The Pacific Arts Association Newsletter, Number 28, July 2011

THE PACIFIC ARTS ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER
Number 28, July 2011

1. We are not a political organisation, and we have no aspirations in that direction.  But two issues have recently been brought to my attention that makes me question our academic distance:
   
   The Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam (http://www.wereldmuseum.nl/) has let go 80 of their 120 staff and are preparing to deaccess and sell the majority of their Oceanic object collection and photographs, keeping only the “best” for public display.  
   
   Needless to say, we are worried that in the rush to deaccess and push the objects onto the market, the documentation associated with the objects and the photographs will be lost.  
   
   If we were not an apolitical body, we would like someone, an expert in Oceanic art, to offer their services to the Wereldmuseum (at an agreed contract price) to ensure that these pieces do not become orphans, and that there is an independent record made of these objects and the data.
   
   
2. Barry Craig has brought to our attention the current plight of National Museum of Papua New Guinea.  Here we are torn. We know how easily a museum collection could be pillaged. Can we remain apolitical in this situation?

Please see the following: “Latest turmoil at PNG National Museum.  Julius Violaris is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum and has been through a careful, arms-length process of selection of a Director for the Museum. The Trustees’ choice was Dr Andrew Moutu (a Boiken, East Sepik man who holds a PhD in Anthropology from Cambridge). The NEC (equivalent to Cabinet in Australian governments) decided in favour of Meck Kuk further down the list who has no particular formal qualifications for the job of Director but was deputy Director under Simon Poraituk, the previous Director, and in charge of Finance. Kuk is currently under investigation for financial fraud but has family connections to high places in the Police department. Matters were proceeding well with support from the previous Minister, Charles Abel, but a shift in political alliances saw a change in the allocation of portfolios and Guma Wau was appointed as Minister for Tourism Arts and Culture. Guma has sent a letter suspending the Trustees and the Chairman Violaris in particular but Violaris states that he cannot do this unilaterally and a standoff has ensued. Court action is inevitable; meanwhile the Museum continues in the parlous state into which it fell under Poraituk's directorship.” Barry Craig
(Curator of Anthropology at the PNG National Museum 1980-83)

This is the published sequence of events¹:

Court asked to rule on blocked funds
Source: The National – Thursday, June 16, 2011
By SAMUEL RAITANO THE National Museum and Art Gallery (NMAG) cannot access funds from its accounts and wants the court to intervene. The Waigani National Court yesterday heard an urgent application by the newly-appointed NMAG director Meck Kuk to restore access to the accounts. NMAG Board of Trustees chairman Julius Violaris was named as the first defendant in the proceeding. It is believed he had issued instructions to the Bank South Pacific to disallow the changing of signatories, and the access of funds available in the two NMAG accounts. Kuk claimed that the two accounts – the Museum Operational and Museum Project accounts – could not be accessed because of the instruction purported to be written to BSP by Violaris. Kuk’s counsel sought a court order to restore access to the accounts, as it hindered the operation and running of the NMAG. The lawyer [said] this included the salary arrangements with the NMAG staff. He said the restriction meant the NMAG could not assist the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture in its operations. Kuk claimed that the two accounts – the Museum Operational and Museum Project accounts – could not be accessed because of the instruction purported to be written to BSP by Violaris. Kuk’s counsel sought a court order to restore access to the accounts, as it hindered the operation and running of the NMAG. The lawyer [said] this included the salary arrangements with the NMAG staff. He said the restriction meant the NMAG could not assist the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture in its operations. Justice Royale Thompson, who presided over the case, queried why the NMAG was financially assisting the ministry, instead of vice-versa. Thompson asked Kuk’s lawyer if the National Museum Act had provisions for the NMAG to pay monies to the ministry. The lawyer told the court that he would discuss the matter with his client. The defence argued that the restriction undermined his client’s official duties as the National Executive Council’s duly appointed office bearer, who was entitled to being a signatory and facilitator of the museum’s normal operations. The National Court will make a decision today.

Museum must be protected
Source: Post-Courier Online
Friday, June 17, 2011 The article “Court asked to rule on blocked funds” in The National on June 16 is not true. The NMAG funds are not blocked and the Museum is not in dire straights because of this, as reported by Director Meck Kuk. The museum is hindered in its operations because the Director refuses to carry out his duties to manage the NMAG, as required by law, and not because he does not have funds. He has full access to funds but only for legitimate purposes. Mr Kuk was appointed as Director by the Head of State on advice from the NEC. Both Mr Kuk and the Minister would like to believe that because of this, he should have full control of the NMAG accounts. Apparently, this has been the practice in the past but certainly not under the current Board of Trustees. As Trustees, we have to protect its assets. That is part of our role. The other is to set the policies of the NMAG and to give direction to the Director. The National Museum and Art Gallery Act, 1992, is the governing act for establishing and operating the NMAG. It requires the Director to “manage the NMAG according to the policies set up by the Trustees”. One of them is that all payments to be made by the NMAG must be approved by a Trustee, and all cheques issued must be signed by either the Director or the Museum Accountant and countersigned by a Trustee. This system can be easily implemented, but Mr Kuk refuses to do this. He has refused to communicate with the trustees and it was only two days ago that the President and Deputy president went to see him to discuss this issue that he requested a meeting with the Trustees, for the next day (Wednesday). At that meeting, the Trustees explained their position for the policies and that is basically that the Board has no confidence him but regardless, we are happy to work with him to facilitate honest management of the museum. The reasons for the Trustees having no confidence is that the Director has refused to co-operate. He has also attempted to change the signatories to the accounts to be himself and two others within the NMAG. The two others were the signatories to the accounts under the previous director when millions of Kina disappeared, together with all documentation. These people are still under investigation. The Trustees will not allow this and we issued relevant policies that will not only allow the transparent management of the Museum but also protect its assets, including its accounts. The Director has an issue with these arrangements, as does our Minister. The Minister went as far as to write directly to the bank, threatening legal action unless they allowed the Director unhampered access. When this failed, the Minister “suspended” the Trustees, but this is not effected as his authority does not extend to that, only the Head of State under advice by the NEC can suspend or terminate the Trustees, and this with good reason. When that failed, Mr Kuk then sought to take out Court orders restraining the Trustees from having any control of the accounts. We believe the National Court will make a decision today. What the public should know is that the Trustees hold all of the Museums assets in Trust, for the people of PNG and not just the director. While this Board of Trustees is in office, we will not allow the Museums accounts to be pillaged by unscrupulous employees and their associates. Julius Violaris
President, Board of Trustees, NMAG

Museum board ‘legal’
Source: Post Courier Online
Thursday, 23 June 2011 I REFER to the letter appearing in the Post-Courier on June 21, 2011, titled “Museum CEO explains issue”. Regardless of what Meck Kuk says, this Board of Trustees does not believe it has been revoked or removed.  Simply publishing something in the National Gazette does not make it legal. The Board of Trustees do not agree that the Minister has the authority or the power to dismiss the Trustees, as we are appointed by the Head of State, on advice from the National Executive Council.  As such, we believe only the Governor-General can revoke our appointment, again on advice from the NEC. This is a fact that has been tested in court many times. The Board of Trustees have asked the court to clarify this, yet again.  The drivel in Mr Kuk’s letter distills to two main subjects; the authority of the Board of Trustees, and the rights of the Director to control the National Museum’s finances.  These issues will also be clarified by the court. This Board of Trustees is unanimous in its responsibility to protect the National Museum and Arts Gallery and to make it a place all Papua New Guineans will be proud of.  Non of the trustees have any personal gain from the National Museum or it’s activities. As the President of the Board of Trustees, I am the person that signs all correspondence and this perhaps gives rise to accusations by Mr Kuk that I act unilaterally. This is not true, I have the full support of the Board of Trustees and all decisions are made collectively. On behalf of all the board of trustee members, I would like to assure the public that until our term expires or we are lawfully dismissed, we will do our utmost to have the National Museum and Arts Gallery managed properly and to protect it. Julius Violaris – on behalf of all of the NMAG Trustees. ¹There is a letter in the Post-Courier on 21 June which I cannot yet access and bring to you.

I sit here, wondering what we can do. Evidently it's now the turn of the National Courts in Papua New Guinea to sort out the legal issues. We can but be impressed by how serious the Trustees are in defending the long term perspectives of the Papua New Guinea National Museum. PAA members, this is your turn to speak up.   
Review of the PAA Europe Annual Conference in Leiden Leiden, Netherlands
April 14-16,  2011



Views of Leiden Our warm thanks go to Curator of Oceania Dr Fanny Wonu Veys at the Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden - National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden for organizing this year's successful PAA Europe Annual Conference, in the context of the Mana Maori exhibition (now extended to September 18, 2011).
The Mana Maori Exhibition
  Held from at the Volenkunde April 14-16, in the charming Netherlandish town of Leiden on the Old Rhine, the theme of this year's symposium was Museums and their relationship with Pacific Peoples. Day one of the conference saw the PAA-E and International Board meetings, followed by lunch, registration and a guided tour for members of the PAA of the Mana Maori exhibition. Greeting viewers in the Museum entrance is an impressive 14 metre waka crafted of a single 700 year old kauri tree which was sailed up the canal and presented to the Museum last year.
http://waka.volkenkunde.nl/dewaka/

The waka introduces the displays, dealing with the land and its phenomenal ecology; an installation George Nuku’s red painted carved polyeurathane marae; ornately carved woodwork, jewellery, and garments of the Maori culture; along with contemporary works by several New Zealand artists which bring Maori past and present together and to life. A hologram of George Nuku introducing Maori vocabulary draws visitors into the exhibitions. Elsewhere, a cyber opportunity allows young people to create tattooed images of themselves on site which they can then email to friends! This busy day ended with the official opening of the Conference and greetings by Museum Director Steven Engelsman followed by two sessions and drinks. The following day included another nine presentations , lunch, more time to view the exhibition and the General Assembly where a discussion of current directions various museums are taking their collections took place. Particular focus was given to Rotterdam of the issue of deaccessioning.  In addition, the GA discussion centered on the need to stress student participation in the PAA and its conferences, for instance through funding and lower fees, in order to build and ensure a vibrant future PAA membership. In this vein, Philippe Peltier highlighted the new Pacific branch of the PAA, which strengthens the Associations relations with PIMA. The evening ended with a delightful nighttime canal trip of Leiden whose history goes back to 800AD, from the Beestenmarkt near the Museum to the Zijlpoort, one of Leiden's two still extant old city gates of its original eight. Here members dined at Brasserie de Poort located in the southern modern section of the restored 1667 gate building. which over time served as a meeting place for the 17th century literary crowd, an 18th century school for poor children. and a 19th century warehouse.


Brasserie de Poort

Another five sessions began the last day of the conference at which Carol Mayer announced the PAA International meeting will be held in Vancouver. 

Following a brief coffee break, members traveled to Steyl-Tegelen to tour the Mission Museum of Steyl, an early European port town which, in the 19th century, was the center for several thousand missionaries who traveled the world. A kind of wunderkammer, today, its exhibition cases hold items the missionaries returned with or sent back, just as they were last displayed in 1931. On view are thousands of objects from Papua, Indonesia, and the Philippines and other lands, displayed by place of origin and type, including everything from everyday utensils to religious works of arts and crafts.

Mission Museum of Steyl

www.volkenkunde.nl/index.aspx?lang=en
www.steyl.eu/index.php?id=110&L=7

The next PAA Europe Conference

The 2013 PAA Europe Conference was announced for either Koln or Edinburgh with a formal announcement and more details forthcoming.

The next PAA International Symposium

The 2013 PAA International Symposium will be held in Vancouver at the University of British Columbia 5-8 August 2013. The theme and other details are to be announced at a later time. Among the topics to be addressed will be Pacific connections to the First Nations.  Watch for information as it becomes available in upcoming newsletters and on the PAA website. 

The Pacific Branch of the PAA

Following on the leads of the European branch and the North American branch, the Pacific branch of the PAA has been established. The first PAA Pacific meeting, organized by Tarisi Vunidilo, took place in Aotearoa on 9 March 2011, in conjunction with the Pasifika Festival.  The mission of the branch is to enable Pacific based (including the Pacific region, Australia and New Zealand) PAA members to meet, communicate and share their achievements, projects and dreams with one another, and with their peers around the world. 

Initially chaired by PAA president Michael Gunn, until the election of Pacific branch officers, the conference was attended by some 30 people, among them artists of Pacific heritage of which several were already members of the PAA, including Rosanna Raymond, Shigeyuki Kihara, and Hilary Scothorn. A great deal of collaboration and planning took place and the meeting was deemed a success.

The Pacific Branch officers elected are:
- President:  Michael Mel, Goroka University
- Vice-President: Tarisi Vunidilo
- Secretary: Hilary Scothorn
- Treasurer: to be announced

Plans are now under way for a two day symposium in 2012. The committee will be discussing this, and will keep members updated. This symposium will be an opportunity to make a difference in the museums, academic institutions and Pacific communities.

Visit the PAA Pacific Facebook page. For further information on projects and activities contact: paapacific@gmail.com
            

Pacific Arts Summit

Auckland, May-June 2011

May has been a very busy month in the Pacific with such members of the PAA as Rosanna Raymond actively involved with the Pacific Arts Summit  (4May-4June 2011), and one of its main events, the Mamas and Museums Programme. Ema Tavola of the Auckland Council stated: From grassroots music concerts to Pacific visual arts exhibitions, talks and discussion, heritage arts, theatre, language and literature, this year’s Summit weaves together local, national and international talent converging here, to celebrate and showcase Pacific creativity. Many of the Summit events were free, allowing the general public also to enjoy and participate in them.

The Mamas and Museums: Pacific Women's Fine Arts and Museums Forum and Workshop took place in Otara on 27-28 May.  Planned as a dialogue between Pacific women artists and arts groups and museum professionals, through a variety of workshops, demonstrations and discussions the Forum allowed Museum professionals to present their work with Pacific material culture and conservation issues they encounter along with some of the theoretical and practical solutions they have developed. Pacific women artists in turn provided their grass roots perspective on materials they use, from where they are sourced, why they are used, and offered some of their own conservation methods.

2011pacificartssummit.wordpress.com/programme/
www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/OurAuckland/Events/Pages/mamasandmuseumspacificwomen.aspx

PIMA

PIMA is a regional non-governmental organization based in Vanuatu that assists Pacific museums, cultural centers and experts to preserve and promote Pacific Islands heritage, arts and culture. PAA member and PAA Pacific Vice President Ms. Tarisi Vunidilo is PIMA Secretary General. PIMA has a new website: www.pima-museum.com.

International Conferences, Events and Exhibitions

Conferences

Western Museums Association Annual Meeting
Honolulu, Hawaii
September 23-26, 2011

The Pacific Islands Museum Association and the Hawai'i Museums Association will co-host the 2011 annual meeting of the Western Museums Association, the first Western Museums Association Conference to include participation by PIMA. PAA members are warmly invited to participate.

The panel co-organized by the Pacific Arts Association (PAA) and Pacific Islands Museums Association (PIMA) on Contemporary Pacific arts in international institutions: regional views and critiques offer a world view, by regions, of exhibitions and initiatives focusing on contemporary Pacific art. Curators and scholars from the Pacific, Asia, the Americas and Europe will speak about the commission, collection and exhibition of contemporary Pacific works in the last five years by museums and cultural institutions. Speakers will present and critically assess the recent exhibition and presentation of contemporary Pacific art using new paradigms of decolonization and globalization. Of particular concern to the panel is the impact of these projects on artists and Pacific Islander communities.

Session moderator will be Christina Hellmich. Tarisi Vunidilo will speak for the Pacific; other speakers for the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa are Christina Hellmich, Carol E Mayer, Carol Ivory, Yuh-Yao Wan, Fanny Wonu Veys and Carlos Mondragón.

For more information, see the Hawai'i Museums Association website.

ICOM-ICME Annual Conference 2011
Banz Monastery at Bad Staffelstein (Upper Franconia), Germany 
October 2-5, 2011

Banz Monastery at Bad Staffelstein, Germany

The International Committee for Museums of Ethnography) will hold its annual conference at the Banz Monastery at Bad Staffelstein (Upper Franconia), Germany, in collaboration with the University of Bamberg /Department of European Ethnology in October. ICME is concerned with the challenges facing ethnographic museums and collections in a changing world.

The theme of the conference is dissolving boundaries: Museological approaches to national, social and cultural issues. The meeting will include sessions as well as an excursion in Upper Franconia and a pre-conference tour of Bamberg, a world heritage site.

For more information, see the ICOM website or visit the PAA Announcements page.

2012 Centennial CAA Conference 
Los Angeles, California
February 22-25, 2012


As a benefit of its affiliation with the College Art Association, the PAA hosts a session of papers at the annual CAA conference. The session theme in 2012 is The Body Politic: The Role of Body Art and Anthropomorphic Depictions in Oceanic Societies. 

Throughout the South Pacific, the human body as subject or medium has been used to convey political ideals and structure society. This panel takes as its starting point Shilling’s contention that the corporeal body is a multidimensional medium for the constitution of society (a source of, a location for, and a means of positioning individuals within, society).

For more information, see the CAA conference page or visit the PAA Announcements page.

Projects

Fijian Art Research Project


The UK-based research project, Fijian Art: political power, sacred value, social transformation and collecting since the 18th century, sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), began on 1 May 2011. The 3-year project, hosted by the Sainsbury Research Unit at the University of East Anglia and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge, will examine the extensive collections of Fijian art and associated photographs and archives held in museums in the United Kingdom and overseas. The dynamic diversity of Fijian art since the 18th century will be revealed through a series of publications and exhibitions. 

Nine museums with significant Fijian holdings are project partners: The British Museum (London), Fiji Museum (Suva, Fiji), Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery (Maidstone), Musée du quai Branly (Paris), National Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh), Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, Massachusetts), Pitt Rivers Museum (Oxford), Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC) and World Museum Liverpool (Liverpool).

Project personnel will be pleased to hear from museum curators responsible for Fijian material and whose institution wishes to collaborate with project research.  Among the aims of the project is to enhance existing museum records via expert identification and analysis.

Please visit our website at www.fijianart.sru.uea.ac.uk or email fijian.art@uea.ac.uk  for more information.

Events and Exhibitions

Pacific Storms
Logan Art Gallery, Logan Central, Queensland, Australia
Closes June 25, 2011


A contemporary art exhibition of key works about Pacific island issues curated by Joycelin Leahy whose theme, Lusim Land (Lost Land), describes the challenges of global warming and sea level rise, mining, and the loss of land through logging and other economic development.

http://urbanviti.wordpress.com/category/exhibitions/
http://www.logan.qld.gov.au/about-council/news-and-publications/media-releases/media-releases/pacific-storms-coming-to-logan

The Contemporary Māori Woman
Deane Gallery, Wellington | Aotearoa New Zealand 
Closes June 26, 2011


New exhibition Maiden Aotearoa at the The Deane Gallery within City Gallery Wellington addresses current issues in the work of Māori and Pacific artists and looks at the representation of Māori women in society today.

Maiden Aotearoa brings together four female artists of Māori descent: Sarah Hudson (Ngāti Awa, Tūhoe), Aimee Ratana (Ngai Tūhoe), Vicky Thomas (Ngāti Kahu, Ngā Puhi, Irish, and Welsh) and Suzanne Tamaki (Ngāti Maniapoto, Tūhoe, Te Arawa). Their work collectively questions colonial depictions of Māori women. This exhibition asserts a stronger, empowered position for the contemporary Māori woman.

www.citygallery.org.nz

Global Journey/Local Response: Works by Jean Charlot
San Diego Museum of Art
Closes July 11, 2011

Credit: The Contemporary Museum

Paris born and trained Jean Charlot (b1898) based himself in Hawaii after extensive time in Mexico; traveled continuously and created murals and prints inspired by his experiences in the Fiji Islands, several of which are represented in this installation. Hawaii became Charlot’s permanent residence after 1949 and he died there at age 81 in 1979.

http://www.sdmart.org/art/exhibit/global-journey
http://www.hawaii.edu/jcf/

Lounge Room Tribalism: A closer look into the politics of collecting
Deane Gallery, Wellington | Aotearoa New Zealand 
Closes July 31, 2011

Graham Fletcher’s fascinating suite of paintings, Lounge Room Tribalism, examines the role of indigenous art in contemporary collecting and the problems inherent in acquiring art from other cultures and using it as an element in interior design.

Lounge Room Tribalism features ten recent oil paintings by this artist which will be showcased in the Deane Gallery, City Gallery’s space dedicated to the exhibition of Māori and Pacific art. Fletcher recreates affluent European interiors, and decorates the walls of each of these painted scenes with pieces of indigenous art—wooden masks, spiritual icons, small statues and wall hangings—evidently purchased by the well-to-do owners of these homes and used to decorate their living areas.

Reuben Friend, Curator of Māori and Pacific Art at City Gallery Wellington comments, “Fletcher’s paintings force the viewer to think about how Western society consumes art from other cultures—can these objects ever be fully understood from a Western viewpoint? Though these objects are presented in private homes and personal spaces, Fletcher suggests that they continue to be viewed through the considerable distance of time, space and ideology.”

http://www.tautai.org/blog/

 
Ricky Maynard: Portrait of a distant Land 
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia
Closes August 14, 2011

Photographs by Tasmanian Aboriginal documentary photographer Ricky Maynard act as a visual diary, which shows the physical and social landscape of people through songlines, massacre sites, meeting places, sacred sites and cultural practices.

www.virginia.edu/kluge-ruhe

Ancestors of the Lake 
Menil Collection, Houston , U.S.A. 
Closes Aug 28, 2011

Copy photograph
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Source: Art Resource, NY


On May 6, Ancestors of the Lake: Art of Lake Sentani and Humboldt Bay, New Guinea opened at the Menil Collection, showcasing approximately fifty works from Jacques Viot’s landmark collection along with equally fine examples of Sentani and Humboldt Bay art collected by Paul Wirz and others. Objects from the Menil Collection's own holdings  are also featured, as well as domestic and international loans from important public and private sources. The distinctively stylized wood sculptures and decorative barkcloth designs of these Northern New Guinean regions were greatly admired by early European collectors. Ancestors of the Lake, on view through August 28, will be the subject of an article in the Summer 2011 edition of Tribal Art. A catalogue, edited by curator Virginia-Lee Webb, including essays by leading scholars of the art and historical photographs of Sentani and Humboldt Bay, accompanies the exhibition.

http://www.tribalartmagazine.com/en/a_la_une.html&ns
http://www.menil.org/exhibitions/AncestorsoftheLake.php

Baskets and Belonging 
British Museum, London 
Closes September 11, 2011
 

Part of the Australian season currently being celebrated at the British Museum, this display features a selection of some sixty Australian Aboriginal containers from the British Museum’s collection, including rare objects not found anywhere else in the world. Indigenous Australian communities were primarily mobile, and they made baskets, bags, and dishes from materials from the landscape to which they belonged. The objects displayed originate from across the continent, with the earliest dating from the beginning of European contact with Australia, and reflect the cultural diversity of its indigenous peoples.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/australian_season/baskets_and_belonging.aspx

Visions Aborigenes
Australian Aboriginal Art Museum, La Grange-Motiers, Switzerland
Closes October 16, 2011

The exhibition presents the visitor with the ability to engage with the universal concept of the Australian Aborigines, with their almost palpable love and respect for their country. 

 www.fondation-bf.ch/html/la_grange/francais/musee_la_grange.html

MAS | Museum aan de Stroom
Antwerp, Belgium

The MAS|Museum on the Stream in Antwerp, designed by the Dutch architects Willem Jan Neutelings and Michiel Riedijk , opened on an island in the heart of the city's famous harbour in May 2011. Each level of the museum which promises to be the anchor of Antwerp's new and vibrant arts center in the port area, is twisted so as to form a giant internal spiral, serving as a vertical glass gallery. 

At the heart of the MAS' story is the long history of exchanges between Antwerp and the world. The MAS brings together the collections from the former Etnografisch Museum (including work from Ocenia), the Nationaal Scheepvaartmuseum and the Volkskundemuseum, along with the Vleeshuis Museum collection and the Paul and Dora Janssen-Arts collection.  The MAS regroups the collections in an innovative story through four universal themes spread over five floors: Display of Power-on prestige and symbols; Metropolis-on Antwerp and elsewhere; World port-on trade and shipping; Life and death-on men and gods and on the Upper- and Underworld. 180,000 objects not presently on display will be given a new home in the MAS’s unique Visible Storage.

Display of Power | On Prestige and Symbols

The MAS collection houses thousands of  status symbols from all over the world. Because of Antwerp's unique international heritage’s it easily became the object of the international art trade and museum collections. As  a result, everything from the prestige of African rulers from the 16th to the 19th century to a collection of Indonesian weapons from the colonial period and Maori artist George Nuku’s vision of Polynesian heritage in Western museums can be made visible here.

http://www.mas.be/
http://www.yatzer.com/MAS-Museum-in-Antwerp-by-Neutelings-Riedijk

Maori Waka on the Thames
London
July 1, 2011

As part of the City of London Festival, on 1 July 2011 the Toi Māoris’ waka taua Te Hono ki Aotearoa, based at the Volkeskunde Museum in Leiden, crewed by eight crewmembers of the Nga Waka Federation of Toi Māori and eight of London’s Ngati Ranana in full traditional dress will sail up the River Thames from Tower Pier to Blackfriars. These crew members will then go on to present workshops on Maori arts and culture during the Festival, including performances of the Haka at Paternoster Square.

http://www.mch.govt.nz/news-events/news/waka-taua-destined-thames-river-london-festival
http://www.keanewzealand.com/united-kingdom/news/get-board-waka-0

The Torres Strait Islands: A Celebration
Cultural Centre, South Bank, Brisbane, Australia
July 1-October 23, 2011

Queensland’s major arts organisations, the Gallery of Modern Art, the State Library and the Queenslands Museum, are joining forces to showcase the diversity and vibrancy of historical and contemporary arts and culture of Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Located between the northern tip of Cape York and Papua New Guinea, the Torres Strait comprises over 270 islands. Seventeen are inhabited by a number of Torres Strait Island peoples – Australia’s other Indigenous culture, distinctively Melanesian and very different from mainland Aboriginal cultures.

www.tsi.org.au

National Museums of Scotland
Edinburgh, Scotland
July 29, 2011

Staff has been busy installing 8000 objects into 16 new galleries while the original interior of the landmark building has been restored during the three-year programme of the Museums' £46.4million refurbishment. The transformation sees it becoming one of the UK's largest museums with 20,000 objects spread across 36 galleries when it opens its doors on 29 July 2011.

The Museum is recognised as the regional centre for ethnography by the local Area Museums Council, and the collections are undoubtedly of international importance. The earliest major acquisition to the Museum, in 1822, contained significant collections of ethnography, especially from the Pacific region. Sixty-five of these specimens survive, including items that can be traced with certainty to the voyages of Captain Cookand the Challenger Expedition.

The Museum continued to acquire ethnographic material up to the present and the collections are now the largest in the North of England. All areas of the world are represented, and often include rare items, such as sealskin Parkas, a complete Inuit kayak and aboriginal religious items as well as a wide range of more everyday material. The collections are particularly strong in items from the Oceanic Islands and unique treasures include a burial effigy from Malekula, an 18th Century Rei Puta, a drum from the Austral Islands, examples of bark cloth and a Hawaiian feather cape and helmet.

http://www.nms.ac.uk/default.aspx

E Tū Ake: Standing Strong
Musee du quai Branly 
October 2011

Tino rangatiratanga (the ability to choose one’s own destiny) lies at the heart of  E Tū Ake: Standing Strong – an exhibition in which ancestral Māori treasures from Aotearoa New Zealand stand alongside contemporary works. E Tū Ake reflects the artistic depth and political aspirations of the vibrant indigenous culture of Aotearoa, the road to which is explored in three segments: Whakapapa, Mana, and Kaitiakitanga.

For Māori, the taonga are more than objects. They are sacred links with the past – a past that is alive in the present and guides Māori towards the future. The taonga in this exhibition express not only the histories, identities, and worldview of Māori, but also the political aspirations of a strong and resilient culture.

http://www.quaibranly.fr/en/
http://www.quaibranly.fr/en/programmation/exhibitions.html
http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/WhatsOn/exhibitions/ETuAke/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/AboutUs/Media/Pages/ExperienceTePapasNewTouringMaoriEX.aspx

Rencontres en Polynésie: Victor Segalen et l'Exotisme 
Closes November 6, 2011
Abbaye de Daoulas, Daoulas, France
 

The scholarship of Victor Segalen is an amazing tool for the exploration of Western perceptions of the Other. Having dramatically renewed the concept of exoticism in the early twentieth century, its modernity and originality still persist today. Rencontres en Polynésie focuses on Segalen's period of study in the Pacific, presenting European objects in dialogue with tribal works from Polynesia. 

http://www.tribalartmagazine.com/en/a_la_une/evenement/rencontres_en_polynesie_victor_segalen_et_l_exotisme.html
http://www.cdp29.fr/daoulas-lesactualitesexpositionrencontresenpolynesie.html

Rituals of Life 
Ethnological Museum of the Vatican Museums
On display all of 2011

Rituals of Life is a journey through the spirituality and culture of the Aboriginal people of Australia.  The exhibition is collated by Fr. Nicola Mapelli, Curator of the Ethnological Collections of the Vatican Museums, with the support and collaboration of the National Museum of Australia. A representative of the National Museum of Australia who researched the collection, traveled extensively to Aboriginal communities, mainly in Western Australia and the Tiwi Islands to reconnect with the descendents of the Aboriginal people who sent their works to the Vatican almost one century ago as a gift to Pope Pious XI.

http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/z-Info/MV_Info_Mostre_04_etnologico.html

Publications of Interest

The Craftsmanship of Art
Professor Philip J. C. Dark, with illustrations by Mavis Dark 

This anthropological enquiry into the conditions of art by is to be published (sadly posthumously in the case of Philip Dark) in July 2011. 

The book, the culmination of over ten years' work, draws on profound knowledge of the aesthetics of tribal cultures of the Pacific region, Africa and the Americas. A valuable resource for academics and art teachers around the world but perhaps especially for members of the Pacific Arts Association of which Professor Dark was a founding member, it runs to over 600 pages with illustrations.

ISBN 9780-9548351-5-8
The book will be available in e-book formats and as bound copy from:E-book format, Kindle, etc. (including postage where necessary): £15.00
Bound copy, exclusive of postage: £50.00
info@youCaxton.co.uk   

Oceania at the Tropenmuseum
David van Duuren et. al.


This is the second volume of a series of ten discussing the collections of the Tropenmuseum, the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam. Its essays are about the well-known Oceanic collection, which began early in the 20th century when the collections of the Colonial Museum in the Dutch provincial town of Haarlem and the ethnographic collection of Artis, the Amsterdam Zoo, were combined. It continued to grow with additions brought by early explorers, travelers, scientific expeditions, missionaries, Dutch government officials, ethnologists and collectors, most from Dutch colonial presence in New Guinea. Its 216 richly illustrated pages emphasize this historical context and the way the objects were collected and presented to the public till this day. 

Author, anthropologist David van Duuren worked at the Tropenmuseum from 1970 to 2010, most recently as the curator for the Oceania and historical collections.

ISBN 9789068327526
€ 34.50
KIT Publishers, 2011
Tel: +31 (0)20 568 8272 or e-mail: publishers@kit.nl

Pacific Art in Detail
Jenny Newell

One of the world’s most significant collections of art from the Pacific held in London at the British Museum which today includes some 37,000 items began when a British Museum staff member, Daniel Solander, accompanied Captain Cook on his first voyage to the Pacific Ocean. 

This book reads as a guide through its galleries, offering images of some of its highlighted objects with details a visitor might not normally see. The author draws on striking and colourful examples from the Pacific's major cultural regions: Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia and the works chosen are then explored further through close-ups, allowing intriguing comparisons between seemingly unrelated objects and media. (A database of the collection is also available online through the British Museum’s website.)

Jenny Newell is Research Fellow, National Museum of Australia, and was formerly Curator, Oceania section, British Museum.

ISBN-10: 0674055780 
ISBN-13: 978-0674055780 
$22.95
Harvard University Press, 2011
British Museum Press, 2011
www.tepapastore.co.nz

Pacific Arts Journal

The most recent Journal, 2010 No 2, New Series Volume10, features the following contributions:  Jacqueline Charles Rault: More Than Simply Tradition: The Pacific Sisters; Spacifically Being Herself: Language and Identity in the Art of Rosanna Raymond-Poetry and Art by Rosanna Raymond with an introduction by Karen Stevenson; Erika Wolf: Shigeyuki Kihara's Fa'a fafine: In a Manner of a Woman: The Photographic Theater of Cross Cultural Encounter;Ping-Ann Addo: Exhibiting Art. Eliding Community: Tongan Barkcloth, Identity and Otherness in a Community Arts Project in California, along with a number of reviews. The journal is edited by Anne Allen, with copy editor and designer Molly Huber.

Anne Allen writes that Volume 11 is in lay-out and it is anticipated that it will be mailed by mid-July. Volumes 12 and 13 will appear as a double set to be guest edited by Ross Bowden and Barry Craig. These will either be sent in two separate mailings (in December and January) or come as a double-bound compendium in December, depending upon printing and binding costs. Since Volume 13 is technically the first for 2012, Vol 14 will arrive in early in the fall of that year.

Please make sure that your dues are paid so that you do not miss out on these editions. 

Call for Articles

A call for articles on the art of the Pacific region, especially papers on all topics pertinent to the visual and performing arts of the peoples of Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia, and Indonesia, for future Journals remains in place along with a request for suggestions for special issues devoted to particular topics or regions, as well as for books, exhibitions, videos, etc., for review. For more information on submission of articles please visit: http://www.pacificarts.org/journal

Volunteer Peer Reviewers needed 

The Pacific Arts Journal continues to seek volunteers to peer review articles submitted to the journal, with the hope of compiling a list of qualified individuals.  If you are interested in reviewing or have an essay to submit or just have a question, please feel free to contact Anne Allen at aeallen@ius.edu.

PAA Member News

Felicitations

The Pacific Arts Association and its members extends its warmest congratulations and best wishes to Maia Jessop and George Nuku on their recent marriage in Torere, New Zealand.

   
In Memoriam

Jean-Marc Pambrun
1953-2011

Jean Marc Pambrun, the son of a father from Rai'iatea and a mother descendant from Brittanny and Ariege, an anthropologist by formation, a man of eclectic cultural interests, an intellectual,  author, rebel, and man of integrity, passed away in Paris this February 11th. Pambrun had served since 2005 as the Director du Musee de Tahiti et des Iles. Following his death, a simple, moving service was held in Creteil, attended by his wife Vaite, his children, mother and brother, along with close family and friends. On 13 May, the first Night of Poetry, a project initiated by Jean-Marc Pambrun, was held in his memory at the Musee de Tahiti. Poetry readings followed a panel discussion on the place of poetry in Polynesian culture.  Pambrun was laid to rest as he wished, in his garden, at the foot of moua Puta.

www.lehman.cuny.edu/ile.en.ile/paroles/pambrun.html
1ère Nuit de la poésie: hommage à Jean-Marc Pambrun
Le magazine Hiro'a rend hommage à Jean-Marc Pambrun

PAA Membership Information

Members of PAA receive Pacific Arts journal, and The Pacific Arts Newsletter, each issued twice yearly. Memberships and all of their benefits are for a calendar year and expire on December 31st.

You must be a member of the Pacific Arts Association to become a member of PAA-Europe and/or PAA Pacific.

Annual Membership Fees, Questions, Contributions:
Professional, institutions, museums, libraries, collectors, dealers: $50
Artists, students and retired persons: $35
PAA Europe: €10

Questions about dues? Contact Christian Kaufmann at paatreasurerchk@gmail.com
Change of address? Contact Christina Hellmich at chellmich@famsf.org

For more information, to join, renew by Pay Pal, or make a contribution and help Pacific Islanders attend future international meetings, please go to http://www.pacificarts.org/membership 

FROM THE EDITOR

The summer 2011 online copy of the PAA newsletter brings you news of Pacific arts events worldwide and reports of this years PAA meeting in Leiden.

Issues of importance to the future of Pacific arts in Europe and the Pacific are being debated, leaving an opening for your opinions and ideas. The possibility of a Pacific Arts discussion network which will be accessed through the PAA website is being looked into. If this transpires, notice will be sent to all members.

The next issue will bring you further information regarding the PAA symposium in Europe with a call for paper details.  

As always, thanks to Frances Barrow of Tel-Aviv, and the Israel Museum’s technical team for their assistance in bringing this newsletter to you. 

Have a wonderful summer. 
Dorit Shafir