The Pacific Art Association Newsletter, Number 23, June 2009

THE PACIFIC ARTS ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER
Number 24, June 2009 

Table of Contents
The PAA Europe Annual Conference
Reminder: PAA Europe Membership Information
Update on the Publication of Pacific Arts
Forthcoming Events
The PAA at CAA in 2010
The PAA at CAA in 2011
Rarotonga hosts the Xth PAA International Symposium
Recent International Exhibitions
Ongoing Upcoming International Exhibitions
From the Editor

PACIFIC ARTS ASSOCIATION – EUROPE
The 2009 Annual Conference in Bonn
 
The annual meeting of the PACIFIC ARTS ASSOCIATION – EUROPE takes
place from Thursday 17 September to Sunday 20 September 2009, in
Bonn and St Augustin, Germany.  This affords participants the
opportunity to view the exhibition James Cook and the Discovery of
the South Seas on view in Bonn at the Bundeskunsthalle, (the Art and
Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany) from 28 August
2009 until 10 January 2010. For more information in English about the
Kunsthalle please visit http://www.kah-bonn.de/index_e.htm
 
Papers at this PAA-E meeting will focus on the theme of Historical
Connections: the Legacies of Science and Collecting in the 18th
Century. There will be time for some 10 presentations of 20-25 minutes
and 5-10 minutes for questions and for 5 short reports. Your participation
through the presentation of a paper exploring this subject is most
welcome. Please send your title and an abstract (100-150 words) to
Dieter Heintz (dhtz@nord-com.net), and/or Antje Kelm (antjekelm@gmx.de),
or Philippe Peltier (philippe.peltier@quaibranly.fr)
by Monday 6 July.   Please be sure to specify the length of your
presentation.

This year, to cover expenditures for the conference, a fee of €85 per
person will be charged. For all those who pre-register by 15 August this
fee will be € 75. The fee for students and currently unemployed
colleagues is € 55. This includes the cost of coffee and tea breaks and
a light lunch on Saturday at the Bundeskunsthalle. 

Initial Schedule of PAA-Europe Annual Conference 2009: 

Thursday 17 September: Bundeskunsthalle, Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 4, Bonn
2 pm to 6 pm: Registration desk open  Individual visits to the James Cook exhibition
Board Meeting

Friday 18 September:  St. Augustin, a 20 minute tram ride from Bonn
Visit to Museum Haus Voelker und Kulturen of the SVD congregation
and its important New Guinean collections

Saturday 19 September: Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn

Sunday 20 September: Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn
Lectures open to the general public 
Conference ends at 12.30-1pm

A detailed program with symposium session titles and times will be
published mid-July.

Accommodations and practical information:
Please note that hotels should be booked individually. Moderate hotel
prices range from €70 to 100 for a double. Staying in downtown Bonn or
Bad Godesberg is recommended. The Bundeskunsthalle can easily be
reached by underground from both; public transport in Bonn is
excellent. There is a tram line from Bonn to nearby St. Augustin.

For more practical information (including a list of accommodations,
modes of payment, transportation information, etc.) please visit the
PAA website.
 
In the meantime, should you have any questions please contact Antje
(antjekelm@gmx.de) or Dieter (dhtz@nord-com.net).

Reminder: PAA Europe Membership Information

Membership in PAA Europe is €10 annually.
Please send your new memberships or renewals to:
Roberta Colombo
Musée d'ethnographie de Geneve
65, boulevard Carl-Vogt
Case postale 191, CH-1211 
Genève 8m, Switzerland
roberta.colombo@eth.ville-ge.ch

Update on the Publication of Pacific Arts

Publication of the next Journal is still pending. It was delayed while a
publishing house considered adopting the Journal. While that offer fell
through, two other options are now being explored. The goal is to
publish by the Bonn meeting if at all possible. The editors appreciate
the patience of the authors and members in general as we try to find a
new publisher. Through this time of editorial and production related
transition, please contact Anne Allen at aeallen@ius.edu  with any
questions regarding the journal. 
 

Forthcoming Events

PACIFIC ARTS ASSOCIATION@ COLLEGE ART ASSOCIATION
Pacific Arts Association - Affiliated Society Session

CAA (College Art Association) 98th Annual Conference in 2010
The Pacific Arts Association is an affiliate society of the College Art Association.
As a benefit of this affiliation, PAA hosts a session of papers
at the annual CAA conference, usually held in February each year.
The 98th Annual Conference takes place 10-13 February 2010 in
Chicago, Illinois. Listing more than 120 sessions, the 2010 Call for
Participation should have arrived in the mailboxes of all individual and
institutional CAA members in March of this year. 

In addition to attendance and participation in the wide-ranging panels
on art history, studio art, contemporary issues, and professional and
educational practices, CAA expects participation from many area
schools, museums, galleries, and other art institutions. The Hyatt
Regency Chicago will be the conference hotel, holding most sessions
and panels, Career Services and the Book and Trade Fair, receptions
and special events, and more. For more information please visit
http://conference.collegeart.org/2010/.

The topic of the PAA at CAA Affiliated Society special session in
February 2010 is Views from the Continent: Art and the U.S. Pacific
Diaspora. This panel seeks to draw attention to visual art produced by Pacific
Islanders living in the continental United States.  Employing the central
notion of "diaspora" as a framework for this session suggests a fluidity of
identifications and transnational linkages between places of ancestral
origin and various points of circulation and settlement.  At the same
time, it is meant to acknowledge the particularities of place and how
Oceanic artists' presence in the United States bears on their sensibilities
and negotiations of history, ancestry, family, tradition, and changing
cultural practices. What questions emerge about the possibilities and
limitations of existing discourses, artistic strategies, and modes of display
in conveying and contextualizing the ideas, histories, conditions, and
subjectivities that catalyze this art? 

Chairs: Margo Machida and Jewel Castro.
Speakers: 
Dr. Teri Sowell, affiliation: Oceanside Museum of Art, working title:
"Anglonesian Art in the Continental U.S."

Adrienne Pao, affiliation: San Francisco Art Institute, working title:
"Hawaiian Cover-Ups."

Dan Taulapapa McMullin, affiliation: Independent Artist, working title:
"In the Nest of the Eagle."

Anne Keala Kelly, affiliation: Independent Artist, "A Hawaiian Artist's
Resistance in the Era of Elimination."

Bernida Webb-Binder, affiliation: Cornell University, "Oceania as Center
in Pacific American Art."
 
 
The second PAA affiliated society 1 1/2 hr. session is titled Visual Histories
in and of Polynesia.

Chair: Stacy Kamehiro  
Speakers:
Dr Michelle Arai, afiliation: University of California, Riverside, “Civilizing
Images: Violence and the Visual Interpellation of Maori Women”

Jennifer Wagelie, affiliation: National Gallery of Art,“Putting the Man in
Manikin: A History of the Display and Collection of  Maori art at the
National Museum of Natural History”

Stacy L. Kamehiro, affiliation: University of California, Santa Cruz,
“Hawai’i and the World Fairs, 1867-1893”

Dr. Caroline Vercoe, affiliation: University of Auckland,  “In Her Shadow:
Exploring Representations of Hula Girls in the 19th and 20th Centuries”

For further details visit:
http://www.pacificarts.org/

The New York CAA Conference in February 2011
To submit a full session or PAA affiliated session proposal for the CAA
conference in 2011 in New York, please contact Christina Hellmich,
chellmich@famsf.org; Stacy Kamehiro, kamehiro@ucsc.edu or Bernida
Webb-Binder, bernsuella@hotmail.com 

In addition, as an affiliated society of CAA, PAA is pleased to publicize
the following exhibition funding opportunity to members and others
interested in exhibiting and showcasing Pacific visual culture:
CAA invites curators to submit proposals for exhibitions whose openings
coincide with upcoming Annual Conferences. The exhibitions must be
held in the conference city of New York and on view during the
conference dates during February 2011. Deadline: September 1, 2009
 
There are no limitations on the theme or media of work to be included
in the exhibition, except that it must be a group show of contemporary
art comprising about fifteen artists. CAA’s Exhibition Committee reviews
and evaluates proposals based on merit. For more information visit
http://www.pacificarts.org/node/133
 
 

Pacific Arts Association's Xth International Symposium
Rarotonga, Cook Islands 11-13 August 2010

Pacific Arts Association's Xth International Symposium
Rarotonga, Cook Islands 11-13 August 2010
The next PAA International Symposium, title and theme yet to be
announced, is scheduled to take place in Rarotonga in August of 2010. 
This Symposium is timed to follow immediately on the Maeva Nui or
Cook Islands Constitution Celebrations. (See http://www.pacificarts.org/; or
http://www.sokalavillas.com/TMN_Mauke_X.htm; or
http://cook2010.blogspot.com/ for more information). 
The major annual cultural event of the Cook Islands, Maeva Nui
festivities includes dance, chant and choir competitions and
demonstrations of traditional arts. People from around the Cook Islands
converge on Rarotonga to compete in these events and PAA
Symposium participants are urged to arrive some days earlier in order
to participate in these celebrations. 

Symposium Venues and Events:
The main venue of the Symposium will be the National Auditorium,
located in a complex a few minutes walk from town. The complex
includes the National Museum (http://www.mocd.gov.ck/), the
National Library, the Cook Islands Library and Museum Society
(http://cookislandslibraryandmuseum.blogspot.com/), and the
University of the South Pacific (USP) Cook Islands Centre. 
 
The National Auditorium has been booked for the full term of the
Symposium and break out areas with marquees will be available on
the Auditorium grounds for informal discussions groups and cultural
events linked to the Symposium. Two seminar rooms in the adjacent
USP complex and additional seminar space will also be available in the
National Museum.
 
Market vendors are to set up stalls on the grounds of the National
Auditorium to provide a variety of cooked food and crafts for sale.
There will be exhibitions of Contemporary Pacific Art at the
Beachcomber Gallery; Tautei New Zealand at the Art Studio; Nanette
Lela'ulu and Contemporary Cook Islands at the National Museum; a
photo exhibition at CILMS, and others.

Demonstrations of tapa making; tivaivai, carving, basket and mat
weaving will be held in covered areas outside the conference center.
In addition a number of local and island tours will be available to
participants (visit http://www.islandhoppervacations.com)

The Symposium program
Details of the symposium program will be published at a later date.
The formal Symposium Program will be designed and printed in
Rarotonga with the help of local artists and graphic designers, as the
main official souvenir of and guide to the Symposium.
On arrival at the airport a program will be distributed with advice on
how to get to the main venue for day 1.
 
Symposium Scholarships
The Symposium seeks to pay scholarships to cover the cost of
attendance by 10 artists drawn from the outer islands of the Cook
Islands (5 scholarships) and from the arts community of the USP's 12
members countries (5 scholarships). Young indigenous artists from
Australia and New Zealand will be assisted in applying to the Australia
Council and to Creative New Zealand for travel grants to attend the
Symposium.

Symposium Travel Information
Start planning your visit soon. August is a busy month in Rarotonga and
it is advisable for participants to make airline and accommodation
bookings as early as possible in order to avoid disappointment. Please
bear in mind that from mainland USA the sole international carrier is Air
New Zealand out of Los Angeles with one weekly direct flight to and
from LAX; from New Zealand the main carriers are Air New Zealand and
Pacific Blue (a subsidiary of Virgin Airlines); from Tahiti Air Tahiti Nui has a
twice weekly flight. In all, there are around 18 international flights a
week in and out of Rarotonga. Once there, daily flights by Air
Rarotonga (http://www.airraro.com/) take you to the southern islands.
Rarotonga has a wide variety of lodgings from four star to backpacker
ranging in price from $NZ1, 500 to NZ$35 a night. All accommodation
enquiries and bookings will be handled by Kristine at Destination
Management Cook Islands - Kristina@dmck.co.ck or visit
http://www.dmck.com 

For  more preliminary information regarding this destination please
consult
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/rarotonga-and-the-cook-islands/rarotonga and
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/rarotonga-and-the-cook-islands#video-ltv-1A749D8E914FE1FD
Please check the PAA website and stay tuned for more information
and details as they become available.
 

Recent International Exhibitions
 
Mangareva: The Pantheon of Polynesia
3 February - 10 May 2009
Musée du quai Branly, Paris
http://www.pacificarts.org/node/167

John Mawurndjul
9 April-24 May 2009
Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra
http://www.pacificarts.org/node/195
 
South Style
15 May - 6 June 2009
Fresh Gallery Otara, South Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.pacificarts.org/node/229
 
Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian artworks
13 May - 6 June 2009
Michael Reid at Elizabeth Bay, NSW, Australia 
http://www.pacificarts.org/node/228


Ongoing & Upcoming International Exhibitions

Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings from Papunya
Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles
3 May – 2 August 2009 
Grey Art Gallery
New York University, New York City
1 September - 5 December  2009

In early 1970s a group of Australian Aboriginal men began transferring
their sacred ceremonial designs to pieces of masonite boards in the
tiny settlement of Papunya. This is the first exhibition to focus on this
crucial founding moment of Papunya art, which has a unique status in
the history of Western Desert painting, and draws together forty-nine
paintings—including some of the earliest and finest boards—as well as
later works created by leading Papunya artists.
http://www.fowler.ucla.edu/incEngine/?theme=fowler_main&content=
information_manager&information_manager_id=82
 

Time and Tide: The changing art of the Asmat of New Guinea
Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA)
14 February – 26 July 2009

The exhibition features works from the American Museum of Asmat Art
at the University of St. Thomas,MN 
http://www.pacificarts.org/node/168


Oceanic Art: Celebration of Form
San Diego Museum of Art
31 January 2009 - 3 January 2010

Oceanic Art: A Celebration of Form features 97 three-dimensional
works, primarily from Melanesia and Polynesia, and also includes
objects from Micronesia and Taiwan. Works on view come from three
major California collections: the personal collections of Valerie Franklin
and of the Edward and Mina Smith Collection, as well as the extensive
holdings of the Sana Art Foundation. Among the highlights is a life-size
sculpture from Nuku‘oro in the Caroline Islands (Micronesia), the only
such figure in a private collection.
http://www.pacificarts.org/node/197

African and Oceanic Art from the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva: A
Legacy of Collecting
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
2 June -27 September 2009

The Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva is home to one of Europe’s
preeminent private collections of African and Oceanic art whose works
testify to the achievements of the African and Oceanic masters who
created them.
Aspiring artist Josef Mueller began the collection more than a century
ago, as the Parisian avant-garde awakened to and embraced the
power of non-Western art. Since 1955, his daughter Monique and her
husband, Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller, have expanded upon and
enriched the representation of art from across the Pacific.
 
Among the masterpieces of Oceanic sculpture being shown are a
striking group of figures, masks, and decorative art from Indonesia, New
Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Easter Island, and other areas which were
selected for their exceptional aesthetic qualities, their historical 
interest, and their resonance with the Metropolitan’s holdings. 
 http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId={B7
DF78FE-1759-41DF-9AFA-1F6E22D679F6}
 
 
Magnificent Facades: Paintings and Architecture by Abelam Artists
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing
June- December 31, 2009 Tuesdays-Fridays 10am-4:30 pm

Obtain a free pass from an Information Desk to the 
Photograph Study Collection or Goldwater Library to see the exhibition.
J. Anthony Forge (1929-1991) worked with Abelam artists living in
several villages in the Sepik Hills area of Papua New Guinea. During
one visit in 1958-59 he commissioned artists to paint traditional designs,
normally used for house facades, on rectangular sheets of 
grey paper. Several years later, Forge produced a set of nine silkscreen
prints based on the paintings. This installation includes the prints and
Forge’s photographs of the artists at work.
 
Hailans to Ailans
Part 1: 16 September - 17 October 2009, The Rebecca Hossack Gallery,
London, UK 
Part 2:  5 November– 26 November 2009, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria,
Canada
Funding for these exhibitions has been provided by the Christensen
Fund in San Francisco, and the NASFUND in Papua New Guinea, and
will assist in bringing the artists to the events surrounding the openings
at both venues, and allow a direct understanding of the artists and
their unique cultural experiences.
http://www.pacificarts.org/node/185
 
Pacific Arts gallery space at the National Gallery of Australia
Canberra
The Pacific Arts gallery space at the National Gallery of Australia
opened in July 2007 and showcases more than thirty of the finest works
of the collection, many for the first time since their acquisition in the
1960s. Included in the works exhibited are the Ambum stone, a twin
Lake Sentani figure and an important Poutokomanawa house post
figure.
http://www.pacificarts.org/node/34
www.nga.gov.au
http://www.pasifikastyles.org.uk/

For other conferences and/or exhibitions that may be of interest,
please visit the Announcements page of the PAA website.
http://www.pacificarts.org/
 
FROM THE EDITOR

This edition of our PAA newsletter summarizes Pacific arts activities during the past six
months, and brings updates on the prospective events for the rest of 2009 and 2010.
Clearly, PAA members worldwide have been busy and creative as usual, making our
special microcosm vital and dynamic, and offering evermore perspectives on the cultures of the Pacific
to the wider world.
 
This is an opportunity to once again thank Frances Barrow for her assistance in the
production of this newsletter, and the Israel Museum's Computer Services Department
for its technical advice on the production of this newsletter.
 
I wish you all a good summer and hope to see you all in Bonn this autumn.

To download a PDF version of this newsletter please click the link below.