New Zealand 2017

The Royal Society – which played a vital role in Aotearoa New Zealand’s early history – is collaborating with the exhibition “Lisa Reihana: Emissaries” in a new partnership that echoes support for explorations made nearly 250 years ago.

The exhibition is conceived as a meditation on ideas generated by cartographic endeavours and scientific exploration, aiming to unravel Enlightenment ideals and philosophy, the colonial impulse, and the distant gaze of power. Reihana’s central presentation, in Pursuit of Venus [infected] (2015-17), a panoramic video work focussing on the early voyages of Captain Cook, will showcase New Zealand contemporary art at the 57th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the premier international arts and culture event since 1895. The New Zealand pavilion will be housed in the Tese dell’Isolotto, one of the oldest Naval buildings in the Arsenale, among many permanent national pavilions.