Artists: Ani O’Neil, Lisa Reihana, Ava Seymour, Filipe Tohi, Natalie Robertson, Jim Vivieaere, Reuben Paterson, Damon Fepuleai, Graham Fletcher, John Pule, Lonnie Hutchinson, Veronica Vaevae, Craig Fasi, Niki Hastings-McFall, Emi Tamua, Rohan Wealleans, Francis Upritchard.
Curated by: Tobias Berger, ARTSPACE Auckland.
IKI is Lithuanian for Good Bye, so long
IKA the Pacific / Maori name for fish.
So long and thanks for all the fish is the title of the last book of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide through the Galaxy Trilogy.
‘IKI and thanks for all the IKA’ is as utopian and strange as this Masterwork of late 20th century Science Fiction. It will bring New Zealand artists with a relation to the Pacific Islands to Lithuania. It will showcase art from a place that is as far away from Vilnius as possible. Not only geographical but also culturally and visually.
The exhibition presents artist that are attached to a culture they do not live in. It is a fascinating manifestation of cultural identity, conceptual development and political manifestation. These artists are very aware of their cultural heritage but have the distance to realise work that is attached to its roots without being stuck in the local crafts trap. Pacific Island / Maori artists are a great example of developing a unique style and identity in an edgy contemporary art practice.
‘IKI and thanks for all the IKA’ is also asking interesting questions about which art should be presented where and why, one of the most basic questions for contemporary art presentation today. ‘IKI and thanks for all the IKA’ will be a unique foray into the global art world where the exotic is often misunderstood as something from far away. And what could be further away then Tahiti and Vilnius?
‘IKI and thanks for all the IKA’ will be presented in ARTSPACE, Auckland as an exhibition combining the artists presented in Vilnius with some new Lithuanian positions.
