Oceania

Bill Culbert, Spacific Plastics, 2001. Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki 2009. Image courtesy of Sue Crockford Gallery.
Niki Hastings-McFall, Too Much Sushi Lei, 2000. Collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
Oceania: Imagining the Pacific installation view, City Gallery Wellington 2011. Photo: Andrew Beck.
Oceania: Imagining the Pacific installation view, City Gallery Wellington 2011. Photo: Andrew Beck.
Oceania: Imagining the Pacific installation view, City Gallery 2011. Photo: Andrew Beck.

6 August - 6 November 2011 in the Entire Gallery

Oceania is a collaborative exhibition project which will be dramatically staged across Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and City Gallery Wellington during the Real New Zealand Festival 2011. Comprising two distinct by complementary exhibitions, Oceania explores the richness of Māori, Pacific and Pākehā cultures—and points of connection and influence between them—and offers an unprecedented glimpse into the soul of the region.

Oceania: Imagining the Pacific at the City Gallery will present modern and contemporary art from around the Pacific, including work by John Pule, Shona Rapira-Davies, Peter Robinson, Len Lye, Robyn Kahukiwa, Ani O’Neill, Edith Amituana’i, Robin White, Mathias Kauage, Niki Hastings-McFall, Pat Hanly, Alan Preston, Star Gossage, Gordon Walters and Greg Semu, amongst others.

The exhibition acknowledges Oceanic art as one of the great traditions in world art. It also explores and celebrates the many ways in which recent generations of artists have revisited and revitalised that tradition. Drawing on the work of Māori, Pacific and Palangi (European) artists, the exhibition engages with fundamental questions of what it means to live in this part of the world.

Oceania: Early Encounters will be staged in Te Papa’s Visa Platinum Gallery. The exhibition will focus on the period from the late 18th to early 20th centuries and showcase creations of encounter that arose from the European exploration and discovery of the Pacific—and, inversely, the Pacific’s discovery of Europe. It will explore the dynamic ways in which Māori, Pacific, and European peoples influenced one another from the late 18th century onwards. Whether through trade, conflict, literacy, or personal relationships, they encountered new technologies, new materials, and new ideas.

Each exhibition provides an illuminating counterpoint to the other—your journey into Oceania is not complete unless you visit both venues. Admission charges apply.

Please visit www.oceania.org.nz for more information about Early Encounters and Imagining the Pacific.

Oceania is supported by the New Zealand Government through Manatu Taonga/Ministry for Culture and Heritage’s Cultural Diplomacy International Programme.

Public Programmes

There are a number of public programmes running alongside Imagining the Pacific. Please visit the events page of www.oceania.org.nz for full details.

Media Releases

Oceania: An Unprecedented Glimpse into the Soul of the Pacific
Oceania: Coming Soon

Oceania

6 August - 6 November 2011 in the Entire Gallery

Public Programmes

Further Reading

Media Releases

Principal Sponsor

city gallery wellington