Coming up on 7 July 2012 is the opening of the first major group exhibition of contemporary Pacific art developed by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Home AKL is a dynamic exhibition presenting works by Pacific artists, most of whom live in Auckland. The exhibition reveals the increasingly significantRead more
To celebrate le vaiaso o le gagana Sāmoa (Sāmoan language week) the Pacific Cultures curators are highlighting stories related to cultural treasures from Sāmoa. The third collection item for this week is a nōfoaga seu lupe (pigeon netting stool) that was used in the 1800s for the sport of pigeonRead more
To celebrate le vaiaso o le gagana Sāmoa (Sāmoan language week) I have decided to draw attention to a small handbook which was gifted to the museum in 1954. The front cover of this handbook indicates that it was presented to Mr and Mrs D A J Rutherford in 1936.Read more
Yesterday morning at around 10.45am, Te Papa reached a milestone achievement of 20 million visitors since opening in 1998. Congratulations to Eliza Jost, the 20,000,000th visitor to Te Papa. Eliza, originally from Sydney, has been in Wellington for six years and performing as a ballerina with the Royal New Zealand Ballet. “I’mRead more
Museums are embracing technologies, such as DNA sequencing, to both enhance understanding of their collections and showcase scientific research to the public. Many museums around the world now have molecular laboratories. DNA sequencing has many useful applications for museum research; for example, it can be used to distinguish new species,Read more
Every exhibition I work on is different. Each time I learn more and my basket of knowledge (my kete) expands and grows. This time it’s a wonderful exhibition about Māori cloaks, which features many kākahu from Te Papa’s collection, plus a small number of unique taonga which we’re fortunate to borrow from elsewhere. Kahu Ora LivingRead more
Whakaae-whenua – a recent acquisition Part of our roles as curators is to acquire, or purchase, taonga Māori (Māori treasures) to further strengthen and develop Te Papa’s collection. When considering taonga tūturu (customary taonga) for acquisition, it’s the interesting, the novel, and the extraordinary that we tend to focus onRead more
Te Papa scientists figure prominently among the 238 researchers who have contributed to a major new publication: The Inventory of New Zealand Biodiversity. The third and final volume of this 12-year project was launched at Te Papa yesterday, and celebrated the work of scientists from 19 countries, cataloguing over 56,000Read more
I have just started work on my PhD, based at Te Papa Tongarewa and enrolled at Massey University, Palmerston North. I am joining Heidi and Carlos in the Te Papa herbarium, working on our native forget-me-nots (genus Myosotis); you can read about some of the work already ongoing in olderRead more
47 years ago Keith Holyoake announced that New Zealand would send a combat unit to Vietnam to support the US-led coalition fighting there (24 May 1965). This is a portrait of the National party Prime Minister Keith Holyoake who, at the end of May 1965, announced that a combat unitRead more
He kanohi kitea, he hokinga mahara. To see a face is to stir the memory. On Sunday 6 May 2012, a beautiful kahu kiwi cloak from the Te Papa collection, was named by her descendants as part of a special church service held at Rongomaraeroa marae, Porangahau. Te Papa PressRead more
When I first saw Gavin Hipkin’s The shaman (blue), currently on display in Collecting Contemporary on Level 5, it was as a digital image emailed by his dealer. I was struck by the ambiguity of the photograph. The stunning, pale blue background is almost featureless, and like the blue orRead more
Arnold Manaaki Wilson 1928–2012 Ngāi Tūhoe and Te Arawa iwi (tribes) Artist Ahakoa ruarua noa o kupu i takoto Anō te rite he whakatauākī te reka I puta ai āu mahi tohungatanga I runga i te tatangi o te kī. Tirohia mai rā aku pewa I taurite tēnei ka tītokoRead more
By Alison Burnett and Susan Waugh The austral summer is the peak breeding season for seabirds in New Zealand. Te Papa is undertaking research into the impacts of seabird mortality in fisheries on shearwater populations over the next 2 summers. We began the study in January 2012, surveying islands toRead more
The New Zealand science community was quite different in 1977 compared to 2012. Most government scientists then worked for one of the many divisions of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), our reserve networks and protected species were administered by multiple agencies, and the national museum was known asRead more
