Join us for a weekend of short talks, lectures, and conversations unpacking Schoon’s controversial work from a range of perspectives. Come for a session or two, or stay for the day. MC Hamish Coney. All talks are free. No bookings necessary.
Day 2: Sunday 18 August
11am: Mark Williams considers Theo Schoon, historian Michael King, and the origins of modern biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand
12pm: Megan Tamati-Quennell and Mark Adams discuss Schoon's photographic legacy, and the cross-cultural intersections within both Schoon's and Adams’s work.
12.30pm: Break
2pm: Nathan Pohio shares a Ngāi Tahu perspective on Te Wai Pounamu rock drawings
2.30pm: John Perry on Schoon and the Rotorua chapters: Waipa, Whakarewarewa, Waiotapu, and the Astral Buildings
3pm: Break
3.30pm: Anthony Byrt, Hamish Coney, Paul Diamond and Aaron Lister reflect on the weekend’s dialogue
Day 1 Schedule: Saturday 17 August
Hamish Coney is an Auckland based writer and arts advisor. From 2007 to 2018 he was Managing Director of the auction house Art+Object during which time he offered a number of important Theo Schoon related archives and collections. In 2019 he joined the board of Artspace Aotearoa.
Mark Williams is an emeritus professor at Victoria University, having recently retired from a decade teaching in the English Programme. He has taught New Zealand literature at Tokyo University and is an honorary professor at Jinan University’s School of Translation Studies in China.
Megan Tamati-Quennell is Curator of Modern & Contemporary Māori & Indigenous art at Te Papa, the Museum of New Zealand. Of Te Atiawa, Ngati Mutunga and Ngai Tahu descent, she has worked in the field of modern and contemporary Māori art for around three decades.
Mark Adams is a leading New Zealand photographer working with subjects of cross-cultural significance.
Nathan Pohio (Waitaha, Ngāti Māmoe, Ngāi Tahu) is an artist and a curator. His work was included in Documenta 14 in 2017 and was nominated for the Walters Prize in 2016. He is Curator at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, Chair of the Physicsroom, and a founding member of Paemanu, the Ngāi Tahu artists collective.
John Perry is a collector, art enthusiast and former Director of Rotorua Museum.
Anthony Byrt is a critic and journalist. He is a regular writer for Metro and The Spinoff, and the New Zealand correspondent for Artforum International. His book This Model World: Travels to the Edge of Contemporary Art was shortlisted for the 2017 Ockham national book award.
Paul Diamond is Curator, Māori at the Alexander Turnball Library. He has a background in journalism, specialising in Māori affairs for RNZ and Māori Television.
Aaron Lister is Senior Curator at City Gallery Wellington. He is co-curator of Split Level View Finder: Theo Schoon and New Zealand Art.
