21 Feb 2016
Auckland War Memorial Museum is hosting this year’s Pacific Arts Association XII International Symposium in March, with funding support from Creative New Zealand.
Mā te āhuatanga o mua e Arataki to huarahi, hei haere whakamua
By the lessons of the past, we are guided into the future
Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira is proud to be hosting this year’s Pacific Arts Association XII International Symposium 14-17 March 2016 in partnership with Ngāti Whātua, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board and Māngere Arts Centre Ngā Tohu o Uenuku.
Artists, experts and academics from across the globe will gather in Tāmaki Makaurau for the conference which aims to provide a forum for dialogue and awareness about Pacific arts and culture.
Presented over four days and scheduled between Auckland’s Pasifika Festival and Polyfest – two of the largest Pacific cultural offerings in the Southern Hemisphere – the Symposium will present a wide range of ideas and topics to provoke discussion and encourage exchange.
From well-established experts to emerging artists with a focus on material culture from the wider Pacific, the conference will bring together people from as far as Taiwan, Amsterdam and New York, as well as the wider Pacific Islands: Papua New Guinea, Hawai’i, Fiji and Aotearoa.
The keynote international speaker is Dr. Manulani Aluli-Meyer of the University of Hawai’i, a world renowned scholar-practitioner of Hawaiian and indigenous epistemology.
Speakers include academics and researchers from respected international institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cambridge University, de Young Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco and Fiji Museum.
It is the first time the symposium will be hosted in Tāmaki Makaurau, the world’s leading Pacific city, and will take place at a number of Auckland venues including Auckland Museum, Māngere Arts Centre, Auckland Art Gallery and AUT.
“As kaitiaki of an internationally significant collection of Māori and Pacific art, we are honoured to be taking a lead in hosting this year’s Pacific Arts Association International Symposium together with our Auckland partners,” said Auckland Museum Director Roy Clare.
“This is a unique opportunity to welcome experts from respected institutions around the world, and showcase the breadth and diversity of Pacific arts and heritage,” he said.
The Pacific Arts Association was founded in 1974 and the large collections of Māori and Pacific arts at the Auckland Museum have meant that individual Museum staff have been members at various times over the course of its 40 year history as an organisation.
Following the successful Creative New Zealand funded Pacific Arts Heritage Fono held at Auckland Museum in October 2015, this international symposium is another opportunity for the Museum to support, encourage and increase participation by New Zealand and Pacific based artists. Creative New Zealand has provided funding to support the delivery of the symposium and the attendance costs of Pacific heritage artists to showcase and discuss their arts.
For further detail about the exciting programme, please visit the Pacific Arts Association XII International Symposium website.
Media release: Auckland War Memorial Museum
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