City Life Org – The Metropolitan Museum of Art will host a program exploring indigenous heritage sites in Oceania on June 21

Interior of Maota ō Tofilau in Lalomalava, Savai’i Island, Samoa, built in 1969. Photo by Albert L. Refiti, 2023

Artist Taloi Havini will join Pacific thought leaders for a discussion on architectural environments in ‘What Makes a Cultural Landmark? Perspectives from Oceania” to celebrate the upcoming reopening of The Met’s new galleries for the Arts of Oceania in 2025

The Metropolitan Museum of Artin association with World Monuments Fund (WMF), will host a program on Friday, June 21 from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM that will include presentations and discussions on indigenous cultural heritage sites in Oceania, with a focus on case studies in Samoa and Buka Island in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. “What makes a cultural monument? Perspectives from Oceania” will feature a panel of experts in art, architecture and regenerative design and highlight the ways in which inter-island mobility, ocean navigation and cosmology influence the region’s expansive sense of spatial and built environments . The program is presented in anticipation of the opening of The Met’s redesigned Michael C. Rockefeller Wing in spring 2025, which will include new galleries for the Arts of Oceania, highlighting the role the environment plays in the arts of the islands in the Pacific Ocean.

The event will be introduced by Maia Nuku, Evelyn AJ Hall and John A. Friede Curator of Oceanic Art in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, who will provide insight into the curatorial approach now underway in the Museum’s Arts of Oceania galleries. The conversation will be moderated by Jonathan S Bellthe Vice President of Programs of the World Monuments Fund, and include Taloi Haviniartist and curator and winner of the Artes Mundi 10 prize in 2024; Tuputau Lelaulu, Co-Founder and Director, MAU Studio; And Albert RefitiProfessor of Spatial Design and Architectural Environments, Auckland University of Technology.

The Met’s Oceanic Art Collection embraces the art and culture of the Pacific Islands and includes more than 2,800 works that reflect the rich history of creative expression and innovation emblematic of this vast region. It includes art from the two contiguous regions of Australia and island Southeast Asia, whose indigenous peoples share a common ancestry with the Pacific Islanders. Although the earliest examples of Oceanic art – the richly colored rock paintings of Aboriginal Australians – are believed to be more than 40,000 years old, the vast majority of works in the collection date from the 18th century to the present. Highlights of the Oceania collection include monumental architecture from New Guinea’s diverse cultural groups and a spectacular array of ceremonial sculpture from the coastal archipelagos surrounding it. These exceptional works of art include some of Pacific Islanders’ greatest achievements in the visual arts: elaborately carved ancestral figures from ceremonial homes and spectacular ritual regalia, such as towering crevice drums, crocodile reliquaries and dazzling turtle masks from the coastal areas. .

Travel and the art of navigation is another key feature, with decorated paddles, beautifully carved canoe prows from the Solomon Islands and a navigation map of the coral atolls of the North Pacific that evokes the extraordinary story of travel – both literal and metaphorical – across worldwide. vast landscape of Oceania. The new galleries for Oceania present 500 years of art from this unique region, showcasing the creativity of Pacific artists through the immersive lenses of world history, indigenous storytelling, oratorio and performance.

“What makes a cultural monument? Perspectives from Oceania” is the final event in a series of programs on cultural heritage in the regions represented in the collections of the Arts of Ancient America, Africa and Oceania, located in the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. The first panel in the series, in November 2023, explored topics related to important cultural heritage sites in Africa, including Lalibela and Tigray in Ethiopia and the Wamala and Kasubi Tombs of the Kingdom of Buganda in Uganda. Since May 2022, The Met and WMF have been working together to create digital resources that will be on display in The Met’s Arts of Africa galleries, providing visitors with a more comprehensive view of the wealth of artistic and architectural expression on the African continent. The museum has also been launched Africa in pictures, which encompasses the broad scope of exhibitions, partnerships and programs that reflect The Met’s decades-long commitment to studying and presenting the arts of Africa. In April 2024, a program with leading experts, architects and archaeologists focused on monuments in the Oaxaca region and the important relationship between local communities, lived traditions and Mexico’s natural landscapes. Additional programming will occur in conjunction with the reopening of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, and details will be announced in the coming months.

About the Michael C. Rockefeller Grand Piano

The Met’s Michael C. Rockefeller Wing is undergoing a major renovation project that will redesign its collections for a new generation of visitors. The galleries – 40,000 square meters on the south side of the museum – are being overhauled and redesigned to reintroduce the department’s three distinct collections of African art, ancient American art and Oceanic art, displaying them as separate elements in an overarching wing that is in dialogue with the museum’s collection as a whole. The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing is expected to reopen in 2025.

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