In 1950s New Zealand, architects made a habit of commissioning artists to make site-specific works for new buildings. Listen to panellists discuss why – and what happened afterwards.

This event was held in April 2021 as part of the .

Speakers

Dr Bronwyn Holloway-Smith is an artist, co-director of Public Art Heritage Aotearoa New Zealand, and author of Wanted: The Search for the Modernist Murals of E. Mervyn Taylor. Public Art Heritage Aotearoa New Zealand is a research initiative based at Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts, Massey University Wellington that is seeking to recover Aotearoa New Zealand’s Public Art Heritage one work at a time. 

Dr Duncan Joiner served as Assistant Government Architect (Design) for some 10 years from 1978, and has since held the positions of Inaugural Pro Vice -Chancellor for the College of Design, Fine Arts and Music at Massey University, and Chief Architect in the Department of Building and Housing and MBIE.

Gregory J. Smith joined Wellington Arts Centre in the 1980s and later exhibited furniture with ‘Artiture’ collective in the 1990s. He is the developer, curator, researcher, and writer behind the website ‘Lost Property’, which documents the built and social history of modernist Auckland (). Smith is currently working on The Lost Art: Murals and Modernism in Aotearoa, a book and possible exhibition.

Panel Talk: New Zealand’s Mid-Century Public Art

Waitangi te Tiriti,
he mea hanga e tauiwi
hei whāriki tikanga
mō te tangata whenua,
hei hoko mana kāwanatanga
me te mana noho whenua,
ka mau mai tonu ko te rangatiratanga,
ka mau mai tonu ko te rangatiratanga.

Waitangi te Tiriti
he mea hanga i neherā,
he mea whiti e te rā,
he mea ua e te ua,
he mea kai e te ngāngara,
he mea tahu e te ahi – 
ko ngā kupu mārama tonu,
ko te wairua e kore e ngaro,
ko te wairua e kore e ngaro.

Waitangi te Tiriti,
he taonga tuku iho
hei paihere tikanga,
hei whakaaraara manako,
hei patu i te ringa hao o te ture,
hei whakapai i ngā nawetanga
o Ranginui, o Papatuānuku,
o ngā iwi katoa o Aotearoa.

Waitangi te Tiriti,
he tiriki ...
te tiriti.

'Waitangi te Tiriti'  © Hirini Melbourne 1991, from Toiapiapi, published by Shearwater Associates Ltd. Reproduced courtesy of the Melbourne family and the publisher.

 

Translation:

The Waitangi Treaty

The Waitangi Treaty –
devised by strangers
to lay down a new mat for the people 
of the land:
in exchange for your right to make
laws
and to live upon the land
let us keep our independence.

The Waitangi Treaty – 
set down in times long past,
faded by the sun,
soaked by the rain,
chewed by vermin,
scorched by fire:
the words remain clear,
the spirit remains intact.

The Waitangi Treaty – 
a bequest from the past
to set in place principles, 
to raise hopes,
to curb the grasping hand of the law,
to redress the grievances
of Rangi, of Papatūānuku,
of all the tribes of Aotearoa.

Waitangi the treaty –
trick – or treaty?

'Waitangi te Tiriti'  © Hirini Melbourne 1991, from Toiapiapi, published by Shearwater Associates Ltd. Reproduced courtesy of the Melbourne family and the publisher.

Waitangi Te Tiriti, by Hirini Melbourne

Ko wai ngā Tangata Whenua i ēnei motu, whakarongo ki ngā
karanga o ngā iwi Māori. He aha te mahi o te kāwanatanga.
I tāhae ratou ngā taonga Māori, i mauria mai e rātou ngā mate nga piro
Mai rāno tae noa mai ki tenei rā, he aha te mea nui o te Ao 
Māku e ki atu, he Tangata, he Tangata, he Tangata

Aotearoa te kupu, he teka Nu-Tireni, ehara i te mea ko au tētehi Kiwi
Māori mātou, te tino rangatira, mai rāno Tangata Whenua
Ngā tāmariki o Tū, Te Ahi Kaa, hei kaitiaki i te whenua
Ka tū tonu mai mō te whawhai, mō te tangata nei, mō te pai
Pūtakengia kia rite i te kauri, te hauroa nei e hiki ai te iwi
Whiti ora nei te take te mihi, e noho ana nei i te koa, i te hari

Whakakotahi - tī tī tī hā
E ngaro haere ngā tamariki a Tane Mahuta, kua paruparu
 te moana o Tangaroa, e kino nei rātou ki te whenua
Kāti tē mahi, kāti! kāti

Ngā Tangata Whenua whakarongo mai!
Kia kaha kia mau ki tō whenua, kia toa kia mau ki tō wairua 
Mana motuhake ne ināianei, maranga! tikanga! ka hinga Papurona 
Kāre au e kāti, kāre kau te hē, mā te matakite e ātete
Ngā tauiwi e takahi i te mana, whakamātaungia ki te kōpeka
E mātakitaki nei te ritenga, horoia ō tātou ngākau, tū tika
Ko ngā kupu ki a mātou i neherā, e te Pākehā, ko tana ake ara
Kāre kau e whai, kāre haere mai, kāre au e whai, kāre kau te pai

Ngā Tangata Whenua o te Ao, whakarongo! kia tū kia whawhai
ngātahi ki ngā mea kino o te Ao nei, kia kaha, kia mau ki ngā taonga 
a ō tātou tūpuna, kia toa, te ihi, te wehi, Ka whawhai tonu mātou ake, 
ake, ake, tonu e

Nō reira, te rā, kua kitea, he kino ōrite, ia wā, ia wā
Mai e hoa ngā hau e whā, ko te tahumaero, he pakanga
ā rātou mahi whakarōriki, kua whakahāwea te hitori
He atua mā i homai te ki, nā tana tama a Ihu-Karaiti
Te paipera tapu me ā rātou kupu pai, engari I ahu mai
He mate, he mamae, te whenua I tāhae
He kino, he meho, te oranga ngaro-haere ai
Engari, kia kaha, kia whakahua te pai
Tukua te mahi whakakōpekapeka, ka rangatū rā tātou ki mua

Tauiwi, tauiwi, tauiwi, waiho te whenua, waiho te moana, waiho 
ngā Tangata Whenua o te Ao nei, haere atu, haere atu, haere atu 
waiho te Atea, waiho ngā tamariki, Tihei Mauriora

'Whakakotahi’ by UHP, from Te Reo Māori Remixes. Reproduced courtesy of Kia Kaha Productions.

Whakakotahi, by Upper Hutt Possee

Of course I should have realized, at dinner
That he would be a man of special tastes
His mordant wit and intellect proclaimed him bon vivant
I suppose I was bedazzled by it all
The chandelier, the red roses like stigmata
Too flattered by the invitation
To notice that the table was laid only for hors d'oeuvres

It was understood of course that I was privileged to be there
With him in dinner jacket and black bow tie
The fact that he drank claret should have made me realize
That he liked his meat rare yet, even so
I was taken aback when, all of a sudden
he reached across the table to snap off both my legs
As if I was a crisp brown Maori-bread man
Saying, ‘You won't need these, will you’

The snap and wrench of bone from socket
Sounded louder than I expected, but, the agony was slight
(I've always had a high pain threshold)
What alarmed me more was that my silk trousers were forever ruined
‘After all,’ he said, ‘a landless man may just as well be limbless’
‘And just in case,’ he added, breaking both my arms,
‘This will prevent any further throwing of wet black T-shirts
At Her Majesty’

What could I do? I watched him
Suck the marrow of my bones and tear the meat
That once had made me mobile
I was pleased his manners were impeccable
Not one sweet morsel of me dropped
From his lips — I loved the way
He cracked my toes and fingers open with his teeth
To work the fine gristle for its flavour

He was a gourmet of impeccable sophistication
‘That was much better than Aboriginal or Red Indian’
He said, ‘And I have never liked the taste of Hindu or Pakistani
Too much curry in their diet taints the flesh
You are a repast quite delicious
Almost like Sāmoan, less fatty than Tongan’
So saying, he proceeded to the main course —

This was my stomach, heart and ribs
Not exactly in that order, for I could not see
What he ate first as he leant forward
With silver knife and fork
To slice the cavity of my breast open
Like a crisp golden chicken
My thoughts were entertained in fact by the memory
Of Noel Coward's witticism about Sālote
At the Queen's Coronation in 1953 —  
Mister Coward was wise never to visit Tonga —  

‘Ah, there it is,’ he said, impaling my heart with his fork
And lifting it from its protective cage
I wept to see its pulsing beauty
But thought — This is only to be expected really
From people who eat and drink the body and blood
Of Christ every Sunday
‘Best to rid yourself of this, old chap,’ he added
‘Your Māori yearnings are excessive, you agree?’

I wondered if he was right, after all why yearn
For language and culture already taken, why fight it?
Where does Māoritanga fit in this world of teenage mutant Ninja turtles?
Yet I did protest and fight as he cut through the middle
Of my heart and, seeing that rich blood flow red as a river
Wondered if there was time to escape this dinner
‘Oh no you don't,’ he said, as he began dessert

Dishing the sweetmeats of my body onto a crystal plate
My liver, kidneys and tongue
and last of all, my eyes
Smothering them with strawberries and rich cream
By then, without eyes, I could no longer see
The relish of his enjoyment
Cruelly, he left my brain intact to wonder
Why I had ever accepted his invitation to dine
150 years ago —

Witi Ihimaera (Te Whanau a Kai, Aitanga-ā-Mahaki, Rongowhakaata, and Ngāti Porou). Published in Te Ao Marama volume 5, by Reed Publishing, 1996.

Dinner with the Cannibal, by Witi Ihimaera

‘This poem expresses the self-discovery which I owe to Ngati Raukawa, the Tangata Whenua of Otaki. It tells of my joy at the fruits, nga hua nui, of becoming bicultural. Then it uses my bicultural identity as a springboard to leap towards a better understanding of what it is to be human.'

ko te moana tokerau rāua ko te moana-nui-ā-kiwa ngā moana
ko ngāti piritene nui ngā tipuna – he hunga kaumoana māia
ko ngā kaipuke teremoana e ono ngā waka
ko aotearoa te whenua

ko papatōwai ki te taitonga o te wai pounamu te turangawaewae
ko te hunga ā māori rāua kō te hunga pākehā ngā whanaunga
ko te reo ingarihi rāua kō te reo māori ngā reo rangatira
kua rongo noa iho koe i taku pepeha taketake
whai ake nei taku pepeha whiriwhiria
ko everest te maunga
ko ngā tai katoa e taiawhio ana i te ao te moana
ko te aitanga katoa a ārama raua ko iwa ngā whanaunga
ko ngā kupu waha me ngā kupu tuhituhinga hoki ngā reo
ko ngā toi me ngā pakiwaitara katoa o te ao ngā taonga tuku iho
ko ngā whakaaronui o nehe ra te mātauranga
ko ngā tamariki a tane-mahuta ngā taonga kua murua

ko te aroha me te mamae o ngā manomano tau ā tātou ngoi ngakau
ko ngā toto maringi katoa huri noa i te ao ō tātou toto ora
kia tupato! kei wareware tātou i ō tātou whanaungatanga
ki ngā uri tāngata katoa

ko enei aku pepeha e rua arā ngā waewae e tautoko ana i taku wairua

statement of identity for the year 2000

the north sea and the pacific ocean are my oceans
the people of great britain are my ancestors – a people of brave voyagers
six ocean-going sailing ships are my canoes
aotearoa is my country
papatowai in the south of the south island is my home turf
my relations include people both māori and pākehā
the māori and english languages are my noble languages
you have just heard my identity of origin
my chosen identity follows

everest is my mountain
all the seas encircling the world are my ocean
all the descendants of adam and eve are my relatives.
oral and written words alike comprise my languages
all the arts and stories of the world are my inheritance
the great thoughts of old are my wisdom
the children of tane-mahuta are my plundered treasures

the love and pain of the ages are the life and strength of all our hearts
all the blood spilt throughout the world is our arterial blood
beware! lest we forget our kinship to all humankind

these are my two identities – the feet supporting my spirit

Karen Peterson Butterworth

Published in Song of the Family by Steele Roberts, 2003.

Pepeha mō te tau rua mano | Statement of identity for the year 2000, by Karen Peterson Butterworth

Associate Professor Dr Rangi Matamua from the University of Waikato, has spent over 20 years researching Matariki. In this podcast he shares a Māori perspective of astronomical and cosmological links relevant to Matariki.

Matariki and Māori astronomy with Dr Rangi Matamua

Michael Volkerling Memorial Lecture 2017

In the Dr Michael Volkerling Memorial Lecture for 2017, Dr Huhana Smith examines the use of art and design as a bridge between Māori knowledge systems and traditional science in her lecture, ‘The resilience values of Mātauranga Māori: addressing climate change impacts through art and design on coastal farming’.

This annual public lecture recognises the legacy of the late Dr Michael Volkerling. Dr Volkerling was founding director of the Museum and Heritage Studies programme at Victoria University, an executive director of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and director of the Arts Council (now Creative New Zealand). He made a huge contribution to the arts, culture, and heritage in New Zealand over a 30-year period. The lecture is run in partnership between National Services Te Paerangi, Te Papa and Victoria University Wellington.

The 2017 Dr Michael Volkerling Memorial Lecture was held at Te Papa on Thu 26 Oct 2017.

The resilience values of Mātauranga Māori: Addressing climate change impacts through art and design

This poem, recorded on 15 March 2014, is part of the Walk with Me: McCahon Series of events at Te Papa. Colin McCahon is one of New Zealand’s most celebrated artists. His sweeping multi-canvas work ‘Walk (Series C)’ (1973) is, in part, an imagined walk along Muriwai beach with the New Zealand poet James K Baxter. Te Papa invited poet, artist, and curator Gregory O’Brien to select eight poets to write poems inspired by McCahon’s work: Bill Manhire, Dinah Hawken, Hinemoana Baker, Ashleigh Young, James Brown, Vincent O'Sullivan, John Pule, and Paula Green.

*

Tidal

One day I had the fleeting thought
I could give myself over
to rising and falling

–  in all its tempos and variations.
The next day I had the fleeting 
thought that rising and falling

were what I was after,
what I had been waiting for and
swimming in all the way along.

The third day was a day of miracles:
the sun came out, the sea settled
and the pohutukawa learnt to flower.

On the fourth day I came home
with an armful of clouds
and they were good for me.

The sea next day had a dirty edge. Even so
further out a brilliant colour was coming 
back into its massive body.

On the sixth day I saw the horizon
and on it the softened peaks of a land
that cannot be named.

You know what happened after that:
a breather  –  full-bodied, on sand  –  a pause 
in which the thought of rising in time appeared.

© Dinah Hawken

*

Related work:
https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/657795

Related exhibition:
‘Walk with Me’ (19 Oct 2013 - 20 Jul 2014)

‘Tidal’: A poem by Dinah Hawken in response to Colin McCahon’s ‘Walk (Series C)’

Mary Chamot writes to Melvin (Pat) Day, then Director of New Zealand’s National Art Gallery, January 1970.

This recording was created for the ‘Ngā Toi | Arts Te Papa’ audio guide, spring 2014.

*

Related work:
http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/37948

Related exhibition:
‘Collecting Modern’ (22 Aug 2014 - 18 Oct 2015)

Letter from a modern art collector – Mary Chamot

This recording was created for the ‘Ngā Toi | Arts Te Papa’ audio guide, spring 2014.

*

Related work:
https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/895515

Related exhibition:
‘Emblems of Identity’ (29 Mar 2013 - 01 Mar 2015)

Extracts from an interview with artist Jeffrey Harris

Related work:
https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/38891

Related exhibition:
‘Louis Rosenberg: Etched into memory’ (02 Apr 2015 - 18 Oct 2015)

Image: Mark Stocker, 2015. Photograph by Michael Hall. Te Papa

Curator Mark Stocker on Louis Rosenberg’s ‘Rue de Chartres, St Malo (The Golden Apple)’

This recording was created for Te Papa’s in-gallery audio tour.

Transcript:

The subjects of this photograph appear to be relaxed and at ease. They are people of the Tūhoe iwi, or tribal group, of the remote Urewera region, in the east of the North Island. From the look on their faces it’s clear that something humorous has just been said.

You might assume that such an intimate photograph must have taken by someone who knew these people very well.

The photographer, Terry O’Connor, was in fact an outsider, a non-Māori man from Auckland. When he sought permission to begin his project on Tūhoe, many in the local community were initially unimpressed by this ‘tall, pale, hesitant Pakeha’, as he was described by Tūhoe composer Hirini Melbourne.

Over the next ten years, however, with the iwi’s permission, O’Connor made numerous trips to photograph the life of a people. His success with this image reflects the warmth, openness and humanity that runs through all his work.

*

Related work:
https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/1113032

Related exhibition:
‘New Zealand Photography Collected’ (06 Nov 2015 – 07 Aug 2016)

Curator Athol McCredie on Terry O’Connor’s ‘Paetawa, Taima, Moko and Tete, Ruatahuna’

Part of the podcast series 'Ours' aired on RNZ. Episode 2.

The Prime Minister encounters the sledge of her hero Ernest Shackleton, and talks about the life lessons she took from his extraordinary voyages.

Jacinda Ardern’s Antarctic hero

Part of the podcast series 'Ours' aired on RNZ. Episode 4.

Kākāpō fan Jeremy Wells knew that the species’ idiosyncratic sexual appetites were a threat to its survival, but hadn’t seen the ingenious solution known as the kākāpō ejaculation helmet.

Kākāpō Ejaculation Helmet

Part of the podcast series 'Ours' aired on RNZ. Episode 7.

Nine-year-old colossal squid super-fan Sam, and fish expert Andrew Stewart, share some astounding facts about this bizarre creature.

The colossal squid and its biggest fan

Part of the podcast series 'Ours' aired on RNZ. Episode 20.

Our last taonga is not just an object, but a sacred place, and an “encyclopedia” of the history, traditions, and art and culture of the people of Rongowhakaata.

Te Hau ki Tūranga

When Cook’s Resolution sailed into Tamatea (Dusky Sound) in 1773 they entered a region with a centuries-old human story steeped in myth and oral tradition – a history reflected in its innumerable Māori place names. Ngāi Tahu kaumātua, historian, and Māori place names expert Tā Tipene O’Regan has described Te Rua o Te Moko (Fiordland) as the ‘cradle of mythology’ for southern Māori.

In those traditions, the fiords represent the last great work of Tūterakiwhānoa in reshaping the wrecked canoe of his father Aoraki and making it fit for people when they arrived here. Te Waka-o-Aoraki is the most ancient name of Te Waipounamu. The waka foundered on a submerged reef and its occupants, clambering onto the high side of the wreck, were turned to stone. They stand now as the highest peaks of Kā Tiritiri o te Moana (the Southern Alps).

On 9 Nov 2019, Tā Tipene joined Te Papa for an afternoon of storytelling and learn more about the history and foundational mythology that originates in the deep south.

Image: Ta Tipene O’Regan at the opening of ‘Tamatea’ at Te Papa, 9 Nov 2019. Te Papa

Ta Tipene O’Regan: ‘The Cradle of Mythology’

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa | Aotearoa’s innovative national museum.

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