Alex Monteith: Aotearoa/New Zealand Visiting Artist Project

In 2012 Alex Monteith embarked on research in the region of Tamatea/Dusky Sound, Aotearoa/New Zealand. During this time she became interested in the legacy of archaeologist Peter Coutts, who undertook excavations in the 1960s and early 1970s around Tamatea and the wider coastal region.

Specifically, Monteith's work focused on the status of material now in museum collections that was removed from tauwhare/shelters and other sites in the areas where Coutts undertook excavations.

Monteith has been exploring the potential of contemporary art practice to activate multi-disciplinary research into this collection, working collaboratively with a wide range of contributors including mana whenua, museums, archaeologists, curators and artists.

Over the summer of 2018-19, as the Dunedin Public Art Gallery New Zealand Visiting Artist, Monteith has been working in Otepoti/Dunedin. This exhibition will continue to expand her research, presenting new video work s as well as facilitating performed research and encounters with these materials held in museum collections.

A Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Visiting Artist project. Project partner, Dunedin School of Art.
This interdisciplinary exhibition is being developed through the Visiting Artist Programme at Dunedin Public Art Gallery, and is presented with collaborative support from Southland Museum and Art Gallery Niho o Te Taniwha., Otago Museum and Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena.

1 June - 29 September 2019.