Art Section III: in Pursuit of Venus [infected]

What form of art is in Pursuit of Venus [infected]?

Video installation

When was in Pursuit of Venus [infected] first exhibited?

2012

What was the original title?

in Pursuit of Venus

What does the video represent?

Customary lifeways throughout the Pacific Ocean world against a backdrop of unspoiled nature

What was included in later versions of the video?

Images of contact between Indigenous people and white sailors

What does the addition of [infected] signify?

The fact that once people have encountered each other, history is changed forever

What story does Reihana tell?

British and French exploration in the Pacific

When was Lisa Reihana born?

1964

Where was Reihana born?

Auckland, New Zealand

What are Reihana's professions?

Filmmaker, photographer, performance artist

What art collective is Reihana a member of?

Pacific Sisters

What has Reihana been known for since the 1990s?

Her use of digital media to create work that examines and re-frames histories of empire

What aspect of Reihana's identity influences her work?

Her identity as a Māori woman

Who are the Māori?

The Indigenous people of New Zealand

From where and when did the ancestors of the Māori come to New Zealand?

Polynesia in the northeast Pacific around 1200 CE

What are some characteristics of Māori art and culture?

Performative, focused on respect for ancestors, and strictly divided by gender

What do the Māori believe about objects?

They are imbued with mana

How are artistic productions of Māori culture viewed?

They are seen to create ancestors as real and immediate presences

What is an example of customary artistic production in Māori culture?

Wood carvings that adorn architectural spaces

Where has in Pursuit of Venus [infected] been displayed?

Auckland Art Gallery (2015), Venice Biennale (2017), Royal Academy of Arts (2018)

How long is the video?

64 minutes

How many vignettes are in the video?

140

What do the vignettes depict?

The daily lives of Indigenous Pacific people and moments of contact with British sailors

How is the video displayed?

It is projected in a darkened room

How long is the screen the video is projected onto?

80 feet

What is included in the accompanying soundtrack?

Nature sounds and songs or chants in various Pacific languages

What does the background look like?

It is digitally rendered and resembles a painting of a generic Oceanic landscape

What are the figures in the video?

Recordings of Māori, Aboriginal, and Pacific Islander actors performing everyday and ritual acts or meeting British travelers

How does the scene move as the video plays?

It slowly scrolls, displaying a series of seamlessly connected interactions

What does the moving horizontal format of the video resemble?

Panorama

When did panorama first become popular in Europe?

in the eighteenth century

What do panoramas consist of?

Painted scenes in a large-scale horizontal format

What did panoramas often depict?

Faraway destinations or "exotic" locations

How were panoramas displayed?

They were installed in circular rooms or used long canvases stretched between rotating rollers

What was Reihana's inspiration for in Pursuit of Venus [infected]?

A novelty wallpaper named Les sauvages de la mer Pacifique

What company made the wallpaper and when?

Dufour in 1805

What historical context was the wallpaper a product of?

The voyages of exploration used to support commercial expansion and scientific discovery during the Age of Enlightenment

Who was the artist of the wallpaper?

Jean-Gabriel Charvet

What was Charvet's inspiration?

Illustrations from books published by English and French explorers detailing their travels in Oceania

What is an example of a book published by an explorer?

Voyages (1773-85) by Captain James Cook

Who illustrated Voyages?

William Hodges and Sydney Parkinson

How many scenes are in the wallpaper?

20

What are the dimensions of each panel of the wallpaper?

8 feet high, 2 feet wide

How long was the full wallpaper?

Over 30 feet

Was the wallpaper unique?

No, it was one of many products that exoticized the Pacific world for Europeans

What was the wallpaper intended to do?

Please the eye and excite the imagination

What did Reihana say about the wallpaper?

It claims to represent the Pacific, but many elements of it are inauthentic

Why is the element of performance important to in Pursuit of Venus [infected]?

It is an embedded aspect of Māori life

What need did UNESCO identify in 2003?

The need to preserve intangible cultural heritage as rigorously as physical art and architecture

What is included in intangible cultural heritage?

Cosmology, social practice, spoken language, music, and dance

What are many of the actors in the video shown doing?

Performing customary dances and rituals

Who choreographed the dances and rituals?

Rachel House

What kind of artistic production is also shown in the video?

Weaving and carving

What does the Māori word 'taonga' mean?

Prized possession

What can the term 'taonga' refer to?

Physical objects and cultural practices

What protects taonga?

Treaties with New Zealand

At the Royal Academy, what was displayed alongside the video?

Art and artifacts from around the Pacific

What was the exhibition at the Royal Academy called?

Oceania

How did Reihana respond to Oceania?

She reflected on how histories of European collecting stripped cultural objects of their importance and how Oceania might re-energize them.

What is the most disruptive scene in the video?

The death of Captain Cook at the hands of the native Hawaiians

When did Cook die?

February 1779

Where else was the death of Cook shown?

In panel eight of the original wallpaper

What effect does panel eight have on the wallpaper as a whole?

It transforms it from utopian decor to an unsettling acknowledgement of the often-bloody conflicts involved in cross-cultural encounter

What does the inclusion of Cook's death suggest?

Even within positive depictions of global travel, currents of resistance were visible