OCEAN MEMORIES

A multimedia exhibition from Oceania

With the exhibition ‘Ocean Memories’, the Kunstverein Kunsthalle Hannover is showing a selection of contemporary photographs and videos as well as 3D prints by artists from Oceania. The Pacific Ocean – Te Moananui-a-Kiwa – is the largest populated habitat on earth. The participating artists see themselves as indigenous people of the South Pacific and live and work in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Together with the artists, curator Cora-Allan Wickliffe developed the concept of the exhibition as a journey. A journey into contemporary art. This journey is characterised by an examination of their indigenous history. This tradition is the starting point of the exhibition, which tells of the memories of the stories, dances, navigation and crafts of their ancestors. The participating artists explore their own history and the stories of the past. Elements are created to understand where they move in the landscape of visual art with their historical reference to Pacific communities and take their stand in dialogue with contemporary art. In this way, they counteract the narrative tendencies to pigeonhole Pacific communities into romanticised categories.

With the exhibition ‘Ocean Memories’, the Kunstverein Kunsthalle Hannover is showing a selection of contemporary photographs and videos as well as 3D prints by artists from Oceania. The Pacific Ocean – Te Moananui-a-Kiwa – is the largest populated habitat on earth. The participating artists see themselves as indigenous people of the South Pacific and live and work in Aotearoa New Zealand.