Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts was awarded the coveted Exhibition Excellence Award for Share/Cheat /Unite at this year’s Museums Aotearoa Awards in May.
In their comments the judges said the Pakuranga gallery is at the leading edge of curatorial practice and exhibition making within Aotearoa, and that they are ‘real innovators and risk-takers’.
As a small community gallery, receiving this kind of national accolade is something to be very proud of. “We do more with our tiny budget and our tiny team that is physically possible,” says Director Hiraani Himona.
A fund for new work
Te Tuhi’s commissioning programme has made an incredible impact on New Zealand’s contemporary art scene. A new commissioning fund started some time ago with the gifting of a work from Walters prize winner Shannon Te Ao, (Ngati Tuwharetoa and living in Wellington).
The fund has grown from the sale of donated works and fundraising events. This fund becomes a springboard for commissioning new works.
The programme has also attracted partnerships from other investors, who can see artists enabled to stretch themselves conceptually and technically often creating new works that may not be so concerned with finding an ‘owner’. The opportunity can foster large scale or experimental works that can also tackle contemporary social and political commentary.
An Auckland Art Festival project
A recent example is the impressive work In Transit (Arrival) 2017 by Yona Lee. Commissioned by Te Tuhi in association with the Auckland Arts Festival, and sited in the Te Tuhi foyer, the installation explored the structure and pulse of civilisation. A vast structure made of stainless steel tube commonly used as barriers and handrails in train stations and airports around the world is metaphorical of transitory contemporary experience.
In Transit (Arrival) developed out of a residency supported by the Asia New Zealand Foundation and Creative New Zealand. It was also supported by Chartwell Trust, Drake & Wrigley Ltd, Special Wire & Tube Ltd, Metal Skills Ltd and Playbases Ltd.
Next commission underway
A new work from Shannon Te Ao has been commissioned for the 2017 Edinburgh Art Festival, which runs from 27 July until 27 August. It is one of five new works being commissioned by the festival. Promoting this award-winning New Zealand artist abroad has been made possible by the fund he in effect started.
It has also been made possible by the nurturing of important relationships. Creative New Zealand bought the director of Edinburgh Festival out to New Zealand. Te Tuhi curator Bruce E. Phillips met with her, and suggested a work for her to take back to Edinburgh.
Bruce then went on the Creative New Zealand Momentum trip (taking curators to Festival) in 2016. He has become an ongoing Edinburgh contact for Te Tuhi, this year presenting Shannon Te Ao with what he calls a 'complex, multi-faceted and poetic' new work.
With the Sun aglow, I have my pensive moods is a two channel video work that explores the physical and emotional depths of love, grief, sickness and healing. The installation revolves around footage shot in different locations throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. The sound and image provides threads to create an entangled perspective of the human condition.
The event has also been made possible by the many partnerships established and nurtured by Te Tuhi. Creative New Zealand, British Council Scotland, Edinburgh Festival, English and Scottish organisations as well as the Te Tuhi patrons and donor organisation are all involved.
Great track record
Over the last five years, Te Tuhi has commissioned almost 90 significant new artworks and built a remarkable track record of supporting the creation of new work at pivotal points in artists careers. A new Artistic Director, Gabriela Salgado will join Te Tuhi in November to continue the momentum, and explore where the next international commission will be and what the gallery will deliver to Auckland.
Director Hiraani Himona says it is important for Te Tuhi to be a community hub, and stay relevant in order to attract income.
“Our business model is based on us generating income from the activity we do to support our programmes. We get 45 per cent income from Council and we raise 55 per cent from what we do here, so every kind of move means looking at those things – where is our community, where is our income?”
The Te Tuhi Talks programme sells tickets to hear carefully selected inspirational leaders from the creative sector, and uses this fund to transport school children from low decile schools to attend specifically designed contemporary art education programmes. It is another example of investment directed back into the organisation so that it can extend its reach and impact way beyond what you believe is possible.