Paradise Camp

This event is part of Making Spaces, the talk series hosted by Te Waka Tūhura Elam School of Fine Arts and Design. It aims to make space for artists and art professionals to share their practice and research.

In April 2022, the New Zealand pavilion unveiled artist Yuki Kihara’s critically acclaimed exhibition entitled Paradise Camp, curated by Natalie King, presented in the Arsenale as part of the 59th Venice Biennale.

Paradise Camp is an immersive installation comprised of 12 tableau photographs, a single-channel video and a Vārchive that explores small island ecologies, queer rights, intersectionality and decolonisation. The production involved over 100 people, and most of it took place in the Independent State of Sāmoa, where she’s been living and working for the past 11 years.

In this talk, Kihara will present on Paradise Camp along with the global outreach program she initiated during the Venice Biennale, including the Firsts Solidarity Network and the Talanoa Forum – an online and in-person gathering presented in partnership with the New Institute for Environmental Humanities of the Ca ‘Foscari University of Venice, the University of Melbourne, the National Museum of World Cultures, The Netherlands and the Ministry of Pacific Peoples.

Visit the New Zealand at Venice website to experience Paradise Camp.

About the Speaker

Yuki Kihara is an interdisciplinary artist whose work seeks to challenge dominant and singular historical narratives through art, dance, and curatorial practice. Kihara became an Arts Foundation Laureate in 2020. Kihara is currently a research fellow at the National Museum of World Cultures in The Netherlands.

In 2008, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, presented a solo exhibition of Kihara's work entitled Living Photographs held at the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, featuring highlights of her interdisciplinary art practice, followed by an acquisition of her works by the museum for their permanent collection. Among others, Kihara's works can be found in the collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; British Museum; Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art; Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan and Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand to name a few.

Kihara's work is currently presented internationally, including the Aichi Triennale, Japan, among others.

Visit Yuki Kihara's website to learn more.

This event will take place in the Design Theatre. Please come to the foyer of the Conference Centre, 22 Symonds Street, to access the lecture theatre.

Light refreshments will be provided after the talk.