Crossing Currents: Aotearoa New Zealand Artists in Venice

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. In the episode, he discusses his work Waipuna (1978), featured in the 60th International Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, his early work...

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 source of the symbols featured in Te Wepu MMXXIII , which were derived from the battle flag of the 19th-century Māori prophet Te Kooti. In this layered and hist...

Contemporary HUM speaks with Mataaho Collective on the occasion of an historic edition of the Venice Biennale for Aotearoa New Zealand, where the Collective took home one of the Biennale’s top prizes, 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 t...

Contemporary HUM speaks to esteemed Māori sculptor Fred Graham, a pioneering figure in the history and emergence of contemporary Māori art. 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, in the 60th Venice Biennale. Visit Contemporary HUM f...

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 nee...

Contemporary HUM speaks to artist Caitlin Devoy about BODYOBJECTS , her presentation in the 2024 edition of Personal Structures . Devoy discusses how her works challenge the power relations encoded in gallery spaces. Using humour as a feminist strategy, Devoy’s soft, tactile artworks subvert the Cartesian binaries that have historically dictated art viewership, refusing disembodied objectivity in...

Contemporary HUM speaks to 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 joins three other artists and one collective from Aotearoa, who make up the largest number of Aotearoa artists to ever be featured in the Biennale at once, despite there being no...

Contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand artist Areez Katki speaks to Contemporary HUM about The Rhapsode’s Tools Will Build the Rhapsode’s House , his presentation in the 7th edition of Personal Structures in Venice. Katki discusses being invited to present in Personal Structures and the processes behind creating the works for the exhibition, including the influence of his 2023 Tylee Cottage Residency i...