Urban (Almost) Rituals, a project by James Luna took place at Te Papa on 14 May 2009. Thank you to all those involved especially the performers on the day. Please watch this space for updates and footage of the project.
Urban (Almost) Rituals was commissioned by Te Papa Curators Charlotte Huddleston and Megan Tamati-Quennell for the Massey University College of Creative Art, School of Fine Arts, Litmus Research Initiative, One Day Sculpture project http://www.onedaysculpture.org.nz
Watch the performance
http://www.r2.co.nz/20090514/urban-rituals.asx
The recording is best viewed in Windows Media Player, Real Player or VLC on a PC running Windows, on Flip-4-Mac or Mplayer for Mac users, and Totem for Linux users.
About the performance and the artist
Native American artist James Luna (Luiseño, Pooyukitchchum/Ipai) will presented his work Urban (Almost) Rituals in Te Papa's Soundings Theatre. This newly-developed performance/installation is about native survival in urban settings, and was commissioned by Te Papa as the Museum’s contribution to the One Day Sculpture project.
The day and the work unfolded from 8am on 14 May, in Te Papa's Soundings Theatre.
Costumed in his self-described character of the Shame Man, Luna will perform a series of actions and rituals as he forms a spiral, acting as circus ringmaster, court jester, and occasional merchant of venom.
James Luna is an internationally recognised conceptual artist who works with installation and performance. These, he believes, offer ‘… an opportunity like no other for Indian people to express themselves in traditional art forms of ceremony, dance, oral traditions and contemporary discourse without compromise. Within these spaces, one can use a variety of media …so that there is no limit to how and what is expressed.’
James Luna came to New Zealand on a three-week research trip in January and, with Te Papa curators Charlotte Huddleston (Curator Contemporary Art) and Megan Tamati-Quennell (Curator Contemporary Māori and Indigenous Art), travelled and met a variety of people, including tangata whenua (local Māori, tribal representatives) and artists in Wellington, Auckland, Taranaki, Christchurch, and Dunedin. The final form of Luna’s work will respond to what he experienced during this trip.
The James Luna project is the first commissioned art project Te Papa has undertaken with an international indigenous artist.
The research phase of the trip was covered on the Te Papa blog site, and updates on the development of the project posted in the lead up to the presentation of the work:
http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/category/art/
For more information on James Luna: http://www.jamesluna.com/
The One Day Sculpture project involves a partnership between all of the leading art institutions around New Zealand. For more information on these projects and the upcoming symposium: http://onedaysculpture.org.nz/
