Exhibiting Connections, Connecting Exhibitions: Constructing trans-Pacific relationships through museum displays in Oceania (2006-2016) Volume I Alice Christophe Dissertation Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania & the Americas School of Art, Media and American Studies University of East Anglia September 2016 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that use of any information derived there from must be in accordance with current UK Copyright Law. In addition, any quotation or extract must include full attribution. Abstract This research explores the correlation between exhibitions and networks in the context of the 21st century Pacific. Firstly, exhibitions are envisioned as relational and connective practices that trigger interactions through their making. Secondly, exhibition-products are regarded as the result of these relationships, which bring together a wide range of agents including makers, things, spaces and epistemologies. Applying the Actor-Network-Theory to the field of exhibition studies, this thesis follows the path of six trans-Pacific museum displays. These case studies were developed between 2006 and 2016 by three major institutions of Oceania, located in Aotearoa New Zealand (Auckland Museum), Hawai‘i (Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum) and Taiwan (Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts). After a theoretical and methodological introduction, Chapter 2 dwells on the history of the institutions included in this research and pieces together the genealogical grounds for each exhibition case study. Short-term exhibitions and their capacity to open new museum routes are explored in Chapter 3. Long-term displays and the musealisation of temporary pathways are presented in Chapter 4. While reassembling the trajectories of each exhibition in Chapter 3 and 4 and connecting their genealogies, this study examines the existence of parallels, translations and echoes amongst the case studies in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 further emphasises these relationships and equally dwells on the limitations and impacts of connective narratives by analysing the Pacific maps displayed in these trans-Pacific exhibitions. By and large, this research explores the increasing development of a trans-Pacific culture of display in Oceania, which is examined through the lens of exhibitions developed and presented in this region at the dawn of the 21st century. ii “We need to show and learn that we are bigger, that we belong to a bigger family, Oceania. As a part of this family, we have a stronger voice. And, after all, we are too many islands to show them all.” Taueva Fa‘otusia, docent in Pacific Hall, Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawai‘i, October 2014. iii Table of Contents Abstract………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………….ii Table of Contents……………………………………………………………..……………………………………..iv List of Figures……………………………………………………………….……………..………..See volume II List of Acronyms………………………………………………………………………………….………….……..vii Preface………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……...viii Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………………………..…….…..xi Chapter 1— Setting the Scene, Unveiling the Stage…………………………………………………12 1.1. Opening and Introducing the Thesis…………..…………..……..……..…………..……………..13 1.2. Pacific Museums and Exhibitions: Theory and History…………..…..………..……………16 1.2.A. Museum, Museality and Networks…………..…………..…………..……………..…….16 1.2.B. Museums in the Pacific versus Pacific museums…………..…………..…..……….20 1.2.C. Pacific Museum Models Regionally and Binding Agents…………..……….…...24 1.3. Researching Trans-Pacific Exhibitions Across Oceania…………..…………..……..……..27 1.3.A. General Focus and Research Questions…………..…………..…………..…..………..27 1.3.B. Approach: Exhibitions versus Networks…………..…………..…………..……..……..28 1.3.C. Case Studies Selection and Methodology…………..…………..…………..…..…..…32 1.4. Thesis Outline and Articulations…………..…………..…………..…………..………………….…44 Chapter 2 – Genealogical Grounds: Early Display Articulations and Networks…………46 2.1. Intertwined Beginnings: Historical Contexts, First Museums, & Early Displays….49 2.1.A. New Zealand and The Auckland Museum…………..…………..…………....……….49 2.1.B. In Hawai‘i: The Hawaiian National Museum and the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum…………..…………..…………..…………..……………….………………………………………..53 2.1.C. Taiwan and the Viceroy’s Office Museum…………..…………….…………..……….59 2.2. Islands and Isolation: Constructing Pan-Pacific displays at the Auckland Museum and at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum…………..………...……..…………..……………….…64 2.2.A. Laying the Groundwork for Pan-Pacific Displays………………..……………………65 2.2.B. Accentuating a Distinction between Local and Foreign Pacific…………...….69 iv Chapter 3 – Producing Short-Term Exhibitions, Opening Museum Routes ………………75 3.1. Launching the Vaka: Vaka Moana & Le Folauga from Aotearoa to Taiwan………..79 3.1.A. Vaka Moana at the Auckland Museum (2006-2007) ……….……….……….……80 3.1.B. Le Folauga at the Auckland Museum (2007) and at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts (2008) ……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………….88 3.2. (Re)building the Taiwan-Pacific Link: Across Oceans and Time and The Great Journey at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts……….……….……….……….……….……….…99 3.2.A. Across Oceans and Time: Art in the Contemporary Pacific (2007) ……….101 3.2.B. The Great Journey: In Pursuit of the Ancestral Realm (2009) ……….………115 Chapter 4 –Constructing Long-Term Displays, Musealising Trans-Pacific Pathways 122 4.1. Restoring Pacific Hall, Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum (2009-2013)..……….……125 4.1.A. Reconstructing Oceania: From Polynesian Hall to Pacific Hall……….………125 4.1.B. Exhibition Walkthrough……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….…139 4.2. Renewing the Pacific Galleries, Auckland Museum (2010-present) ……….……….159 4.2.A. Towards a Connective Museum……….……….……….……….……….……….………159 4.2.B. Pacific Dimension and Future Pacific Displays……….……….……….……….…..167 Chapter 5 – Weaving Exhibition Threads, Establishing a Trans-Pacific Culture of Display………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….179 5.1. Articulating Shared Display Narratives and Patterns……….……….……….……….……181 5.1.A. From Racial to Archaeological Perspectives: the Homeland……….…………182 5.1.B. The Ocean and its Vessels……….……….……….……….……….……….……….………187 5.2. In and Through the “Network Zone”: Connective Exhibiting Practices and Networks……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……191 5.2.A. Connecting Within: the Exhibition’s Temporality and Community………..192 5.2.B. Building Networks: Outward Practices……….……….……….……….……….……..200 5.3. Trans-Pacific Residencies: Artists as Movers……….……….……………..……….…………209 5.3.A. Connecting the Pacific from Home……….……….……….……….……….……….….210 5.3.B. Honouring Home Abroad: Artist Ambassadors……….……….……….…………..214 5.3.C. Creating about/through the Link……….……….……….……….……….……….…….217 v 5.3.D. Merging Pacific Cultural and Museum Families……….……….……….……….…220 Chapter 6 – Curating versus Mapping: Limitations and Impacts of Connective Narratives…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….226 6.1. The Exhibition Compass: A Visual Deconstruction of Pacific Hall’s Floor Map…232 6.1.A. On the Edges: Narratives and Ambiguities……….……….……….……….….…….233 6.1.B. In-between: Fluidity beyond Rigidity……….……….……….……….……….….…….237 6.2. Producing and Authoring Exhibition Maps……….……….……….……….……….…………239 6.2.A. Mapmaking and Mapmakers……….……….……….……….……….……….……….…240 6.2.B. Making Maps for Exhibitions: Diversity and Trends……….……….……….……241 6.2.C. Parquetting the Pacific: the Making of Pacific Hall’s Floor Map…………….245 6.3. Tracing Pacific Constructs: A Connective Chronology of Pacific Exhibition Maps (1894-2016) ……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….251 6.3.A. Setting the Boundaries, Charting “Oceanica” (1894-1900) ……….……….…252 6.3.B. Reflecting on Ancient Pacific Dispersals and Links (1950s-1980s).………..254 6.3.C. Static Region (1980s-1990s) ……….……….……….……….……….……….……….….258 6.3.D. Reconnecting Oceania, Constructing Austronesia (2000s-2016)….……….259 6.4. Opening the Space: Performing and Reconstructing the Pacific……………………..266 6.4.A. Chart in Motion: the Map as a Stage……….……….……….……….……….….…….267 6.4.B. Epilogue: From Movement to Reconstruction……….……….……….……………271 Chapter 7 – Conclusion: Networks of Belongings…………………………………………………..275 7.1. Constructing Connective Museology: The Exhibition as Method……….……….…..277 7.2. Articulations and Aspirations……….……….……….……….……….……….……….……….…..278 7.3. “Where are we going?” Reimagining Belonging through Exhibitions……….……..282 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………………284 List of Interviews………………………………………………………………………………………………….304 vi List of Acronyms AAG Auckland Art Gallery/Toi o Tāmaki ADCK Agence de Développement de la Culture Kanak AM Auckland War Memorial Museum/Tāmaki Paenga Hira ANT Actor-Network-Theory AOT Across Oceans and Time: Art in the Contemporary Pacific ASC Arctic Studies Center BPBM Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum CAAP Contemporary Austronesian Art Project DAPEX Département des Arts Plastiques et des Expositions EDL Ecole du Louvre FACKO Fonds d’Art Contemporain Kanak et Océanien FESTPAC Festival of Pacific Arts HNM Hawaiian National Museum HH Hawaiian Hall KMFA Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts LF Le Folauga: The Past Coming Forward MAA Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology MAI Marson Architects Inc. MOA Museum of Anthropology MQB Musée du quai Branly (Quai Branly Museum) NMNS National Museum of Natural Science NMP National Museum of Prehistory NMS National Museum