KEY POINTS:
Te Papa Tongarewa, the Museum of New Zealand, is about to challenge the cliché that if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
A decade after it first opened, Te Papa has proven to be an undoubted success. Critics panned its populist exhibitions, claimed it had dumbed down the
museum experience, and argued it was neglecting its role as the national art gallery.
In its 10 years it has seen much-needed extra gallery space added, heavyweight shows by masters such as Henry Moore displayed, challenging and controversial exhibitions mounted - and millions and millions of visitors.
Novelty drew almost one million people to Te Papa in the months after its February 14, 1998, official opening.
A record 1.6 million went through the following year and visitors have never dipped below 1.2 million a year since.
A downward trend in visitors a few years ago has been reversed and Te Papa chief executive Seddon Bennington said the storehouse of the nation's treasures looked forward to its second decade with confidence.
"We defy categorisation, which is a great strength actually: we are the best of both worlds - art gallery and museum," Dr Bennington said.
"It's really how we draw on that and don't allow it to be an impediment to it being a great place for art, or a great place for everything else; that sometimes we're a place where it is all mixed up and sometimes we are a place where art stands on its own in its own space just as it would in an art gallery.
"The fact that we can be as flexible as that and play to those strengths is really what makes Te Papa exceedingly successful.
"It has defied the purists but I think even the purists are getting used to the fact that this is an institution that you can't define by usual categories."
People expecting the traditional museum experience of objects displayed reverentially in glass cases can be taken aback by Te Papa's bright lights, noise, interactive exhibitions and rides.
That approach to explaining the New Zealand story has seen Te Papa accused of "dumbing down", a criticism Dr Bennington admitted might once have had some validity.
Now, however, the focus of the hands-on exhibitions is to allow people to access more information if they want it, adding value to the shows, he said.
The appeal of those shows is undoubted. Families in particular flock to Te Papa, and during school holidays the museum can seem more like a gigantic creche.
Popular though the "permanent" exhibitions have been, they are in the process of being revamped.
Tagata Pasifika, the Pacific Island story, has already been reworked and reopened as Tangata o le Moana - drawing a staggering 22,000 people to its opening weekend.
Millions have taken the three rides that make up Timewarp, a trip through Wellington's past, present and future. It is the next of the shows to be revitalised, as part of a programme Dr Bennington said was aimed at "knocking people's socks off again".
"The search for the new, the different, the surprising, always has to be an important part of our agenda." he said.
"We cannot be complacent and we cannot get into a rut.
"Just because it's a successful rut, we cannot take that as being where we should stay because there is an expectation of our audience that we will be a place of surprise and our staff want it to be a place of surprises too. We have to strive to do that - it doesn't just come easily - but on the other hand it doesn't come from being contrived either. We have to find those next steps in people's experience, recognising that the world is changing, the technology people use in everyday life is changing, and so they have to find those here. And find us leading the changes too."
Te Papa will hold a year-long party to mark its 10th birthday. The main event will be held on the weekend closest to February 14, with concerts showcasing leading New Zealand entertainers.
Four blockbuster exhibitions span the months either side of the museum's birthday, major shows which will be seen in Wellington, around New Zealand and overseas.
Whales, which has already opened, will then travel to the United States. It will be followed by a Rita Angus retrospective, which will tour New Zealand.
A reworked version of Mauri Ora - an exhibition of Maori art which travelled to Japan - will go on show later in the year with new contemporary art works, before touring Europe.
Meanwhile, negotiations are well advanced towards bringing a major exhibition of works by Monet to New Zealand at the end of next year.
"We see this programme as our maturing as an international institution," Dr Bennington said.
