‘By jove it was awful’: Writing from the soldiers’ perspective
We made the call early on to write from the soldiers’ perspective. In an exhibition about their experiences, it felt important to use their words.Read more
2015-06-11
Building Gallipoli – the install
In this Gallipoli: The scale of our war blog, Weta Workshop’s Rob Murphy talks about overseeing the installation of the exhibition. I’d only been working at Weta Workshop for about eight weeks when the first pieces of the Gallipoli exhibition started to hit the floor and work their way intoRead more
2015-05-27
The Lethbridge Sisters – inspiring designers a century on
The industrious Lethbridge sisters Earlier this year Te Papa was approached by Red Strand Design. Based in Cork and London, the company specialises in design-based cultural and education projects. They invited us to take part in Passion & Legacy, a project inspired by the incredible stitch work of the ‘Lethbridge Sisters’, Julia Baroness Carew (1863-1922)Read more
2015-05-22
Hitting the Road for Creative Commons and National Services Te Paerangi
In March and some of April this year I was away from Te Papa going around the country talking with others from the gallery, library, archive and museum sector (GLAMs) for the Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand GLAM Road Trip 2015. The Road Trip provided free workshops and events forRead more
2015-05-20
Relics from Gallipoli
In our latest Gallipoli: The scale of our war exhibition blog, Historical Director Dr Christopher Pugsley recalls uncovering relics from the battlefield. I have walked the Anzac battlefields of Gallipoli many times. The first was in December 1980 and then again in 1983. It was not until 1990 that I travelledRead more
2015-04-15
Artist Fiona Connor’s Can Do Academy
Contemporary New Zealand artist Fiona Connor’s art work Can do academy #3, 2004, is currently on display as part of Splash! Four Contemporary New Zealand Paintings up in Ngā Toi | Arts Te Papa on Level 5 at Te Papa. I recently spoke to Fiona on the phone from her homeRead more
2015-04-13
Recreating the sounds of Māori at Gallipoli
In what is probably a first for an exhibition like this, Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War has its very own soundtrack and score to enhance the visitor experience. In this blog Te Papa researcher Amber Aranui talks about recreating the sounds of Māori at Gallipoli. For the part ofRead more
2015-04-08
On getting in touch about family photographs
One of the nicest things about having so much of Te Papa’s photography collection online is when people write in to say that we hold a photograph of some of their ancestors and are able to identify the people in the photographs. Until recently this large framed photograph of theRead more
2015-04-02
Māori soldiers that served at Gallipoli
In our second blog ahead of our new exhibition Gallipoli: The scale of our war opening on April 18, Māori curator Puawai Cairns reveals some of her research into a Māori soldier that served at Gallipoli. Unlike many of the other Māori soldiers I researched for this exhibition, 2nd LieutenantRead more
2015-03-25
Copyright and Creative Commons Road Trip in March 2015
I’m Victoria Leachman, Rights Adviser at Te Papa. Thanks to support from National Services Te Paerangi and Creative Commons Aotearoa New Zealand I’m going to be on the road around the country in March. I’ll be talking with staff from heritage institutions about copyright, collections, and Creative Commons. If you’re aRead more
2015-02-23
There’s a vagrant in our bath
My role at Te Papa revolves around creating opportunities for our visitors to engage with Te Papa content. I was part of the team that developed the DeClassified exhibition, which you can check out on level 3 at Te Papa. This exhibition has an additional interpretive layer which enables people toRead more
2015-01-15
Travels with Betsy – exploring the world of albatross personality
Do albatrosses have personalities? And if so, how do scientists measure such intangible characteristics? This blog provides some of the background to research Te Papa scientists were involved in, examining how birds use their environment, and how individual personality traits of these birds can be measured. The previous blogs on thisRead more
2014-12-10
Westland Petrels weathering the storm…mostly!
New Zealand has an amazing diversity of seabirds. Around 1/3 of the worlds 348 species are found in New Zealand waters, with a high number of endemic and threatened species among them. Te Papa has a long-term research programme on Westland Petrels, a species that nests in the coastal cliffsRead more
2014-12-04
Kāhui Rāranga The Art of Tukutuku: New Zealand’s Heart at the United Nations
This morning Te Papa farewelled the exhibition of tukutuku panels which are to be installed at the United Nations Headquarters in New York early next year. The woven panels, which have been on display at Te Papa since July, were commissioned by former Minister of Māori Affairs Dr Pita SharplesRead more
2014-11-03
Colossal New Addition to Te Papa’s Scientific Collections
Today we’ve been hearing about the most recent addition to Te Papa’s scientific collections, a new colossal squid Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni. We’re playing host to a dozen or so media representatives as well as our own live-streaming film crew, who are following intently the activity of five visiting squid scientists fromRead more
2014-09-16