Could Artificial Intelligence really appraise Te Papa’s public records? Collections Data Manager Gareth Watkins and Archivist Jennifer Twist tested it on thousands of records and got results that were faster, less resource-intensive, and more consistent than expected – until they weren’t. This post unpacks the experiment, the limits we encountered,Read more
In May 2024, Level 5 of Toi Art was closed with a karakia — a quiet moment to acknowledge the space, the art it has held, and the people it has welcomed. Since opening in 2018, Toi Art has hosted more than three million visitors. It’s a place of connection,Read more
A species of sedge hiding under our noses for over a hundred years has been revealed by Te Papa’s Science Researcher Lara Shepherd, Botany Curator Leon Perrie and the University of Auckland’s Marley Ford. Schoenus vacillans is a sedge described from Coromandel in 1878. However, botanists since 1906 have consideredRead more
Did you know that there were a lot of women photographers in Aotearoa New Zealand before 1960? To mark this year’s International Women’s Day tomorrow, and its theme ‘inspire inclusion’, Photography Curator Lissa Mitchell introduces some of them and their stories. So what kind of photography did women make? ForRead more
You cannot be much closer to extinction than the swamp helmet orchid (Corybas carsei), a tiny terrestrial orchid that is found in a single wetland in the North Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. Fortunately, recently published studies, part of Te Papa/VUW student Jennifer Alderton-Moss’s thesis, are helping to understand how mycorrhizal fungi can be used to save one of our most threatened orchids. Jennifer Alderton-Moss and Botany Curator Carlos Lehnebach describe the work.Read more
