TeTuhi

This publication documents the 2016 Te Tuhi exhibition Share/Cheat/Unite. The exhibition that delved into the human psyche to consider how altruism, cheating and group formation appear to play a key role in shaping society, but not necessarily in the ways we might assume.

VOLUME 1 opens with the first part of a three-part contextual essay by exhibition curator Bruce E. Phillips that draws on insight gained from political theory and social psychology to explore the social significance of the exhibited artworks. This first piece considers aspects of altruism present in the artwork of Darcell Apelu, Yu-Cheng Chou, Sasha Huber and John Vea. An essay by Leafa Wilson provides an expanded reading of John Vea’s One Kiosk Many Exchanges (2016), in particular his incorporation of talanoa within the work. This volume also includes an interview with Darcell Apelu, who details the personal significance of her work Generation Exchange (2016), which took place in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and Patea.

VOLUME 2 continues with part two of Bruce Phillips’ contextual essay, which considers the ethically murky human proclivity of ‘cheating’ as explored in artworks by Jonathas de Andrade, Aníbal López (A-1 53167), Vaughn Sadie & Ntsoana Contemporary Dance Theatre and YOUAREHEREWEAREHERE.

VOLUME 3 is the largest issue in the series and explores the power of group formation. In the final chapter of his contextual essay, Bruce Phillips discusses the work of artists Mark Harvey, Ivan Mršić and Hu Xiangqian and unravels the political and psychological dynamics of unification. Mark Harvey’s Turquoisation: For the coming storm (2016) is discussed further in essays by Chloe Geoghegan and Christina Houghton. Geoghegan focuses on the work’s democratic possibilities by reflecting on an earlier iteration that took place in Dunedin; while Houghton ruminates on the ambiguous political imperatives of Harvey’s turquoise troupe as they travelled around Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Discussions of Ivan Mršić’s Ngā Heihei Orchestra (2016) and Kakokaranga Orchestra (2016) are similarly expanded in the writing of Rosanna Albertini and Balamohan Shingade — each illuminating the socio-political importance of Mršić’s form of collective embodied action through sound.

VOLUME 4 is dedicated to the conversations that initiated the Te Tuhi exhibition and those that ventured beyond. Phillips reviews the performative curatorial ethos and outlines the exhibition’s multiple formats. Melissa Laing’s essay draws on the collective knowledge of ‘Navigating Conversational Frequencies’ — a series of workshops that took place alongside the Te Tuhi show and later grew into an independent discussion group. Jamie Hanton writes on the second iteration of the exhibition that took place at The Physics Room in Christchurch and its significance in engaging with the urban politics of the city’s post-quake rebuild.

Share/Cheat/Unite

2016

Digital library

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