Contemporary HUM
Writing
Crossing Currents: Episode 8
By Contemporary HUM
17.08.2024
Contemporary HUM speaks with Aotearoa New Zealand artist Sandy Adsett (Ngāti Pahauwera), a pioneer in the customary artform of kōwhaiwhai and an active figure in the emergence and presentation of contemporary Māori art on the national and international scenes. He discusses being featured in the 60th International Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, his experience as a teacher, and the question of the uses and future of Māori representation at events such as the Biennale.
Writing
Crossing Currents: Episode 7
By Contemporary HUM
10.08.2024
Robert Jahnke (Ngāi Taharora, Te Whānau a Iritekura, Te Whānau a Rakairo o Ngāti Porou) speaks to Contemporary HUM about his work Te Wepu MMXXIII, which is featured in the 7th edition of Personal Structures in Venice. Jahnke discusses the influence of Te Wepu, the battle flag of the 19th-century Māori prophet Te Kooti, and how the work highlights a formal whakapapa (genealogy) between Te Kooti, who was not only a religious visionary but an artistic innovator in his own right, and contemporary references to the flag, including by the late sculptor and painter Paratene Matchitt.
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.
Writing
Crossing Currents: Episode 5
By Contemporary HUM
27.07.2024
Contemporary HUM speaks to esteemed Māori sculptor Fred Graham, a pioneering figure in contemporary Māori art who is part of a generation that forged a new path in ngā toi Māori in post-war Aotearoa. Reflecting on his practice of over 70 years, Graham discusses the influence of his teaching and the importance of friends and family, as well as the experience of exhibiting alongside his son, Brett Graham, at the Venice Biennale.
Writing
Crossing Currents: Episode 4
By Contemporary HUM
13.07.2024
Architect, artist and mother Elisapeta Hinemoa Heta speaks to Contemporary HUM about her presentation The Body of Wainuiātea, which is featured alongside work by Latai Taumoepeau in Re-Stor(y)ing Oceania, an exhibition curated by Taloi Havini at TBA21–Academy’s Ocean Space in Venice. She discusses the influence of the Māori pūrākau (mythological tradition) of the atua (deity) Wainuiātea, the need to re-establish a sacred relationship to the ocean and the conversations that guided the creation of the work, including with Havini and Taumoepeau.
Writing
Crossing Currents: Episode 3
By Contemporary HUM
06.07.2024
Contemporary HUM interviews artist Caitlin Devoy about BODYOBJECTS, her presentation in the 2024 edition of Personal Structures in Venice. Speaking to HUM in April 2024, Devoy discusses using humour as a feminist strategy to challenge the power relations encoded in gallery spaces, resulting in works that refuse disembodied objectivity in favour of tactility, subjectivity and intuition.
Writing
Crossing Currents: Episode 2
By Contemporary HUM
29.06.2024
Contemporary HUM interviews Brett Graham (Ngāti Koroki Kahukura, Tainui) about Wastelands (2024), his work in Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere, the 60th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. Graham discusses Wastelands as a commentary on extractive attitudes to land, the logistics of exhibiting at the Venice Biennale and what it’s like to be included alongside an intergenerational selection of Māori artists, including his father, Fred Graham.
Writing
Crossing Currents: Episode 1
By Contemporary HUM
22.06.2024
Aotearoa New Zealand artist Areez Katki speaks to HUM about The Rhapsode’s Tools Will Build the Rhapsode’s House, his presentation in the 7th edition of Personal Structures. Katki discusses the processes and politics of exhibiting in Personal Structures and the two series he produced for the exhibition, which take migrant and queer positionalities as points from which to restore notions of pedagogy and learning from patriarchal, religious dictates to an affectual, instinctual realm of care.
Writing
An interview with Yuki Kihara
By Contemporary HUM
24.05.2022
In the opening week of the 2022 Biennale di Venezia, Contemporary HUM sat down with the artist representing Aotearoa, Yuki Kihara, to discuss her exhibition Paradise Camp, and what it means to bring a Pasifika, Fa'afafine voice to the international audience of this major event.
Writing
An interview with the curators of 'Paradise Camp'
By Contemporary HUM, Ioana Gordon-Smith, Natalie King
24.05.2022
In the opening week of the 2022 Biennale di Venezia, Contemporary HUM sat down with the Aotearoa New Zealand pavilion’s Curator, Natalie King, and Assistant Pasifika Curator Ioana-Gordon Smith, to talk about bringing Yuki Kihara’s Paradise Camp to Venice.
Writing
HUM live from the 2022 Venice Biennale
By Contemporary HUM
24.04.2022
From 20—24 April 2022, Contemporary HUM brings you live coverage, exclusive images and videos from the opening week of The Milk of Dreams, The 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, including Yuki Kihara's Paradise Camp for the New Zealand Pavilion.
Writing
HUM travels to Berlin
By Contemporary HUM
05.10.2021
From 01 - 04 October 2021, the HUM team was in Berlin to host our third panel discussion On Civicness. While there, we took the opportunity to catch up with several New Zealand artists - Sam Rountree Williams, Joshua Rutter, Matthew Cowan, and Ben Cauchi - and learn about their current projects.
Writing
An interview with Dane Mitchell
By Contemporary HUM
24.06.2019
Contemporary HUM's editorial team sat down with artist Dane Mitchell to discuss his work for the New Zealand Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, Post hoc. The work, both ambitious in scale and subject, has sparked discussions on global climate change and meditations on what has truly disappeared from the world.
Writing
An interview with Bruce Barber
By Contemporary HUM
22.09.2017
As part of Contemporary HUM's series of interviews with New Zealand artists exhibiting during the 57th Venice Biennale, we talk with Bruce Barber about his work Party without Party (2017), included in the exhibition Personal Structures: Open Borders at the Palazzo Bembo.
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.
Writing
HUM live from the 2019 Venice Biennale
By Contemporary HUM
07.05.2019
HUM brings you live blog posts, videos, and exclusive images from the opening week of May You Live In Interesting Times, The 58th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, including Dane Mitchell's Post hoc for the New Zealand Pavilion.
Writing
An interview with Lisa Reihana
By Contemporary HUM
22.09.2017
As part of Contemporary HUM’s series of interviews with New Zealand artists exhibiting during the 57th Venice Biennale, we talk to Lisa Reihana, New Zealand's representative at the Biennale about her experience in Venice.
Writing
An interview with Kāryn Taylor
By Contemporary HUM
22.09.2017
As part of Contemporary HUM's series of interviews with New Zealand artists exhibiting during the 57th Venice Biennale, we talk with Kāryn Taylor about her work Field Notations, included in the exhibition Personal Structures: Open Borders at the Palazzo Bembo.
Writing
An interview with Francis Upritchard
By Contemporary HUM
22.09.2017
As part of Contemporary HUM’s series of interviews with New Zealand artists exhibiting during the 57th Venice Biennale, we talk to Francis Upritchard about her work in the Biennale.
Writing
An interview with Paul Handley
By Contemporary HUM
22.09.2017
As part of Contemporary HUM's series of interviews with New Zealand artists exhibiting during the 57th Venice Biennale, we talk to Paul Handley about his practice and his work Déplacement (Smuggling Pod) (2017), included in the exhibition Personal Structures: Open Borders at the Palazzo Bambo.
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.
Writing
HUM live from the 2017 Venice Biennale
By Contemporary HUM
08.05.2017
HUM brings you live blog posts and exclusive images from the opening week of Viva Arte Viva, The 57th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, between 8 - 15 May 2017, including Lisa Reihana: Emissaries for the New Zealand Pavilion.