TE MOANA NUI A KIWA (GREAT OCEAN OF KIWA)

A weather station in a sea of islands–Aotearoa New Zealand, Tonga, Niue, and Samoa–tracing the signs of a rapidly changing climate. Two live-streamed events and four seasonal projects are aligned to the Maramataka, the Māori calendar; radiations from the heated political and physical atmospheres driven by the forces of Great Southern Ocean of Kiwa.

Curated by Janine Randerson

Janine Randerson is an artmaker of video installations, 16mm films, sound and online artworks, and she often practices in collaboration with environmental scientists and community groups. Janine’s book Weather as Medium: Toward a Meteorological Art (MIT Press, 2018) focuses on modern and contemporary artworks that engage with our present and future weathers. Janine also facilitates art exhibitions, events and screening programmes.

Matariki, Winter Solstice, June 21, 2022

Word Weathers, an online durational writing event, considers the radical nature of now-ness as a temporal state bound by location, observation, and attunement to a biosphere in crisis. Over the course of a full rotation of the earth (24 hours) over thirty artist-writers around the world write, read, image, sound, respond and perform a single continuous text.

Takurua, Winter, June 21 2022 – ongoing

The Weather Choir ‘Kōea ō Tāwhirimātea’ is an Aeolian (wind) harp array in eight climate-challenged locations: Tonga, Niue, Samoa, Rarotonga, and in Aotearoa (NZ), Whakatane, Haumoana, Taranaki and Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland). The harps operate as both audible voicings of the weather in each location and as a virtual choir online, where sonic and visual reports are uploaded regularly via the World Weather Network site.

Koanga, Spring equinox, September 23 2022 – ongoing

Haupapa: chilled breath of Rakamaomao is an online collaboration between mountaineer-glaciologist Heather Purdie, sound artist Rachel Shearer, artist Janine Randerson, Kai Tahu orator Ron Bull and programmer Stefan Marks. The artists respond to the ‘hau’ of Haupapa glacier, moisture, air, breath, wind, tears, and vitality. Live signals from hydrophone recordings and underwater images of Haupapa reveal the rapid changes of state from ice to lake.

Raumati, Summer Solstice, December 22, 2022 – ongoing

The Paul Cullen Archive (PCA) presents weather station propositions, an interactive digital project that responds to an unrealised proposal by sculptor Paul Cullen in 2011. 3D models of artworks by Paul Cullen from his r/p/m (revolutions per minute) series are available for download online in USDZ format. View, move, scale, and rotate the models and place them in observatories, atmospheric monitoring and climatology stations using augmented reality (AR).

Ngahuru, Autumn equinox, March 21, 2023

Tongan artist Kalisolaite ‘Uhila performs Sun Gate: Ha’amonga a Maui, a live-streamed durational performance at Ha’amonga a Maui (the Burden of Maui) a thirteenth century gateway stone threshold on the Eastern shore of Tonga. The gateway was once used by ancient Polynesians as a sundial for the shadow it casts and marks on the surface bear witness to this story.

Ngahuru, Autumn, April 6, 2023 – ongoing

For Hukatai: Sea Foam, Maureen Lander and Denise Batchelor monitor the ephemeral nature of sea foam at the entrance and shoreline of the Hokianga Harbour in Aotearoa. Lander’s ancestor, Te Waenga, was a tohunga, spiritual leader, who controlled the wind and the waves at the bar entrance and kept his powers in the cave at Araiteuru. Sea foam is a visible indicator of climate change on inundation over time as well as the immediate effect of weather events like storms at sea.

Commissioned by Te Tuhi for World Weather Network and supported by Creative New Zealand, AUT University, Contemporary Art Foundation and Auckland Council. Data stream courtesy of NIWA | Climate, Freshwater & Ocean Science.

TE TUHI

Te Tuhi is one of New Zealand’s foremost contemporary art organisations, recognised for commissioning ambitious new works by diverse artists. Te Tuhi is renowned for supporting curatorial research, resulting in exhibitions that are locally engaged, regionally responsive and internationally ambitious with a strong awareness of social, political and environmental issues. Te Tuhi’s primary focus is on commissioning new work by creating stimulating contexts for artists to respond and work within. Te Tuhi emphasises artistic process and practice, always placing the artist at the core of the programme.

Te Tuhi leads the field in delivering a strong programme of community engagement through its public programme. Te Tuhi offers participation and engagement programmes integrated with its exhibitions and public events, providing formative art experiences for schools, local residents, community groups and people of all backgrounds and ages.

Te Tuhi is directed by Hiraani Himona (Ngāi Te Whatuiāpiti, Ngāti Rangiwhakāewa and Ngāti Hikarara) since 2015.