine artist Michel Tuffery MNZM, Strike Percussion, Mau Arts Forum, AWME (Australasian World Music Expo) & various commercial & private installations.

Personal

Born Joffre Ray Kopu on 14 October 1966 at Hamilton, New Zealand.

His partner since 1992 Audrey Holyoake is a collaborator as a producer & graphic artist in their artistic & commercial ventures. The couple have 3 children - Cole (Jan '94), Oscar (Dec'94) & Bram (July 2000) & with 3 cats they reside in Wellington, New Zealand.