Mataaho Collective
Writing
On truth and telling stories
By Hana Pera Aoake
04.10.2024
Aotearoa artist Hana Pera Aoake reflects on their visit to the Venice Biennale and the questions posed by its central exhibition, Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere. Unearthing the fraught political contexts of Venice, Aoake asks who is really made strange by the Biennale; and whether the presenting Aotearoa artists are able to retain the specificities of place within a curatorial frame that groups categories of difference under the theme of the “stranger”.
Writing
Crossing Currents: Episode 6
By Contemporary HUM
03.08.2024
On the occasion of an historic edition of the Venice Biennale for Aotearoa New Zealand, Contemporary HUM speaks with Mataaho Collective, who were awarded one of the top prizes at the Biennale, the Golden Lion, for their work Takapau. Mataaho Collective discuss the logistics of transforming Takapau for the Biennale, as well as working within a continuum of contemporary Māori art practice that also situates them alongside the intergenerational contingent of Māori artists presenting at this year’s Biennale. HUM also speaks with artist, writer and researcher Rychèl Thérin.
Project
Crossing Currents: Aotearoa New Zealand Artists in Venice
Podcast series
Despite there being no national pavilion for Aotearoa New Zealand this year, the 60th Venice Biennale is an historic edition for Aotearoa artists. Not only are there an unprecedented number of artists from Aotearoa featured in Venice – both within the International Exhibition of the Biennale and in concurrent events taking place across the city – but it also features the most Māori artists to be included.
In Crossing Currents: Aotearoa New Zealand Artists in Venice, Contemporary HUM speaks with the artists featured in the 60th Venice Biennale and parallel events Personal Structures and Re-Stor(y)ing Oceania as they reflect on presenting in Venice during an historic year for Aotearoa art, Ngā toi Māori and Indigenous art globally.
Writing
HUM live from the 2024 Venice Biennale
16.04.2024
From 16–21 April 2024, Contemporary HUM will publish live coverage, exclusive images and videos from the opening week of Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere, The 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Click through for coverage of the Aotearoa New Zealand artists presenting work in the curated section of the Biennale, as well as in other events held off-site.
Calendar
Mataaho Collective and Megan Tamati-Quennell, Indigenous Visions
10.00AM — 6.00PM
16 April 2024
Centro Culturale Don Orione Artigianelli, Venice, Italy
Calendar
The 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
20 April —
24 November 2024
Giardini and Arsenale, Venice, Italy
Writing
Mataaho Collective at the Dhaka Art Summit
By Pauline Autet
21.04.2020
We finish our first series focusing on the Asia region with Contemporary HUM Editor Pauline Autet interviewing Mataaho Collective on their participation in the Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh in February 2020, where they partook in panel discussions and practised a type of waiata (song) called a pātere.
Writing
soft and weak like water
By Amy Weng
13.06.2023
Reporting from a visit to South Korea, curator Amy Weng writes about how works by Yuki Kihara and Mataaho Collective connect the ambitious themes and ideas of the 14th Gwangju Biennale to specific histories from their homes in Aotearoa New Zealand and Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.
Calendar
Yuki Kihara, Mataaho Collective at 14th Gwangju Biennale: soft and weak like water
07 April —
09 July 2023
Gwangju, South Korea
Writing
On Wet Ontologies, Fluid Hierarchies and Hope-Soaked Propositions at the 23rd Biennale of Sydney
By Emma O'Neill
26.08.2022
This year’s Biennale of Sydney, titled rīvus, included the work of Aotearoa-based artists Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi and Mataaho Collective. Emma O’Neill, a writer working on Gadigal Land, responds to the exhibition and some of the work presented by the 89 participants invited to interact with different forms and bodies of water.
Calendar
Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi and Mata Aho Collective at the 23rd Biennale of Sydney
12 March —
13 June 2022
Sydney, Australia
Calendar
Mataaho Collective at the Toronto Biennial of Art
26 March —
05 June 2022
Arsenal Contemporary Art Toronto, Canada
Writing
Whose Oceania?
By James Belich, Lana Lopesi, Matariki Williams, Pauline Autet
14.11.2018
Missed HUM's panel discussion Whose Oceania? in London? We're excited to publish the transcript of this discussion, which proved to be a stimulating talk interrogating the themes and issues addressed in the exhibition Oceania at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, as well as the responses to it from across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa.
Writing
Seeing documenta 14 from the other south
By Jon Bywater
20.10.2017
New Zealand critic Jon Bywater discusses documenta 14 and the work of participating artists from Aotearoa New Zealand, Ralph Hotere, Mataaho Collective and Nathan Pohio, marking the first time New Zealand artists have been included in documenta.
Writing
Islands on Sale
By Alastair Carruthers, Contemporary HUM, Mataaho Collective, Tessa Giblin
05.08.2017
In this panel discussion between Erena Baker and Bridget Reweti (Mataaho Collective), Alastair Carruthers (Commissioner of NZ at Venice 2017) and Tessa Giblin (Commissioner and Curator of Ireland at Venice 2017), the participants discuss globalisation, national identity, the politics of representation and New Zealand's role in contemporary international art discourse.
Project
HUM live from the Venice Biennale
Updates from the vernissage
Since 2017, the Contemporary HUM team has attended every vernissage of La Biennale di Venezia in Italy. Each time, we bring you live coverage during the opening week, not only from the official New Zealand pavilion, but also from other events featuring artists from Aotearoa. In addition to posting daily blog entries, videos and images, we also publish exclusive interviews with some of the New Zealand artists and arts practitioners involved in putting together this major international event.
Calendar
Mataaho Collective at documenta 14
10 June —
17 September 2017
documenta 14 - Kassel, Germany
Calendar
Conference: Islands on Sale, New Zealand and Pacific Arts in the Global Marketplace
30 June —
01 July 2017
Regent’s University, London & University of Northampton, U.K.
Calendar
Oceania at the Royal Academy
29 September —
10 December 2018
The Royal Academy of Arts, London, U.K.
Calendar
Janet Lilo, Mataaho Collective, Kalisolaite 'Uhila, Rosanna Raymond and Natalie Robertson at Honolulu Biennial
08 March —
05 May 2019
Honolulu, Hawaiʻi
Calendar
Oceania tours to Musée du Quai Branly, Paris
12 March —
07 July 2019
Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France.
Calendar
Closing weekend of Océanie
28 June —
30 June 2019
Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France
Calendar
Mataaho Collective at National Gallery of Canada
08 November 2019 —
05 April 2020
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Calendar
Mataaho Collective at Dhaka Art Summit
07 February —
15 February 2020
Shilpakala Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Project
Islands on Sale
Panel discussion in London
A panel discussion organised by Contemporary HUM on globalisation, national identity and the politics of representation at New Zealand Studies Network conference ISLANDS ON SALE, Regent's University London, 1 July 2017.