People Reminiscence Boxes First Peoples National Visitors Survey Artists in Museums Cricket Museum August 2014 Contents Museums Aotearoa

EDs Quarter 3 Te Tari o Ngã Whare Taonga o te Motu Staff changes 3 Is New Zealand’s independent peak professional organisation for museums and those who work in, or have an interest in, museums. Members include Message from the Board 4 museums, public art galleries, historical societies, science centres, people who work within these institutions and individuals connected or associated with Working with Community 5 arts, culture and heritage in New Zealand. Our vision is to raise the profile, strengthen the preformance and increase the value of museums and galleries Reminiscence Boxes 6 to their stakeholders and the community

A Most Generous Gift 7 Contact Details Museum Victoria – First Peoples 8 Level 8, 104 The Terrace, Wellington 6011 PO Box 10-928, Wellington 6143 Local Conncetions to WW1 9 Tel: 04 499 1313 Fax: 04 499 6313 Policy Matters! 10 Email: [email protected] Web: www.museumsaotearoa.org.nz iPads and Coconuts 11 Contributions Visitors & Volunteers 12 We welcome article suggestions and contributions. For enquiries about contributing to MAQ please contact us at [email protected]. My Favourite Thing 13 Staff National Visitor Survey Infographic 14 Phillipa Tocker – Executive Director Talei Langley – Membership Services Manager Service IQ 16 Advertising The Museum Without People 18 Enquiries about advertising in this publication, or mailing flyers, should be addressed to the Museums Aotearoa office Museum Profile – Percy Thomson Gallery 19

Artists Working in Museums 20

Auckland Museum Exchange 22 Next issue

Health & Safety Reforms 23

Museum Profile – NZ Cricket Museum 24 November 2014:

He Ata Te Hau e Wawara Mai? 25

Associate Profile – NZCCM 26 Friends & Networks Disclaimer Cover Images The opinions expressed in this publication are not Main: necessarily those of the Editor or of Museums A Reminiscence Box from Nelson Provincial Museum. Page 6. Aotearoa Lower: Spectators watch a game of cricket in front of the Cricket Museum in Wellington. Page 26. ISSN 1177-7362 Back Cover: Clockwise from top right. A fan poses with the Cricket World Cup at the NZ Cricket Museum. Page 26. Wedding photo of Mabel Munro and David Erskine Neave, 1918. Page 9. Talei and son Silas at Museu de Pediatriá, (photo; David Langley). Page 18. Light painting at Tairāwhiti Museum. Page 11. Deep Listening, the interactive story wall from First Peoples at Museum Victoria. Page 8.

2 MAQ August 2014 EDs Quarter

Museums look after stuff – but stuff is meaningless Coming out of the ethics review was the question of non-compliance. What without people. In this MAQ we're looking at just about a private museum, or one where the volunteers who run it are also some of the many ways in which museums work collectors? Conflicts of interest in such cases could be hard to reconcile with with, and matter to, people. the principles of the CoE. At MA's AGM this April, members agreed to add a new category of 'Affiliate' membership for museums "which are unable fully Museums Aotearoa is all about people – the to subscribe to the Code of Ethics." This will allow people in those museums members of a professional association are the to be part of the wider sector while not being eligible to vote and influence organisation. You elect Board members to provide the direction of MA. The details are being worked out for introduction of leadership and direction on your behalf, and the Affiliate Museum Membership from 2015. Board employs me and Talei to drive the activities that take us all in that direction. We're also working on ways to better support professional development for both staff and volunteers across the sector. The newly formed Emerging The MA Board meets quarterly, and this month Museum Professionals group is proving an excellent peer network, and is is also having a strategic planning workshop. We currently working with the Board to develop ideas for mentoring. We work don't want to get bogged down in the process, but in different ways with other networks such as the Kaitiaki Māori and touring we do need to take some time to think carefully exhibitions (TENNZ) groups. about what we are planning and why. Over the last couple of years we have held successful regional And of course we liaise closely with our colleagues at Te Papa's National meetings as well as conferences, and evolved Services Te Paerangi, who do great hands-on work with museums, providing our research, publishing and communications resources, workshops and advice. The MA Board and Te Papa senior team have to inform and bring members together more met several times over the past year, and will be meeting again on 7 August. effectively. We have produced a revised Code of Ethics, which speaks directly to the people at People working in galleries and museums across Aotearoa build networks and all levels of a museum or gallery, be they behind relationships out from their institutions into their communities. The articles the scenes, leading, working with collections, in this MAQ share experiences of some of their activities. As Board member volunteering or governing. This was explained in Roy Clare notes, it's all about people. the May issue of MAQ. Copies of the new CoE were sent to all members and can be downloaded Phillipa Tocker from our website, please contact us if you would Executive Director like more. Staff Moves

Kate Martin has moved further north from Pompallier (Heritage NZ) to New appointments at Otago Museum include take up the new position of curatorial and education manager at Waitangi Migoto Eria as Curator Māori (formerly MTG Treaty Grounds. Hawke's Bay), Robert Morris (Adelaide) as Director of Collections and Research, and Nyssa Jeremiah Boniface is currently Communications Coordinator at Museums Mildwaters (Leeds) as Conservation Manager. Wellington. The Sarjeant Gallery has collection transition Dr Lara Strongman has been appointed Senior Curator at Christchurch assistants Kimberley Stephenson, Jessica Kid, Art Gallery, replacing Just Paton who moved to the Art Gallery of New Ben Davis and Te Maari Barham working for 21 South Wales in 2013. (check her interview with The Arts on Sunday at www. months on packing and storing the collection for radionz.co.nz) the planned redevelopment.

Chris Rapley is leaving Rotorua Museum to take up the role of Curator of Elizabeth Laing is now Visitor Services Social History at the South Canterbury Museum. Coordiantor for Museums Wellington.

Dr Mark Stocker joined Te Papa earlier this year as Curator Historical Toitū Otago Settlers Museum has appointed International Art. Mark was previously Associate Professor of Art History Jennifer Evans as Director. Jennifer was visitor at University of Otago. experience manager at Toitū and more recently acting director. Linda Wigley has left Voyager NZ Maritime Museum to returrn to the UK where she will be General Manager of Woburn Abbey.

2014 August MAQ 3 Message from the Board

People in Museums Communicate the Seven strategies for Value of Their Museums emphasising the people: As the Māori whakatauki proclaims: he aha te mea nui o te ao? He tāngata! He First, from the governance level down, commit tāngata! He tāngata! What is the most important thing in the world? It is people! to a shared vision – a distant objective that is It is people! It is people! understood and held in common.

Whatever the enterprise, it is people who make it work, whether paid or Secondly, shun private agendas, be wary of volunteering. Publicly-funded museums are social businesses, where the autocratic decision-making – one person rarely people who work in them create public value. Since everyone knows what has all the answers all the time. we cost, it is literally vital to our sustainability that the people in museums communicate the value that is added. Thirdly, reduce the risk of hero-worship – value people equally; everyone is a co-leader, right? Elected Councillors, Council officials and the rate-paying public have a right to expect transparency, openness and economy. In return for their investment, Fourthly, think of succession and plan for burden- they also expect relevance to the locality, connection with its communities sharing in the event of unforeseen absence or and inspiration for a better future. We all have a part in shaping the story and departure. leading the process of sharing it. Fifthly, work for a no-blame culture – mistakes There is a common misapprehension that leadership comes solely from the happen, risks need to be taken – when things go top; that a person at the apex of a museum articulates the vision and sells wrong, stay calm; learn from them. the successes, achievements and value. In reality, the key leader creates the conditions, sets the pace and enables people elsewhere in the organisation Sixthly, apply training and development at all to do their jobs. Then, as one, the people can feel able to communicate their levels – we are never too old to learn. passion for their work. By inference, all of the people in a museum are leaders with a function to draw on the vision, develop the theme, create the narrative Finally, communicate value in terms that people and communicate the public value of their activities. outside can understand – with enthusiastic clarity; no jargon and no acronyms Being co-leaders is a multilateral responsibility, of course! The right to lead brings the obligation to do so with integrity. An expectation that everyone has The objective is simply to communicate what it is a leadership role leads to a necessity for everyone to know what it is they are co- we all do that drives our passion; that enriches lives leading. Before successfully communicating value 'beyond their walls', it follows and inspires discoveries; that adds value for people that museums need to become effective at communicating value internally. and helps to build communities. In truth, unless In cases where museums have featured negatively in public, there is usually we can all proclaim our value with conviction, evidence that their people first of all lost faith in themselves. When teams feel we should expect our funders, the media and our disconnected, they fail to add value and their organisations are sooner or later public to be sceptical about our costs. the kinds of places that end up in the news for the wrong reasons. Roy Clare CBE Director, Auckland War Memorial Museum

Roy Clare

4 MAQ August 2014 Working with Community

Starting my first directorship at Tairāwhiti One lesson learned is that we needed to be clearer in setting some non- Museum in 2012, I was delighted to discover negotiable museum standards, particularly in terms of display. Whilst we that an iwi led exhibition with Ngai Tamanuhiri certainly ensured professional display standards for museum collection items, was already scheduled. A core team of Ngai it was not always the case with loans from the community. Last minute arrival Tamanuhiri appointees and museum staff met of items for display, and a desire by the iwi team not to offend or turn away fortnightly to plan and develop the exhibition any items led to some less than desirable installation methods. Toi Tamanuhiri. The kaupapa for the exhibition was Ngai Tamanuhiri telling their own story We had many discussions in our meetings about labels and ensuring that in their own way. The project was collaborative these would enable all visitors to engage with the exhibition. Despite this we from its inception and the museum’s role was ended up with labels which assumed a certain amount of inherent knowledge to support, provide advice and encourage rather to allow any depth of engagement with the display. International visitors than lead or direct. in particular were challenged with the gallery – they loved the displays and the vibrancy but felt confused and a little disappointed that there wasn’t Enabling iwi (or any community) to tell their own information for them about, for example, the materials used in items such story in their own way within a museum context as cloaks. has some natural challenges. It can be difficult for museum staff to step back from their normal roles As always with any group of people there were some challenges with and, through a desire to help, there can be a natural communication and different meanings applied to words. This can happen tendency to want to tell others 'the answer' to an regularly between museum and non-museum understandings around words issue rather than allowing them to work through such as loan, display, and engagement. Coupled with this were some cultural their own creative and curatorial process. variations in understanding/interpretation, and some ideas and meanings were lost in translation. The strong wairua of the team and strength of Managing expectations was a critical factor the kaupapa were important in keeping the focus on the journey we were especially around timeframes. This is not a travelling together towards a shared goal. new challenge in working with communities, particularly with artistic people, but does pose a One interesting point was an interpretation of unspoken communication. Te problem for museums which have professional Papa lent a hoe to the exhibition, and this was carried onto the marae at standards to adhere to. With this exhibition a Murawai before coming to the museum. Te Papa staff were happy for iwi to call had to be made to stop the designer from gently handle the hoe at the marae, and this was interpreted by some to mean completely repainting the gallery just days before that Ngai Tamanuhiri iwi could come into the museum and have the hoe the opening. I found I needed to encourage removed from the case to handle if they chose. This created a tension between museum staff to loosen internal timeframe the excellent relationship we had developed with Ngai Tamanuhiri, and our expectations and at the same time gently applying professional relationship with Te Papa. pressure to the Ngai Tamanuhiri team to produce information in a timely fashion. Despite, and sometimes because of the challenges, this exhibition had some fabulous outcomes. A key indicator of the success of the collaborative teamwork and wairua was the generosity with which iwi members brought forth their treasures for the exhibition and entrusted them to the museum. It provided an 'alive' exhibition within the museum. Feedback from our visitors (local, national and international) was overwhelmingly positive with many commenting on the liveliness of the exhibition and the strong sense of a vibrant, alive and forward focused iwi. The exhibition development experience gave all involved a chance to develop new skill sets and enhance existing ones. It provided an exhibition which Ngai Tamanuhiri could be proud of, and most importantly it created a strong bond between the museum and Ngai Tamanuhiri, one which has extended well beyond a single exhibition.

We are now starting work on our next iwi-led exhibition with Rongowhaakata and are working on implementing the lessons learnt. So will we end up with a perfect exhibition? Perhaps not, but, if done well, we will end up with an inspiring exhibition and another great relationship.

Laura Vodanovich Director, Tairawhiti Museum

2014 August MAQ 5 Reminiscence Boxes

On Friday afternoon I did something which goes These sessions ideally create a new and fun activity which everyone can be against most of my training and my museum involved in, as everyone is an expert in their own memories and everyone has instincts. I took a collection of museum objects a story to share. It provides an opportunity for social interaction where they in a vintage suitcase outside the museum stores are the experts. However it has much more powerful implications than this. and all the way out to a care home in Nelson. I The triggering and sharing of memories is a significant part of reminiscence will not see these objects for two weeks and I therapy in dementia care centres and care homes. Recalling memories gives know they will be handled many times by non- the participant a way of sustaining their sense of self, as it connects the many museum professionals, they might be held up developmental stages in their lives and gives them a chance to reflect on who high so the group can see them and they will they once were and how they came to be who they are now. This is often seen be stored in a cupboard in an office without as part of preparing for death and coming to terms with your life, but it does monitored conditions. not have to be so grim or an activity just for the aging – it can be part of growing up at all ages. But this is ok. This is a calculated and well thought through risk. These are not precious, Finally it promotes mental and physical stimulation promoting well being in fragile or unique objects. These are representative the participant. The triggering of memory keeps the brain active and handling examples of life from the 1920s to the 1960s the objects and using them the way you would have in the past, triggers muscle which have been chosen for their familiarity to the memory. These benefits are not just for the participants but also the caregiver participants, their proliferation in the collection as they have shown an increase in well-being and job satisfaction, and their and their hardiness. increasing knowledge of the participants improves the care they provide.

These objects will be used in the care home for With all this in mind, it is important to consider the benefits to the museum. group reminiscence sessions which seek to trigger Is it worth the museum investing limited time and money into a project memories of events or emotions which are then which will not necessarily increase visitor numbers or revenue? shared with the rest of the group. Many museums in the UK run these services through their outreach There are perhaps fewer benefits for the museum than the participants, but or public programmes departments with a good there are many ways for a museum to benefit from this project. It provides example of this work being at Beamish Museum. a chance to learn about their collection and add personal stories to this These museums and our project at Founder’s knowledge which keeps the objects alive. These activities provide access to Heritage Park, work by bringing together objects, people in the community who might otherwise have not been able to access text, sounds, images and even smells based around the museums collections. This is crucial because if a museum is to serve its a simple and universal theme such as childhood, community which in most cases funds it, it needs to be relevant and provide toys and games, sports and nights out. At Founder’s a service to all, not just the able bodied. This is particularly important as New we have created two loan boxes, one with the Zealand has an aging population which is increasing every year. Therefore, theme of domestic life which contains a cookery there is a large and ever-increasing number of people in the community book from the 1930s, sewing patterns, a barbers which is possibly not currently having its needs met by its local museum. set and hair curlers, a darning mushroom, a sewing machine and many more objects, and one with the All of these benefits will hopefully feed into promoting the museum to the theme of work life which is very region specific wider community and its funders, showing the museum is relevant and useful with objects relating to orchards, hop picking and for all its people. agricultural work. Christina Hardy These boxes have been used in local care homes Collection Assistant, Nelson Provincial Museum to run semi-structured, free, reminiscence sessions. This involves organising a small group (The front cover features a Nelson Provincial Museum reminiscence box) of participants (no more than ten) to meet at a specific time in a quiet and comfortable space. Once the group is gathered and the session is introduced the participants are shown the objects References and they are allowed to handle them. Through Dwyer, K. Linking the past to the present – The Benefits of Reminiscing. handling the objects the participants' memories of (n.d.) Retrieved 21 July 2014, from Today’s Caregiver. http://www. using or seeing the objects in the past are triggered, caregiver.com/articles/general/linking_past_to_present.htm and they are invited to share these memories The Benefits of Reminiscence Therapy for Seniors (30.12.2012) Retrieved with the group. It is crucial for accessibility and 21 July 2014, from Assisted Living Today. http://assistedlivingtoday. the participants' comfort and enjoyment that the com/2012/12/the-benefits-of-reminiscence-therapy-for-seniors/ objects are taken to where the people are rather Reminiscence activities. (n.d.) Retrieved 21 July 2014, from Beamish making the people come to the objects. Museum website. http://www.beamish.org.uk/reminiscence/

6 MAQ August 2014 A Most Generous Gift

The Frances Hodgkins Fellowship Encouraging word-class scholarship is only one of the University of Otago’s aims. Another, perhaps less expected goal of the University is to engage with external communities including the creative sector. One way in which the University advances this goal is by awarding five Arts Fellowships annually to practitioners from across a range of disciplines; visual arts, music, writing; community dance and children’s writing. These Fellowships not only enhance the campus environment and enrich the experience of the Dunedin community; they enable Fellows to work in new ways and on bodies of work that all New Zealanders can subsequently enjoy.

The Frances Hodgkins Fellowship, specifically aimed at visual artists, is New Zealand’s most lucrative award for visual artists. Recipients are provided with the luxury of a full-time salary, equivalent to that of a senior lecturer, and a large studio for a 12-month period. The Fellowship, named after one of New Zealand’s most recognized artists and aimed at encouraging artists to realise their full potential, was established in 1962 after the University of Otago received a substantial donation from a Dunedin benefactor with close ties to the Hocken Library. The Fellowship’s Hocken connection continues through the Curator of Pictorial Collections’ presence on the selection committee, their role as the ‘go to’ person for each incoming Fellow and as the person who facilitates a solo exhibition of each Fellow’s work at the Hocken.

The Hocken ensures that each Fellow’s contribution experience of the residency is recorded by acquiring a key piece of work that the Fellow has produced during their time in Dunedin and maintains an interest in that artist’s work as their career progresses. It is also interested in documenting the collaborations that have arisen from the friendships and creative partnerships between the different fellows. Prime examples are the works of Hone Tuwhare and Cilla McQueen with Ralph Hotere. The Fellowship has thus Zina Swanson, Dracaena Screen, 2014, mixed media, Hocken influenced the growth and character of the Hocken Collections especially Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena, Dunedin. Swanson was the enabling sculpture and installation works to be acquired which are otherwise 2013 Frances Hodgkins Fellow at the University of Otago. out of scope.

Although past recipients of the Fellowship include people who have become household names – Ralph Hotere, Michael Smither and Shane Cotton –in fact most of the Fellows weren’t well-known artists at the time they received the award. Artists nominated for the Fellowship are invariably late emerging artists with some exhibition history who are on an upward trajectory and who the selection panel deems capable of succeeding to the next level if given the time and space to fully apply themselves to their practice. Rohan Wealleans, Ben Cauchi, Kushana Bush, Nick Austin and Zina Swanson are among the more recent recipients.

The combined effect of the Fellowship and the Hocken exhibition is to raise each recipient’s profile in a way that assists them gain further awards and invitations to exhibit elsewhere; opportunities that ultimately enable Fellows to establish themselves as self-supporting, full-time artists.

Applications close annually on 1 June for a Fellowship start date of 1 February the following year. For more information on the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship visit the University of Otago website at www.otago.ac.nz/otagofellows/hodgkins

Natalie Poland Curator of Pictorial Collections, Hocken Collections

2014 August MAQ 7 Museum Victoria – First Peoples

First Peoples is introduced on Museum Victoria's website as "a shared endeavour A wide range of exhibition techniques is brought of Museum Victoria and the Victorian Aboriginal community." It is a model of to bear. There are videos, holograms, and motion- successful collaboration in exhibition development and presentation. activated voices and sounds. There are touchable objects and areas for play. Steps, ramps and The overwhelming impression I have of First Peoples is of complexity. There changes in volume lead the visitor through and is a multitude of voices, perspectives, and stories, each offering a glimpse differentiate the various thematic areas. There into the contested and evolving Aboriginal cultures. were two school groups in the exhibition during my visit – both were engrossed and engaged, and In the late 1980s, I lived in Canberra. When I arrived, (white) Australians neither distracted my own experience. asked about what they saw as New Zealand's messy race relations. They had heard about Bastion Point protests, land marches, Waitangi Day This is the first exhibition I have experienced in a confrontations and demands to 'honour the Treaty' – but they ignored major Australian museum in which I really felt I the Aboriginal tent embassy which had been camped over the road from was hearing from Aboriginal people themselves. Parliament House since 1972. In the 1980s, New Zealand was actively There was no sense of voyeurism, and a great deal addressing Treaty issues, returning land and fisheries, recognising te reo of pride and honesty came through. Some parts Māori as an official language, and exhibiting Te Māori. But it would be were challenging to the visitor, and must have another decade before Australian Prime Minister Howard's 1999 'Motion also been challenging to the museum and the of Reconciliation', and the bi-partisan 'National Apology' was made in 2007. Aboriginal collaborators. I felt that real progress Similarly, Australian museums and galleries were showing 'Aboriginal art', has been made. but have only relatively recently taken on the challenge of telling Aboriginal stories from an indigenous perspective. I spent far longer in First Peoples than intended. I was moved, informed, delighted and intrigued, and One of the challenges in such an undertaking is language – in the late could have stayed even longer. The exhibition ends 18th century there were at least 350 different Aboriginal languages, each with an interactive story wall, Deep Listening. In representing a distinct social grouping. Despite many being lost, there are still this rich exploration of identity and community, up to 150 in use today. So there are many ways of interpreting and explaining dozens of Koorie people talk about their lives, every aspect of 'Aboriginal culture'. To address this diversity, Museum Victoria experiences, hopes and dreams, and it would have established the Yulendj Group. Carrying its involvement beyond an advisory taken hours to hear them all. role, the Yulendj Group and Museum Victoria staff actively collaborated on the direction and content of First Peoples. First Peoples deserves the accolades it has received. In this year's Australian MAGNA national museum The exhibition is object-rich and story-rich. Precious, beautiful and awards, it took out the overall National Award, poignant artefacts are displayed in a variety of ways, some en masse, and and won the Permanent Exhibition of Gallery others in sparse arrangements in which the visitor can focus on details and Fitout category (level 4). The American Alliance depth. There are bright areas that encourage discussion, and dim brooding of Museums recognised First Peoples with a 2014 spaces for contemplation. The more difficult histories are dealt with openly Excellence in Exhibition award for Innovative and sensitively. Integration of Design and Content.

First Peoples is the new permanent exhibition in Museum Victoria's Bunjilaka Aboriginal Culture Centre. It is complemented by a changing programme of contemporary art, events and community programmes in the adjacent spaces. If you don’t get a chance to visit in Melbourne, you can get a taster on the website. Congratulations and thank you to all who have shared their stories through First Peoples.

Phillipa Tocker Museums Aotearoa

http://museumvictoria.com.au/bunjilaka/visiting/ first-peoples

School group with First Peoples museum interpreter.

8 MAQ August 2014 Local Connections to WW1

Local Connections to WW1 at North Otago Museum The upcoming World War One commemorations have been on my horizon since I started at the North Otago Museum back in 2010. Then I was looking at upcoming events that could be part of our exhibitions programme. While military history wasn’t something I was very familiar with, I saw there was potential for our museum to be part of the commemorations.

Recently I have been researching the Museum and Waitaki District Archive collections. I have discovered a lot of links between people, intriguing items and some great stories. The exhibition we will be staging later this year will focus on personal connections for two reasons. North Otago Reps (rugby), 1912. Edward Weller is 3rd from the left in the back row. It’s an approach that will work well with our diverse collection and it's what the audience Along with the collective chaos of war these soldiers are also negotiating research shows will interest visitors. the challenges of their own lives. Another person who will feature in our exhibition is Rifleman William Duncan Neill. Willie kept a lot of material The stories connected with our collection are relating to the war. His collection includes this letter he received while often moving. I have gained a fuller sense of the serving in 1917: impact World War One had on local people. The language used in the letters, diaries and postcards “Dear Willie, and especially the humour they contain has struck Thanks awfully much for the splendid photo. Everyone is admiring it greatly. It me. Some of the letters seem like they could have is indeed very like you. Now Willie about that letter in which I wrote I might been written yesterday. Others contain plenty of “see you home” to New Zealand. Surely you have not harboured the idea that I military jargon and colloquial language so they really meant it…” need a bit of deciphering. He returned to North Otago after the war and later married. But this ‘Dear One of my favourite stories is that of Second John’ letter obviously meant a lot to him. While he donated a lot of material Lieutenant David Erskine Neave. The Archive relating to his war experience, this is the only letter in that collection. holds a wonderful set of correspondence between David and his fiancé Mabel. David was keen Many of the objects we will be displaying later this year are not military to see active service but ill-health delayed his objects. Corporal Edward John Weller died early in the Gallipoli campaign. embarkation. Instead he worked at Trentham Weller was a keen rugby player and had represented North Otago. The while he recovered. He spent his days writing long museum holds a football cap that his rugby club presented on his departure romantic letters to Mabel: with the Expeditionary Force. The archive holds letters he wrote to his family. Weller’s letters are frank: “Dearest sweetheart I’ve done it, I’ve done it now. I told that I was “I got a letter from Herb the day before yesterday, he wanted me to tell him going to write to your Father and I have! And something about Egypt, but there is nothing to tell him except that it is the the thing is beyond reach too. I couldn’t pluck up rottenest and most God forsaken country, nothing but sand, women, beer and courage to post it but I decided I would shove it cheap cigarettes, the blooming place nearly drives me mad sometimes.” in the first box I came to and I did. It balanced on the edge for quite a long time but with a final These are some of the many stories that our museum will be showcasing push it went in. And now there’s an anxious during the commemorations. I hope that visitors will get a sense of the time after Friday wondering the result…” people behind the names and service numbers. I am also looking forward to hearing the stories and connections our visitors will share with us. Her father approved and they married in 1918 before David finally departed for overseas service. Chloe Searle After the war he returned to live with Mabel in Curator, North Otago Museum North Otago.

2014 August MAQ 9 Policy Matters!

Policy affects people. While it may seem an In hindsight, HOTNation may have been more influential than previously academic exercise, eventually the consequences recognised. While the specific actions may not have been followed, many of of policy decisions make a difference to peoples' the overall strategy goals have been at least partially achieved. It proposed lives. I was reminded of this at a service for that we 'invest in creativity', and we now see a general acceptance of creative Michael Volkerling, a well-known cultural policy industries as major economic and social contributors. We were to 'reveal expert who died earlier this year. Michael's career heritage' and 'develop products' – marketing, branding, quality and access to was in the arts and museums, and more recently as our institutions and programmes have greatly improved since 2000. a researcher and academic, in New Zealand and internationally. As well as his leadership roles with Fast forward to 2014, and we are at another point of political possibility. The the Arts Council (Creative NZ) and the Museum general election in September will either see a continuation of the National of New Zealand project, he is remembered as a Party's policies, or an unknown coalition which will need to establish new lead author of the 2000 Heart of the Nation policies and strategies. At the time of writing, the 50th parliament is about (HOTNation) report. to rise for the last time, election campaigns are gathering momentum, and neither major party has yet released any comprehensive arts culture and HOTNation was commissioned by then Prime heritage policy. Minister and Arts & Culture Minister Helen Clark, as part of her $80m commitment to The Green Party asserts that "art, in all its many forms, inspires, innovates, 'cultural recovery'. Having swept to power in 1999 challenges, and contributes to our collective social, economic, and cultural after a turbulent 9 years in opposition, Labour had wellbeing. We commit to foster the arts, culture and heritage at all levels." a social reform agenda. HOTNation was intended They have a focus on community access and education, and their aims include to provide a strategy that would shape the cultural "an overhaul of the arts and cultural heritage infrastructure and funding sector for the next 10 years. However, it was provisions with a focus on increasing participation in community arts, arts greeted with mixed responses, especially from and cultural heritage education and the professional arts." government. Perhaps its size – I still have not read all 450 pages – was daunting as well as its proposals The Internet Party promises to reform copyright law to free up access to for transforming the structures supporting the arts digital material. The Maori Party wants to establish Matariki as an official and culture in Aotearoa. festival.

Associate Minister Judith Tizard was quoted at Now is the time to reflect on past strategies, examine current concerns, and the time: "The report contains many good ideas… ask our political candidates where they stand. Attend forums and 'met the However, it is fair to say that while there is a lot in candidates' events, ask them all what their policies will mean to you, your the report which is interesting and will be useful colleagues, staff and volunteers. It is their policy that will affect our people. to the Government, the report does not provide the sector with the overall strategic direction Phillipa Tocker that it needs and for which the Government Executive Director, Museums Aotearoa asked." Tizard said that there would be no major restructuring of the sector, "which would be both very expensive, costing many millions of dollars, and highly disruptive." References Perhaps it was the fear of disruption which HOTNation project and summary report: doomed HOTNation. Creative NZ Chair Peter http://www.mcdermottmiller.co.nz/projects/hotnation/hotnation_frame. Biggs defensively claimed that the proposed new htm structures would put the arms length funding NZ Herald report on reception of HOTNation, 189 July 2000: principle at risk – he was not prepared to give http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=144529 up CNZ's position. Nor were other government- funded agencies rushing to embrace change. Structural change means jobs affected, and even if there are new positions created, it is the jobs that are lost that make the headlines.

10 MAQ August 2014 iPads and Coconuts

I've been looking at trends in museum education. It’s a pretty specialised role There is a lot of high tech stuff I and other and in New Zealand there is a very small community of us, so I like to think museum folk dream of doing. iPads, wifi through it’s easy for us to set our own trends. For instance I just noticed that Te Papa all the galleries, location awareness, all that good, is doing light painting for Matariki this year. expensive stuff. I don’t have a budget for iPads. What I can afford though is coconuts. Hell, at Tairāwhiti Museum we’ve been doing that since 2011. I’m a trendsetter. Back in 2012 when the Transit of Venus was all we could talk about here in Tairāwhiti, I was thinking about navigation. I wanted those iPads but instead my mind went to what I had heard called a ‘starpeeker’ – a coconut shell with holes drilled at certain places to align with stars. I wasn’t sure how it worked but the idea appealed.

So I did a mash up of this Polynesian navigation device with a European one – a map. I made 15 maps of our gallery space and on each one put 2 different coloured footprints. Each map goes with a specific, numbered, starpeeker coconut with 2 sets of holes colour coded to the footprints on the map. When a pair of students find the exact right spot in the gallery where the footprints on their map should be, they can look up through the starpeeker and find the right coloured star in the rafters. When all is aligned correctly an arrow on the starpeeker points them in the direction of a Sophie: This girl disappeared down a wormhole, leaving only her shape on the wall behind her. But certain taonga, and they have to answer a question really we waved lights behind this girl to get her silhouette, she stepped away and we shone a torch on about that taonga. Phew. the ngatu where she had been standing

Light painting is an activity with a definite WOW factor for children, teachers and parents. Take a dark room, a webcam hooked up to a long-exposure app and a big screen, some pretty light sticks and torches in different colours, add a group of excitable children and you’ve got some fun times ahead. You can draw in the air and make freaky portraits and the results appear in real time on the big screen; you can then print them out or give them to the teacher as .JPGs.

Children at Tairāwhiti Museum use a mashup of European and Polynesion navigation techniques to find their way through the gallery.

It was hugely complicated to set up but worth it – children really have to think to succeed with this and teachers love it, it aligns with a lot of NZ Curriculum stars.

Wifi? No. Location awareness? YES!

This is the kind of museopunk thing I love (check out museopunks.org). It High tech is trending highly but hands on activities stemmed from me wanting a hands on activity to go with the graffiti art will always be in style. The low tech backlash starts exhibition we had, but not wanting to mess with spray paint fumes in our here. Go and buy some coconuts! enclosed classroom space, or to have to explain to parents why I was teaching their children to be vandals. Aaron Compton Education Officer, Tairawhiti Museum Tagging: A budding graffiti artist writes his tag in the air. No paint, no fumes, no clean up.

2014 August MAQ 11 Visitors & Volunteers

When Museums Aotearoa offered me the chance Our sector relies on people who are committed to making sure that the to coordinate the National Visitor Survey for taonga we care for can be seen by our kids and their kids. Face it, we don’t do a second year, I was excited – but also a little it for the money! The majority of our smaller museums are 100% volunteer- daunted. We had such good numbers in 2013, run. While we need to spend some time training our volunteers in our how could we beat that in 2014? How could we specific ways of doing things, we need to spend more time establishing what get more already stretched museums to take a little volunteers can bring to our organisations as it encourages both personal and extra time and participate in a nation-wide survey professional growth. during their busiest time of year? Jeremiah Boniface The answer seemed obvious: with volunteers. Get 2014 National Visitor Survey Coordinator, Museums Aotearoa volunteers to do as much of the interviewing and data-entry as possible – relieving the pressure on the participating institution, while giving the volunteer some personal contacts within the field.

We’ve all volunteered somewhere during our careers, and with the start of the academic year fast institutional & regional approaching, it seemed an ideal time to capture new museum and heritage studies students. gallery Valuation serViCes When I studied art history at Otago, I was lucky enough to volunteer under Robyn Notman Webb’s offers a proven ability to undertake large and Wallis Barnicoat at the DPAG. They were scale institutional valuations. Specialist knowledge exceptional leaders as they gave their volunteers across the breadth of collecting genres ensures that a huge range of roles, responsibilities and valuations are undertaken accurately. opportunities. I was lucky enough to put together With experience in working collaboratively with museum curators and conservators, a children’s programme for the Guggenheim, as Webb’s can mobilise the resource required to undertake large scale and complex well as executing it. They believed in what their projects within set time frames and in a cost effective manner. volunteers could bring, and that opportunity was in the back of my mind when looking for people Webb’s provide valuation services to Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Auckland Art Gallery, Te Awamutu Museum, Taupo Museum, Hokitika help out with surveying. Museum, Russell Museum, Museum of Transport & Technology, The Hocken Library, Wellington City Council, Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust, plus numerous I was honest with everyone who wanted to other regional museums and district council collections. volunteer. “Surveying can be a bit dull. You need the confidence of a shop assistant. You need to be To discuss your valuation requirements or for a free no obligation quote contact Brian Wood. able to handle rejection. And you need to be on the ball with data-entry. But at the end of the day, ContaCt you’re helping out an organisation that you want Brian Wood to work at, and you get some face-time. These E: [email protected] are prospective employers and you’ll get to meet P: 09 529 5609 them.” 18 Manukau Road PO Box 99 251 Newmarket, Auckland 1149 It worked. We had around a dozen-or-so New Zealand committed new museum people in Wellington, [email protected] and a few in Auckland. We trained them in how www.webbs.co.nz New Zealand’s Premier Auction House to use the online portal, and I focused on making sure that the volunteers could get something from the organisations they were matched up with. I was looking to make long-term relationships, not one night stands. All in all, everything turned out well. The volunteers were indispensable for the organisations they were paired with, they have all gone on to have enduring relationships with those organisations, and many are also active participants in the Emerging Museum Professionals group.

12 MAQ August 2014 My Favourite Thing

The Blackstone Engine at Dargaville Museum The monster snorts, hiccoughs, belches a little, and then settles into a deep rhythmic rumble. A faint smell of kerosene permeates the building ... alerting all visitors to the Dargaville Museum that something is up in the Gum The Blackstone Engine at Dargaville Museum. Hall. draws in a steel rope attached to a tree or large rock. This way the men were able to move the machine from one stockpile of gum chips to another. This Blackstone engine was manufactured in 1914 by Blackstone and Company at the Rutland Young George Sutich was always fascinated by this engine. The last time he works in Stamford, England and was shipped to saw it running was in 1943 just before it was retired into storage in a tin shed Andrews and Beaven, in Christchurch that same on their farm. The gum chip trade ceased and the family had no further use year. After spending six years in Ashburton, it was for the machine. When he visited the old family farm in December 1972, subsequently purchased by the Sutich brothers George discovered the Blackstone sitting exposed to the elements with all its to drive their kauri gum-washing plant on the covering completely blown away. gumfields, at Te Maire and then Red Hill, near Dargaville. The brothers were members of the George Sutich made it his mission to restore the Blackstone and build a community of Dalmatian people who immigrated replica wash tub. Twenty years after the rediscovery, he took all surviving to New Zealand and found work extracting kauri components back to his workshop in Auckland and began the restoration gum from the land. and rebuilding. George built new sledge runners from heart macrocapa and a completely new kauri washing tub to replace the original. A Blackstone The Blackstone runs on days when we have groups Engine enthusiast, Roger Walton, restored the engine. visiting our museum. George and his team completed the work in 1999. The whole plant, including The engine is a hot bowl type that needs pre- the Blackstone engine and kauri tub, was transported north and displayed in heating with gas. It has its own fuel pump and the new Dargaville Museum Gum Hall. A generous grant by the Lotteries carburetor and a single piston with a 7 1/2 inch Commission helped with the restoration work and the building of this bore. It is unusual in that it has no spark plug but extension to the Museum. The Auckland Savings Bank funded a mural that has a heated coil at the top of the cylinder to fire extends the length of the building and tells the story of the local Dalmatian the charge. Compression ignition does the rest. people and the kauri gum industry. A gleaming copper cylinder holds the cooling water. Belts running from the fly-wheel drive a The Dargaville Museum is very proud to display this fully operational gum- mechanism in the tub to wash the kauri gum chips washing plant. Driven by the handsome Blackstone engine, this installation collected by the gum diggers. The engine would is a fitting tribute to the vision, sheer hard work and determination of the late run all day on a gallon of kerosene. George Sutich.

This may look like a stationary engine but it is Raewyn Sills made to move across the ground. The engine and Dargaville Museum tank are built onto the runners of a substantial sled that winches itself along using winding gear – driven by the fly wheel and belts – that slowly

2014 August MAQ 13 The data for this infographic was collected from 49 Museums Aotearoa member museums and galleries who interviewed 3469 Visitors. The survey period was for 6 consecutive days during February and March 2014. Only adults were interviewed and the data was collected through a combination of self-complete and interviewer techniques.

This summary provides a broad overview of the results. It is noted that the data is a ‘snapshot’ and differs from annual visitation. The data for this infographic was collected from 49 Museums Aotearoa member museums and galleries who interviewed 3469 Visitors. The survey period was for 6 consecutive days during February and March 2014. Only adults were interviewed and the data was collected through a combination of self-complete and interviewer techniques.

This summary provides a broad overview of the results. It is noted that the data is a ‘snapshot’ and differs from annual visitation. MUSEUMS SECTOR employment occupational employment

filled jobs in top 5 occupations 2012 2017 Change 2012 2,708 2,208 0.1% Gallery or Museum Curator 464 461 -3 filled jobs FTEs % of NZ jobs Gallery or Museum Guide 287 429 142 total employment forecast Specialist Managers nec 82 61 -21 3500 Receptionist (General) 76 34 -42 3000 General Clerk 64 34 -31 2500

2000

1500 economic contribution

1000 GDP per FTE 500 2012 0 $216 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 GDP ($m) $106,871

Filled jobs % change pa $97,782 2002 2012 2017 02-12 12-17 Museums 2,173 2,708 2,891 2.2% 0.7% 2012 0.1% New Zealand 1,923,798 2,199,074 2,355,746 1.3% 0.7% % of NZ Museums New Zealand regional employment business units

Wellington employment by business size Auckland 610 757 Otago 293 2013 0-5 277 Canterbury 264 306 Northland 151 business units 6 to 9 166 Waikato 130 Manawatu-Wanganui 117 10 to 19 280 Tas-Nel-Marl 98 Bay of Plenty 81 20 to 49 460 Gis-Hawke's Bay 63 2013 Taranaki 58 0.1% 50 to 99 354 West Coast 46 % of NZ Southland 40 100 and Over 1,172 demographics of employees % with no qualifications % below 25 years gender % full time ethnicity

42% 87% 77% Museums 29% 13% 72% 58% 10% 11% 11% 53% 6% 3% 5%

New Zealand 43% European Asian Māori Pasifika 14% 47% 76% Female Male Museums New Zealand demographics of trainees

studying at L4 and above average age (years) % female region ethnicity 74% Auckland 17 51% ServiceIQ 15% Wellington 19 29 54% 25% Rest of NI 25 12% 13% 8% 1% 2% Canterbury 31 European Asian Māori Pasifika Museums 79% 47 72% Rest of SI 34 New Zealand 126 Museums ServiceIQ

16 MAQ August 2014 Service IQ

Museums sector reveals surprises However, the museums sector has a unique profile of its own. It has a higher proportion of older Employment in the museums sector grew at workers than the national economy, with 17.6% over the age of 60 and just 13.2% aged between three times the national average between 2002 15 and 24. and 2012 – 2.2% per annum. Other museums facts and forecasts include: • The sector is expected to experience rising That’s one finding from ServiceIQ’s current research into the museums sector visitor numbers over the coming years. which was published recently. The research is part of ServiceIQ’s analysis These rising visitor numbers will push up of the services industry, resulting in 11 sector-specific profiles. The series admissions revenue and help support funding includes reports on the tourism, retailing, and café sectors, all of which make applications to local and central government. up part of many museums. • In 2012 the museum sector provided 2708 filled jobs in 306 business outlets. This Each Sector Profile Report, prepared for ServiceIQ by Infometrics, gives an accounts for 0.1% of New Zealand jobs. overview with a focus on: • Almost half (46%) of museum employees in • The sector’s economic contribution. the sector have degrees. This is a significantly • Characteristics of its workforce. higher proportion than in the national • Skills and training. economy (24%). • Opportunities and challenges facing the sector. • Female workers predominate in the sector, • And projections of economic contribution and employment over the accounting for nearly 58% of workers. In the next five years. national economy, females account for 42% of workers. The reports use data from published sources such as the Census and • The museum sector has a large number StatisticsNZ. While the data is compatible with other industry data, the of part-time roles with 27% of workers series also makes some detailed analysis that has not been done before. employed part time. This is higher than the equivalent rate of 21% in the national ServiceIQ Chief Executive Dean Minchington says the scale of the research economy. project is a first for ServiceIQ. “It’s a considerable body of work and sets a • Volunteers account for more than half of the valuable benchmark of the services industry and its place in the economy.” total museums workforce. • The majority of ServiceIQ trainees in the While the main audience for the research data is the service industry, its museums sector (79%) are studying towards employers and providers, the information would also prove useful to Level 4 qualifications. By contrast, only 13% Government, Councils, researchers and academics, Minchington said. of ServiceIQ trainees overall are studying for Level 4 qualifications. “The project’s goal was to produce a robust, up to date, and comprehensive understanding of the 11 sectors we work with. It focuses on the people The ServiceIQ Museums Sector Profile, and the and businesses currently in the sector and includes an outlook of what other 10 reports in the series, is available at the future might hold for each sector.” www.serviceiq.org.nz/about-serviceiq/ knowledge-iq-2/sector-profiles/ “Having skilled and trained staff is vital to continued success. Our service industry sectors employ 563,000 people and contribute $36 billion dollars to the economy every year, and have above-average growth. The service industry is also a relatively young one, with nearly a quarter of workers aged between 15 and 24.”

2014 August MAQ 17 The Museum Without People

This January I travelled to Rio de Janeiro for my Because we were there for a family wedding, I was accompanied by my brother’s wedding to his Brazilian fiancé. Of course ‘Crazy Great Aunt Jeanne’ and my father. ‘Loca Tia Juana’ is an old fashioned while I was there I visited as many museums as I archetypal eccentric elderly relative who constantly travels the world to exotic could drag my family into but, this particular day and remote destinations. She has a tendency to turn up on my doorstep we were doing the required tourist trip up to visit without warning and shock my friends with her tales of dubious goings on in the statue of the Cristo Redentor on Corcovado. the sauna of the Russian ice breaker that had just carried her to Antarctica. When we got to the cable car to buy our tickets we She is an entertaining, if high maintenance, travelling companion. discovered we would have a four hour wait. This was of course the day that the nearby art museum My aunt, my father and I wandered down the road to find my ‘museu.’ When was closed but I had spotted a sign with the word we arrived at the sign we found a giant locked gate. Through its bars we could ‘museu’ as we zoomed by on the bus so I dragged see a lush tropical garden with stairs winding to an old house high above. our party to investigate. The sign declared this to be a Museu da Pediatría (Museum of Pediatrics). The hours given on the sign indicated it was open to the public all weekdays but it appeared unoccupied. To our horror plucky Aunt Jeanne of course went ahead and rang the buzzer next to the gate that had a little note asking visitors to ring it for entry. There was no response. Aunt Jeanne was not to be put off and rang the buzzer again and the gate unlocked with a click.

We trudged up the steep and winding steps in the intense mid day heat and at the top found a 1930s white house with wide verandas. A guard who spoke no English appeared and pointed at the guest book sitting at an unmanned reception desk outside the house. Only the first page had any entries and it had been over a week since the last visitor.

We entered the house unsure what we would find. Inside it was deliciously Medical intruments of various types. air-conditioned. The exhibits were pristine and contemporary, the museum smelled of new paint and cleaning products. There was no speck of dust on any of the artifacts. The large exhibition wound through the whole house and was full of interesting medical objects, strange historical costumes and propaganda about the national heath service. It had rooms with digital interactive exhibits and fascinating evocative things like a foundling wheel (a device for anonymously depositing unwanted babies in the foundling home) and an iron lung. We spent a good hour in there deciphering the Portuguese interpretation panels and delighting in crazy medical objects like circumcision clamp. Finally, on our way out, we wandered past an abandoned café next to the toilets with rows of pristine stalls. We asked the guard in our terrible Portuguese when the museum had opened. He said it had been open for over 10 years.

A museum without people is a strange and creepy place. Everything about the entry to this museum discouraged visitors, all signs said we were not welcome but inside it was ready for us. I don’t really know what the intended purpose of this museum is – funded by the Pediatric Society, perhaps it was The friendly entrance and its tropical planting. really there for medical students, or as some sort of political exercise to show off their historical credentials. The glossy brochures promote its cultural, historical and touristic significance. I imagined it being set up in optimism – it was perfectly positioned to cater to the bored masses waiting their turn to ride up Corcovado -and then waiting for the crowds who never came to fill its café. The strangeness of a museum so well maintained but so completely lacking in visitors was profound. The soul of a museum resides in the stories its objects tell, but without someone to tell the story to, what does it become? Can you have a museum without people?

Talei Langley Membership Services Manager, Museums Aotearoa

More spotless exhibits.

18 MAQ August 2014 Museum Profile

The front of the Percy Thomson Gallery. A Rainbow over Percy Thomson Gallery.

Percy Thomson Gallery Earlier this year we featured the brilliant Midlife Retrospective by Roger Morris and Marianne Few small towns have been lucky enough to Muggeridge. We’re excited to bring the Adam Portraiture Awards and the Gordon Walters inherit such a generous bequest to celebrate the exhibitions of nationally significant work to the gallery later this year. arts and ecology as the community of Stratford. We want to delight, engage and provoke the Percy Thomson – Mayor, lawyer and long time local – left his community community in a visual experience they will a legacy which, thanks to the judicious management of the Percy Thomson remember and discuss long after they leave Trust and the Stratford District Council, has meant the establishment and the building. We don’t always aim to please – ongoing development of the Percy Thomson Gallery and an arboretum and sometimes sparking fierce debate generates a herbarium enjoyed by both locals and visiting guests. The Taranaki Electricity conversation on the arts that engages a community Trust are also strong supporters of this unique cultural legacy. and keeps it culturally alive. Mostly we want to honour the opportunity that Percy Thomson's Supporting and showing local artists has a strong emphasis alongside generous legacy to a community has given us. bringing exhibitions of national significance for Stratford and the wider Taranaki region to enjoy. We want to challenge and excite – but more As the newly appointed director of the Percy importantly engage all those who visit the gallery, and to do this we have over Thomson Gallery, I am struck by the sense of 20 exhibitions in three separate spaces, through the year. ownership the people here have for this special place. I'm certain Mr Thomson would be pleased Our strong relationships with both Govett-Brewster and Puke Ariki are key with the strong connections between home town, to developing a regional 'conversation' of the arts through different exhibition art, culture and heritage that Stratford residents spaces in the region. Currently we are hosting their Swainson/Woods project have built; through the gallery they call their own. set up at five regional venues which hopes to reconnect Taranaki people with a unique, and until now lost, slice of their visual history. It is a collection of Maree Wilson photographic subjects from the past 80 years, little information accompanies Director, Percy Thomson Gallery them. By harnessing local knowledge we build a dialogue between the images and the community who live here – an enriching combination of visual and oral history.

It’s not all about the past. Few galleries in New Zealand could claim a naked, fully body-painted beauty queen. Fashion Frenzy included Miss Taranaki as a live exhibit in this stand-out show, and local artist Dale Copeland curates the popular International Collage exchange each year. Drawn from Italy, Rembrandt and his peers and Sir Toss Woollaston have all graced the gallery.

2014 August MAQ 19 Artists Working in Museums At Artists Alliance we were thrilled to be invited by Museums Aotearoa to supply some copy for the newsletter focused on people and about artists working with museums and public galleries. We thought it best to ask the artists themselves. This is what they said.

Which public gallery(ies) have existing works are selected, other times new works are commissioned, and often a combination of both is requested. Te Papa, Auckland Museum, you exhibited in and in what The Suter Gallery, Pataka , Auckland Art Gallery, Dunedin Public Gallery, Christchurch Art Gallery, The Dowse and The Serjeant Gallery are a few that context. spring to mind Tessa Laird: I guess the main public gallery shows Sian Torrington: My first public gallery show was with City Gallery recently have been Reading Room at Objectspace Wellington as part of The Obstinate Object show, a sculpture survey show. Window in 2012 (with Peter Lange), and Freedom The curators were interested in trying to activate unnoticed spaces of the Farmers at Auckland Art Gallery (2013/2014). gallery. My work tends to use existing structures to build onto and the idea of The first context was a collaboration, the second maintenance; that buildings take a huge amount of human action and activity was a solo project within a large group show. In to maintain, just like us! I chose to work with the pipes, wiring and heating both instances, I was approached by the curator, so ducts in the ceilings, a maze of complicated systems keeping the environment they were both very pleasant surprises. controlled. My work barrelled through the space, vigorously drawing out in space the kind of energy that job might take. Also last year I did a solo project Niki Hastings-McFall: I’ve exhibited in most with Christchurch Art Gallery as part of their outer spaces programme. public galleries in New Zealand, and quite a few overseas as well. Often these have been group What impact did this have on your career? exhibitions, although there have been a few solos as well. The curatorial contexts have spanned a wide, TL: These shows have had a profound impact on my career! Well, maybe varied and somewhat eclectic range. Sometimes it's too early to tell. But I went from being almost solely known as a writer, to being recognised as an artist, and particularly, as an artist with a ceramics practice (albeit a rather odd one). It was thanks to these shows that I was approached by a dealer (Melanie Roger) and also curated into shows further afield – well, Matakana and Lower Hutt! Not quite Paris and London yet. But I did get nominated for the Singapore Art Prize by Zara Stanhope for my work in Freedom Farmers, which was exciting (still waiting to hear if I made it to the shortlist but either way I get into the catalogue, so that's great international exposure).

Sian Torrington. The Obstinate Object. Tessa Laird, Freedom Farmers, Auckland Art Gallery. Image courtesy of the artist. City Gallery Wellington. Image courtesy of the artist.

20 MAQ August 2014 NH-McF: Public galleries and museums are a great way to introduce an artist’s work to the general public. Often there are many other events occurring simultaneously, so there is the potential for a far broader spectrum of the population to view work that they might not see otherwise. Conversely therefore an artist’s work gains greater exposure to a wider audience than may be possible in smaller private or dealer galleries.

ST: The Obstinate Object had a great impact because so many people saw that show. It feels like everyone I had contact with in the art world after that had seen it, and so I had to explain and justify what I was doing less. It is so much easier when people have both seen your work, and also that you can work well with a gallery and pull off a large scale project. It was after that I wrote a proposal to Christchurch, and so that project came from the first one really. What were the highlights - and the challenges? TL: The highlights for me were the super enthusiastic and friendly staff at Objectspace, and the amazing facilities at the Auckland Public Art Gallery. It was such a thrill to be able to order custom built shelving, and to get everything professionally painted (the second-hand furniture and the wall, things which I would normally botch myself ). I was surprised at how smoothly things went, although it did require a lot of planning ahead. I Niki Hastings-McFall. Banner Pole – Dowse Installation guess one of the biggest challenges came after the fact - what to do with this (Polynisation Series) 2014 Wunderruma exhibition at the enormous turquoise custom built cloud platform? It was too good to trash – Dowse. Image courtesty of the artist but Auckland Art Gallery couldn't store it. Richard Orjis, Tiffany Singh and I 'reincarnated' the shelf by painting it silver and using it in our collaborative In Christchurch the challenges were many; finding show at Melanie Roger Gallery. Finally, Melanie managed to squeeze it into a site (the project was on an empty lot from which her garage. I guess I'm starting to appreciate what a massive issue storage is a house had been removed), getting the right for artists! materials, and building the structure as well as the sculpture. Because so many buildings had been NHMcF: The major challenge is always cost. To produce work involves a knocked down by then, the project became about large amount of resources. Researching, maquetting and making finished creating shelter as a whole. But the challenges work(s), materials, processes, tools, consumables, plant/ equipment, studio were also the highlights, because it meant having costs, packing, crating, freighting and so on all add up. Frequently there to be flexible and trust, wait and hope, just like the are travel, accommodation and food expenses. The bills still arrive, house/ people there have had to do. The team I worked animal/ child sitters may be needed, loss of income, studio time etc. and other with were incredible, and I felt very grateful to 'invisible' costs also accrue at an alarming rate. Often artists are funded, but them all the way through. As an artist who has my experience is that the funds usually cover only a third to a quarter of the worked a lot making my own shows, it’s hard to 'real' costs incurred. explain how great it feels to have help of all the kinds; technical, physical and mental! The physical The highlights are the people you get to work with; the people you meet, challenge was pretty mighty, a huge build over a especially when installing in a public space or taking workshops; travelling couple of weeks, parts of it in the snow. One of the somewhere/anywhere else and especially seeing the results of all that time/ major highlights was getting materials lifted by a effort etc. installed where and how it should be. crane, beautiful!

ST: I really enjoyed working with the curators, who were engaged, Thank you Tessa, Niki and Sian. enthusiastic and gave lots of useful feedback and questions. It was a challenge for me at first to explain my ideas because my practice is so process based, Maggie Gresson but I developed a method of collaging sculptures onto photos of the building. Executive Director, Artists Alliance When I make installations, they are site specific, so it was a highlight to be offered a new space and context.

2014 August MAQ 21 Auckland Museum Exchange

Cultural exchange strengthens Meeting with many of the teams from Nanjing Museum, we developed collegial relationships museum relationship and shared ideas. The next step of the relationship is for two Nanjing team members to visit New A staff exchange between Auckland Museum and China’s Nanjing Museum Zealand and go behind the scenes to see the local has paved the way for collaboration in the future. approach. This is exciting as Nanjing Museum has collaborated with other international museums Marketing Executive Andrew Wright and I were the first staff to take part in in the past in quite innovative ways. We are both the cultural exchange and spent a fortnight as guests of the Nanjing Museum. looking forward to working out how to best The exchange has enabled us to really reflect on what we do well as a museum activate our collections for new audiences.” and highlighted areas we can improve. One of the clearest learnings for the Auckland Museum team was the need to provide meaningful context and Andrew and I are looking forward to a continued content for overseas visitors. relationship with Nanjing Museum and believe the exchange was one of the most valuable experiences The experience of being immersed in another culture helps you realise the of our museum careers. importance of basic contextual information – without that you can only appreciate objects on an aesthetic level. For example a gallery full of yellow The exchange was possible due to the financial bowls does not come to life until you discover yellow is held as the symbolic support of The Asia New Zealand Foundation colour of the five legendary emperors of ancient China. and Museums Aotearoa. The cultural exchange took place between 5 and 28 May 2014, starting You need the basic '101' background information to fully appreciate what in Shanghai and ending in Beijing. The staff you’re seeing. We need to address that for our international visitors so they exchange was with Nanjing Museum from 12 to can have rewarding and meaningful experiences in our galleries. 23 May 2014.

Observing the day-to-day behind the scenes operation of Nanjing Museum Lucy Ryan was very valuable and it showed us that museums around the world share Exhibition Manager, Auckland Museum similar priorities and challenges. Just like us, they’re dealing with the demands of objects and conservation, display and mounts, working to tight timeframes and budgets, keeping gallery content fresh, attracting visitors and remaining relevant to young people.

Lucy Ryan, Andrew Wright and Nanjing Museum team member.

22 MAQ August 2014 Health & Safety Reforms

The Biggest Health and Safety Reforms • Providing adequate facilities for worker welfare. in 20 Years • Providing information, instruction, training and supervision needed by workers. The biggest health and safety reforms in 20 years are now one step closer with • Monitoring health and workplace conditions. the introduction of the Health & Safety Reform Bill to Parliament. The Bill • Maintaining any accommodation they own, is part of the Government’s Working Safer reform package. manage or control to ensure the health and safety of the workers occupying those The Health and Safety Bill will create the new Health & Safety at Work Act, premises. replacing the Health & Safety in Employment Act 1992. It is expected to pass into law by the end of the year and will come into force in April 2015. There are additional specific duties on PCBUs who are designers, manufacturers, importers or The new law will be supported by stronger enforcement and penalties for suppliers of plant, substances or structures; and non-compliance and will place more regulatory responsibility on people at relating to people installing, constructing or every level of the supply chain to ensure their workplace is safe. Specifically, commissioning plant or structures. the Health and Safety Reform bill will: A New View from the Top • Put more onus and legal requirements on managers and company directors to manage risks and keep their workers safe. The current Health & Safety in Employment Act • Require greater worker participation so workers are more involved in only imposes liability on a director or officer of health and safety in their workplace. an organisation if they direct, authorise, assent to, • Establish stronger penalties, enforcement tools, graduated offence agree to, or participate in a breach. Prosecutions categories and court powers. are rare in practice, eg Pike River.

A well-functioning health and safety system and improved worker Under the Health and Safety at Work Act, more participation to ensure workers know how to keep themselves and their specific and onerous obligations will be imposed colleagues safe will go a long way towards ensuring workers get home safely on 'officers' and 'directors'. This means senior every day. This is the time to get your 'house in order' and ensure your systems executives such as chief executives and in many are robust enough to comply with these changes. cases all of the senior management team will face personal liability, but it is not likely to affect lower A New Duty Holder – The PCBU level managers.

Under the Health & Safety at Work Act the new primary duty holder will The primary obligation of an officer will be to be a 'person conducting a business or undertaking' (or PCBU), instead of exercise 'due diligence' to ensure that the PCBU the current separate duties on employers, principals, self-employed people, complies with its duties and obligations. Directors persons in control of a place of work, and people selling or supplying plant and officers will need to have an intimate knowledge for use in a place of work. of health and safety and what is being done to comply with their PCBUs legal obligations. It A PCBU is a person conducting a business alone or with others, whether for will no longer be enough for directors and senior profit or gain or not. The 'person' may be a company or an individual. People management to simply receive meeting minutes involved in a company as workers or officers (including directors) are not or reports from a health and safety committee or PCBUs, but will have separate personal liability. health and safety manager without doing more.

PCBUs will be required to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the For more guidance we recommend you read health and safety of workers they engage and workers whose activities in the Good Governance Practice Guidelines for carrying out work are influenced or directed by them, including employees, Managing Health and Safety Risks which can be contractors, subcontractors and others. The duty will apply while the workers downloaded from www.mbie.govt.nz. are at work in the business or undertaking. PCBUs will also owe a duty to other people who may be at risk from work carried out by the business or Helen Mason undertaking, eg customers or visitors. Occupational Health & Safety Consultant, Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce Specific obligations on PCBUs will include: • Providing and maintaining a working environment that is safe and without health risks. • Providing and maintaining plant and a structure and systems of work that are safe and don’t pose health risks. • Ensuring the safe use, handling and storage of plant, structures and substances.

2014 August MAQ 23 Museum Profile

The New Zealand Like the Palmerston North Boys High School decision to temporarily suspend cricket fees during World War 1, "so there will still be plenty of Cricket Museum cricket played when the boys get back." He wants more of these stories told, showing people where cricket fits into New Zealand history on a larger scale. A Modern Sensibility "Co-hosting the Cricket World Cup in 2015 is a great opportunity to get Entering the New Zealand Cricket Museum at more engaging educational resources out there," he says. "At the moment Wellington's Basin Reserve feels like a step back we're looking at a mobile museum, which could go around New Zealand in time. The high ceilings, dark wood and tall during the Cup. Ideally, it would be shipping container, which can go from glass cases create an old-world feel. But when place to place, follow the games and be really hands on." you're welcomed by Jamie Bell, the museum's smiling 31 year old director, it quickly becomes This is a big plan, for a little museum, but along with his BA in English and apparent that he's intent on breathing new life Art History and Masters in Museums, Jamie has a Post-Graduate Diploma into old traditions. in Marketing. He's keen to make the most of upcoming opportunities and get sponsorship in place before the World Cup. Standing at the display case by his desk, he points out, among other things, a trophy, signed caps and Jamie expressed his goal of "expanding the reach of the museum beyond its a cricket bat, all relating to women's cricket sides. walls" in the 2013 Business and Strategic plans and in the funding programme "There used to be six items from women's cricket he recently presented to New Zealand Cricket. in the whole museum," he says. 'Now there are six in this case alone." He emphasises the value of social media, which is proving to be a simple, but effective tool for increasing the museum's profile. You can currently tap Why is that important? "The New Zealand into the museum via a blog, a Facebook page, and a Twitter account. "It's Women's Side is the only team to have won a really good for people who can't physically get here – it's my philosophy to Cricket World Cup. They're consistently ranked treat all our Facebook and Twitter followers as visitors." Tweeting during in the top three national teams." This is news to live games has proved to be particularly popular. A number of international me, and over the next hour or so I learn a lot more. cricket players, past and present, are on Twitter and fans enjoy talking with them about the state of play. As we walk around the museum, Jamie tells a story about every item that catches my eye. Naturally Since the Museum Stand was yellow-stickered in 2012, Jamie has sometimes the display cabinets are home to exhibits which been asked if it would be easier to move to another facility. But he feels the commemorate great New Zealand moments on special character of the collection could all too easily be lost in another space. the pitch, but Jamie also recounts small things. "The site and the history here are part and parcel of the museum."

With strengthening work estimated to cost $6 million, Jamie certainly has his work cut out. However, he appears unphased and with a small band of volunteers is balancing the fine art of fundraising, with the day to day work of curating and cataloguing the museum's growing collection. "In the last year, since we got a bit more active, people are just contacting us." They've been sent passports, luggage, bats, drawings and more, from cricketing families around New Zealand and overseas.

There are more projects underway than space to tell them, but one is currently nearing completion. The world's third oldest cricket bat, proudly on display in Wellington, is being recreated so fans have a replica they can handle and possibly even swing at the Basin Reserve. "The previous director's focus on archives has set the scene," says Jamie. "Now we're ready to move into a bigger focus on programmes." It looks like we'll be seeing a lot more of the fine old traditions of cricket in the future.

Jennifer Gilbert-Potts for New Zealand Cricket Museum

Social Media programmes like Flashback Friday present objects to the public.

24 MAQ August 2014 He Ata Te Hau e Wawara Mai? What is the wind that softly blows? Proverb by Ngāti Whātua matakite, Titahi - ‘He aha te hau e wawara mai? He tiu he raki nana i a mai te puputarakihi ki uta. What is the breeze that softly blows? It is the wind from the NorthWest that drives the nautilus.’ As I write this, I have just finished learning the famous Chinese song Jasmine Flower as part of a collaborative effort between Auckland Museum's staff waiata group and a local Chinese choir to prepare for the Mid-Winter Festival celebrating Chinese and other Asian communities in an event happening later this year. Our two groups will be singing Māori and Chinese waiata together at the Museum and it made me wonder what the Ngāti Whātua matakite (seer), Titahi (who uttered the proverb He aha te Hau?) would have made of the scene in the Museum's Te Korowai Room where Māori, Pakeha and Pacific museum staff, along with two Chinese choirmasters, sang in Mandarin and Māori.

Given Titahi's famous prophecy, he may, after some deep reflection, have been unsurprised with this scene being played out at Auckland Museum or The Dragon and the Taniwha Festival, Orakei Marae, 2013. of modern Auckland, and her large and diverse population. In many ways, the attitude reflected in Titahi's proverb is mirrored by his people today, and reflected in Ngāti Whātua's welcome and hosting of hui like the Dragon and the Taniwha Festival in 2013, which brought Māori and Chinese communities together in a way that celebrated, and enhanced, the mana of both cultures and their peoples.

At Auckland Museum we're following the manaakitanga lead shown by Tamaki Makaurau iwi Ngāti Whātua and working hard to be a place where people who want to collaborate with the museum, and our visitors, feel good about their experience. In fact that's why manaakitanga is one of the Museum's values, along with mana whenua and kaitiakitanga. Collection Information Technician, Taila Roth, in Te Awe photographing hei tiki at Auckland Museum. Our collection readiness project Te Awe is enabling us to invest some real focus in our collections, Taonga Māori in particular, to get the information we have about them up to date, provide the necessary conservation care, and photograph them in a way that enables the public, and especially, descendants, to connect with the Taonga we care for, no matter where in the world people live. As we open up our collection areas both digitally and physically (in terms of improved storage spaces), the next stage in Te Awe is partnering with Iwi and other Māori experts to learn more about the Taonga we hold, so that this information can be better shared. In doing so, the mauri and mana of the Taonga and the people these Taonga are associated with, are both enhanced.

Today Auckland is considered one of the most ethnically diverse metropolitan cities in the world – even more than Sydney or London. It Te Awe at Auckland Museum is the largest Māori and Pacific city in the world. Strengthened by our bicultural foundation and aspiration, and recognition of the unique place of Māori, Auckland Museum now seeks to ensure that all Aucklanders (and New Zealanders too) continue to feel proud of their museum and most importantly, can see a little bit of themselves reflected in the stories we tell, and the Taonga we hold, on their behalf.

Linnae Pohatu Tumuaki Director Maori Projects and Development, Auckland Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira

2014 August MAQ 25 Associate Profile – NZCCM

Who are the NZCCM? few other professions allow. Drawing from diverse fields including fine arts, archaeology and history, technology, archives and science, the common The New Zealand Conservators of Cultural thread tying the conservation profession together is a commitment to the Material was formed in 1983 under the name preservation and care of New Zealand’s cultural and historic heritage. New Zealand Professional Conservators Group, and was later changed to NZCCM in 2006 to be With the ability to either advise or provide treatment to at-risk artefacts more inclusive of the diverse range of members. and artworks, NZCCM members are preservation specialists committed to the long-term survival and care of our nation’s taonga and cultural material. New Zealand’s conservation professionals have Conservation practitioners are trained to recognise, prevent and retard the trained in universities and institutions around the loss or deterioration of cultural property, and to respect the tangible and world and come from wide and varied backgrounds. intangible significance and value of any object or artwork. Because of this, practise conforms to internationally recognised standards of training and knowledge, To protect the true nature of an object, tikanga principles are observed as with access to the global community. appropriate during the care and maintenance of taonga Māori. Today, NZCCM members work with some hapu and iwi groups to guide, support Ask any conservator about the appeal of and provide best methods for the preservation of their treasures. conservation and the NZCCM group and most will describe the wonderful diversity of people Who needs a conservator? and the blend of art, science and research which Not only do national institutions and museums require conservation expertise; small museums, historic house collections, private collectors, heritage and archaeological consultants also benefit from the knowledge of conservators. All materials or objects which have aesthetic, archaeological, historic, scientific, technological, social or spiritual value for any generation may benefit from conservation expertise and input.

NZCCM members include a wide range of specialist conservators who are able to undertake advice and/or treatments as required, including: works of art on paper, such as watercolours and gouache; books, oil and acrylic paintings; polychrome wood; metal; glass; ceramic; wood; basketry; textiles; furniture; musical instruments; digital materials; film and photographs; buildings; sculpture and so on.

As well as providing treatment that involves the physical or interventive act of cleaning and stabilising cultural materials and artworks, preventative conservators advise on lighting, humidity, temperature, packaging, storage and transport to slow down or halt deterioration. This often prevents the need for costly treatments. Their work may involve undertaking condition surveys of collections in order to identify vulnerable items and prioritise actions.

NZCCM members have been advising on the care of objects straight out of demolition sites in the red-zone following the Christchurch earthquakes, and are addressing new issues arising from collection care in disaster prone areas. Xradiography of double barreled pistol.

A 1941 halfpenny following cleaning for identification. Torn oil painting with loss of support and paint layer.

26 MAQ August 2014 Where do you find conservators? The diversity of the profession means that NZCCM members can be found practising within art galleries, museums, universities, government offices, libraries, archives, and in private practise.

As well as purpose-built conservation laboratories, conservation is also carried out in situ. Conservators can be found working on treatment of large outdoor sculptures or wet wooden artefacts, archaeological sites, pā and other historic landscapes, historic buildings, and at marae, guiding and supporting the care of taonga, such as wharenui.

To make contact with a conservator the first point of reference should be the NZCCM members’ directory found at www.nzccm.org.nz which lists the practising conservators in New Zealand. Individual expertise is also listed because finding the right conservator for each project is imperative.

Brigid Gallagher Vice President, NZCCM

Some relevant links for information on caring for your artworks. www.aucklandartgallery.com/about/conservation/ caring-for-your-works-of-art www.collectionsaustralia.netsector_info_item/3 A hand coloured glass negative broken in transport.. www.nzccm.org.nz How does conservation differ from restoration? Unlike restorers, conservators aim to preserve objects and places as they were originally intended to be. They have an underpinning knowledge of materials science and chemistry and the long term effect of any treatment or material introduced. How do you become a conservator? At this time in New Zealand there is no complete educational program dedicated to the training of our future conservators, with most coming through a wide variety of courses across the globe. Melbourne University in Victoria, Australia is the closest to New Zealand, offering a Masters and post graduate programme.

There are related programmes and units available within New Zealand that offer museum-related and cultural heritage courses. The University of Auckland offers a module within the Anthropology department that looks at the broader issues of cultural heritage and the conservation of materials and objects. Victoria University of Wellington offers a Masters and Post Graduate programme in Heritage Materials Science. Māori communities are being empowered to care for their cultural heritage with the guidance of NZCCM members in some areas.

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