George Nuku Art > MAS | Museum Aan de Stroom, Antwerp

George Nuku's installation piece

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For the Display of Power theme (+4), the New Zealand artist George Nuku created an installation piece that is inspired by a Maori meeting house. A house like this unites people with their ancestors. The figures and designs on the entrance to the house represent the power of the ancestors and are meant to make a lasting impression on the visitor.

Nuku’s piece represents the body of an ancestor. He sculpts in the ancient Maori tradition, but uses modern-day materials such as polystyrene and plexiglass. 

With his installation piece, the artist once more places sacred objects from Polynesia in a respectful environment outside the mundane museum display case. At the same time, he is giving a nod to the giant, Antigoon.

 

RIP Jim Vivieaere

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Curator & Artist Jim Vivieaere passed away June 3 in Auckland.

Noted for his 1994 pacific breakout exhibition 'Bottled Ocean' (City Art Gallery, Wellington), Vivieaere was a passionate advocate for the pacific contemporary art form working with most NZ based pacific artists including long term collaborations with  Michel Tuffery and Shigeyuki Kihara. In 2007, Vivieaere exhibited in the major exhibition Le Folauga at the Auckland Museum. This exhibition travelled to Taiwan in 2008 and was shown at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts. Vivieaere returned to the Kaohsiung Museum in 2009 as co- curator to the exhibition The Great Journey: In Pursuit of the Ancestral Realm featuring NZ artists Lisa Reihana, Shane Cotton, Virginia King, Greg Semu and Michel Tuffery. Over the course of two decades, Vivieaere's remarkable career included innumerable exhibitions & residencies both domestic and international.

Of Rarotongan descent, Jim Vivieaere's contribution to Pacific Contemporary Art will long be written.

Banksy pays entry to MOCA