The Last Interpreters | Preview Friday 23 March, 6pm

26 March – 4 May 2012

As the impact of globalism becomes part of the everyday and our country’s demographic continues to change and develop, it is the unique perspectives of the artists in this exhibition that reflect a particular awareness and experience of living in New Zealand.  Featuring works by Edith Amituanai, Tanu Gago, Carolin Casey and Sanjay Theodore this exhibition presents their diverse interpretations as they negotiate an increasingly complex cultural landscape.

Venue:
Calder & Lawson Gallery
Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts
Gate 2B, Knighton Rd,
University of Waikato

For more information please contact:

Karl Chitham
Art Collection Curator
The University of Waikato-Te Whare Wananga o Waikato
Library, Private Bag 3105
(DD) 838 4147
(Cel) 0212575937

In Samoan Ata is our reflection, shadow, and image.

ATA (Analogue Telephone Adapter) is a device that converts analog signals from a phone for transmission over internet.

Both meanings describe this international gathering of work by contemporary artists of the Samoan Diaspora. Previously in the United States the institutions showing contemporary Pacific Islander art have tended to be either museums with an anthropological foundation or educational institutions. The media too often represents us in an ineffectual or threatening manner. The materials of our traditional arts and our narrative works are excluded from the dialog of contemporary art practice here in the United States.

But today Samoan visual artists are engaged internationally in exhibitions throughout Oceania, Asia, Europe and the United States. This exhibition brings together in Los Angeles the most recent works of the Samoan international contemporary art scene in the first survey exhibition of its kind to take place in the United States.

INFORMATION CONTACT CHUCK FEESAGO AT Phone: 1.323.225.2229 • Email: chuck@amber-light.com• Mail: ATA Samoa 2401 S Santa Fe Ave #B03, Los Angeles CA 90058-1137- USA

For the opening reception of the refreshed Te Papa art exhibition Collecting Contemporary held on February 22 2012, Taualuga: The Last Dance, 2006, a performance work by Samoan/Japanese artist Shigeyuki Kihara was presented.

Staged in the gallery where the Collecting Contemporary exhibition is displayed, the performance was realised alongside the video of the performance work gifted to the Te Papa art collection by the artist.

Created initially as a performance work, Taualuga: The Last Dance, 2006 responds to a series of historical photographs taken by New Zealand photographers including John Alfred Tattersall, Thomas Andrew and Burton Brothers during the colonial administration of Samoa by New Zealand between 1914 till 1962.  Many of the photographs researched by the artist, are held in Te Papa’s photography collection.

Using the principles of the classical Samoan dance of Taualuga, a dance of negotiation and celebration, as a form of storytelling, Taualuga: The Last Dance, 2006 is simultaenously a celebration of and a tribute to the many leaders and people of Samoa and their resilience in their struggle for independance and a lament, acknowledging the changes and losses for Samoan culture through the process of colonisation.

The work made reference to the Mau movement establised in 1908, through which Western Samoan’s began to assert their claim to independance and also to New Zealand’s occupation of Western Samoa and to the history of our role as colonial power within the Pacific.

The sense of loss in the work and struggle for power was expressed through the wearing of a restrictive Victorian mourning dress, a style of dress introduced to Samoa by the German colonial administration in the 1900?s and by Kihara’s attempt to perform the graceful movement associated with the Taualuga while wearing this dress.

The performance for the opening reception of Collecting Contemporary was the first showing of this work in New Zealand. An encore performance was held as a public programme event in the afternoon of the next day, so it could be experienced and enjoyed by the public.

Both performances were managed by Te Papa Events Producer Tai Patai and both were dedicated by the artist to the work and legacy of the late Jim Vivieaeare, a Pacific art curator who broke ground with his seminal exhibition Bottled Ocean (1994), one of the first survey exhibitions of contemporary Pacific Island art.

DIGITAL MEDIA ADMINISTRATOR

Tautai is an organisation established over twenty-five years ago to support pacific visual artists. Based in offices in Ponsonby Road Auckland the role of Tautai has expanded over the years and it is now recognised as a major contributor to the support and development of the wider pacific arts community.
 
Artists remain the focus of Tautai. We run a program of activities aimed at providing artists from secondary school age to senior established artists with a range of events and professional development opportunities to support and nurture them in their artistic lives.

The person we are seeking will be responsible for the day to day administration of Tautai’s online resources and reports to the Tautai Manager. They will have a knowledge of website management and design, an understanding of social media platforms, and be proficient in a range of design software programs. They will also be able to analyse and review the effectiveness of our online marketing strategies.

The successful candidate will be confident, able to be self directed while also able to work with and communicate well with a wide range of people. Whilst it is not imperative that they come from an arts background the successful candidate would need to be able to demonstrate a genuine desire to work with pacific artists and to support them in the development of their art practice.

This will be a salaried position. Around twenty hours per week is envisaged, but there could be some flexibility in this for the right candidate.

If you would be interested in knowing more please email manager@tautai.org for further information and to request a copy of the position description. Applications for this role are sought by 25 March 2012.

An exhibition across both Elam galleries, showcasing emerging Pacific Island and Màori artists from Elam School of Fine Arts. The exhibition illustrates a diversity of work, both conceptually and in it’s mixed-media presentation.

Opening Nights:

George Fraser Gallery 6 March @ 5.30pm (graduate work)
projectspace B431, 7 March @ 5.30pm (undergraduate work)

Exhibition runs from 6-18 March, Wed-Sat 11am-4pm

EXHIBITION DATES: 03 March 2012 – 06 May 2012
LIVING HOMELESS PERFORMANCE: 19 – 30 March 2012

Performance artist Kalisolaite ‘Uhila will live in the grounds of Te Tuhi as part of the exhibition What do you mean, we? which explores issues of prejudice.  For two weeks from March 19, Uhila will shed his regular life and rough it outside to gain a greater understanding of what it might mean to be homeless.  “Uhila will survive on the generosity of a food bank being set up in the gallery and will have only enough belongings to fit into a supermarket trolley.

What do you mean, we? groups together an international selection of artists to examine prejudice in its various forms.  Selected artists employ a range of innovative strategies from psychoanalysis to voluntary homelessness to expose or even transcend discrimination.  The group exhibition of ten artists opens at Te Tuhi on March 3.  Other artists include Elizabeth Axtman (US), Newell Harry (AUS), Amanda Heng (SG), Rangituhia Hollis (NZ), Tom Johnson (IT/US), Simone Aaberg Kaern (DK), Ayanha Moor (US),  Colin Nairn (NZ), boat-people.org (AUS).

Curator Bruce Philips has spent the last year  bringing all the artists together for the exhibition.  “All the artists are employing  unusual approaches  to tackle the age-old issue of prejudice”, he explains.  “There isn’t one single issue or specific finger pointing; rather the exhibition focuses on what causes prejudice in us all, broaching the topic in humorous and inventive ways.  This show helps us look at ourselves in a non confrontational way, and is a step towards understanding and tolerance in our multi-cultural and global age.”

Image caption: Kalisolaite ‘Uhila, Pigs in the yard, 2011 (performance at Mangere Art Centre)
Photo: Linda T.