Tāmaki Makaurau Art Week: Dance, art, walks and light shows bring te ao Māori expression to Auckland

The Kura Gallery will feature "Urban Māori". Photo / Supplied

Auckland’s city will be radiating Māori art during Art Week with elements featuring te ao Māori magic to run for nine days from Thursday October 4-13.

Viv Beck, Heart of the City’s chief executive says: “This is a week-long celebration of creativity and culture, and we’d love to see Aucklanders’ curiosity ignited and our streets jammed with people interacting with a lineup of unique activations”.

The 10-day programme with the theme “happiness” includes Changing Lanes, features nine temporary public artworks in some of the city centre’s laneways, with 25 free guided art walks and the opportunity to meet and create with 22 artists, as they work.

Late Night Art, a highlight of the week, features over 40 events and activations including Late Night on High with an art market and roaming performers, the Urban Art Village on O’Connell St, a midtown street art Festival, and galleries open late including Kura Gallery with the new Urban Māori exhibition.

Listed are five programmes that look at art through a te ao Māori lens:

Hoani Waititi Marae in Oratia, Auckland, was the first urban Māori marae built in the country and contains a panel of the explorers' ships, including Captain Cook's Endeavour, so Pākehā felt welcomed. Photo / Mike Scott

Kura Gallery features Urban Māori exhibition

Kura Gallery is opening to kai mahi toi Māori to contribute to a show looking at the term Urban Māori. The term is provocative and significant for ngā iwi Māori, the majority of whom live away from their papa kāinga, or ancestral lands. The reasons are layered.

The kaupapa is broad left to the artists’ interpretation of what the term means to them, which should make for an exciting and fresh exhibition from artists from across the motu. There will be kōrerō about the works with the curator on October 10.

Walk with Māori and Pasifika art

Walk with author and art historian David Hill (Ngati Kahu/Ngāpuhi) and uncover works of art in public spaces by Māori and Polynesian art makers, marking places and stories celebrating pre-European culture. There are two walks taking place, October 5, 4-6pm and October 12, 2-4pm.

Tamanui-te-Rā shines on Vulcan Lane

Changing Lanes is a well-established part of Auckland’s creative landscape and is once again a feature of Art Week. It aims to help create connections in our community, provide opportunities for artists, enhance public spaces and uplift spirits. A new art installation in Vulcan Lane, RĀ is a text-based sound and light sculpture. It reads RĀ vertically, embracing the Māori name for sun and bringing light and joy to Vulcan Lane. A flickering light comes from underneath to give a sense of fire/flames. Artists are Tyrone Ohia (Ngāti Pukenga, Ngāi te Rangi), Angus Muir and Dr Riki Gooch (Ngāti Wai, Ngaati Maahanga).

Lighting sequence speaks to Mataaoho

Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua traditions attribute the volcanic landscape of Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, to the deity Mataaoho. Iwi artist, Pāora Puru (Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua, Waikato, Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāti Rangitihi) showcases his talents for a second time. On behalf of Precinct Properties, Pāora has designed another custom lighting sequence for the external facade lighting of the Deloitte Centre at One Queen Street, Auckland. The display will go live on October 10 as part of Late Night Art and can be viewed while listening to the story’s narration, from Te Komititanga, Te Wānanga and nearby vantage points close to the building at 1 Queen St.

Projekt Team is a Street Dance collective that regularly hosts Friday night dance battles in Britomart's Takutai Square.

Contemporary dance tells stories of identity.

Celebrate Late Night Art with Projekt Team presenting Ko Au: He Pō in partnership with Britomart, a unique and immersive dance experience. Ko Au: He Pō is an intimate dance installation that guides groups of spectators through pop-up performance areas specially tailored to Britomart’s spaces. Ko Au, meaning “I am”, is choreographed by Seidah Tuaoi and Joshua Mitikulena, and provides opportunities for the dancers to draw on their personal stories and diverse traditions to express their most vulnerable selves. Projekt Team is a street dance collective that regularly hosts Friday night dance battles in Britomart’s Takutai Square. In Ko Au: He Pō, the performers interweave cultural, street dance and contemporary dance languages to tell stories of the search for identity.