“Manatunga is the Māori word given for precious objects, heirlooms and ancestral treasures. The word itself implies that they are standing – up-right. It is also used in the context that these special pieces are concentrated repositories of histories and emotions”, says George Nuku, explaining the title of his exhibition.
Three interventions
The interventions George Nuku created specifically for the areas on Oceania in the Ethnologisches Museum’s permanent exhibition at the Humboldt Forum will be displayed in two galleries: an extensive installation in the large boat hall (Room 215) will focus on the various relationships between people and the sea as well as on influences of climate change and environmental pollution. Two further interventions are presented in Room 219, which is dedicated to exhibits from Polynesia and their relationships to ancestors and deities.
In all three installations, Nuku takes up the overall theme of the respective gallery and establishes a connection to the displayed objects from the Ethnologisches Museum’s collection on Oceania. His contemporary pieces of art open up new perspectives on the historical objects, Nuku explains. His work seeks to “explore the inter-relationships between the past and the future, between new and ancient artworks, between a descendant of the origin families and the museum stewards of these ancestral treasures – which now reside within the institution and are brought to the light of the present.”
George Nuku
George Nuku (*1964) is one of New Zealand’s leading contemporary artists. As a sculptor, he works with stone, bone, wood, shells, polystyrene, and plexiglass. In his works he constantly questions the relationships between humans, nature and culture, using millennia-old traditional elements of Māori culture to juxtapose them with contemporary themes, such as decolonisation, repatriation, and reconciliation. His works are exhibited internationally, for example at the British Museum London, the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, UK, and the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris. In 2022 he had a major solo exhibition at the Weltmuseum Wien, “Oceans. Collections. Reflections”.