Pōtaka Nautilus

A mind-blowing experience. As if reaching into the fibres of space - Pōtaka Nautilus pictures a living breathing cosmos, elevated by the shared breath of dance and the sound of taonga pūoro.

Te Matatiki Toi Ora is honoured to host the New Zealand premiere of this immersive work that opened last October to critical acclaim at Museo de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain.

Led by Arts Laureate Daniel Belton and Good Company Arts, Pōtaka Nautilus is the result of collaboration between some of Aotearoa's most innovative dancers, musicians, designers, and toi Māori experts, all pushing the boundaries of their art.

In Pōtaka Nautilus, spirals and shells are used as motifs evoking variously, a haven and refuge space, wharenui or sanctuary, travel (waka or ships), and portals or thresholds between dimensions. The work expresses the artists' sense of the interconnectedness of all things; in their words "Our DNA is galactic, we carry Papatūānuku within us."

Acknowledgements
This project features the work of dance artists Christina Guieb, Amit Noy, Airu Matsuda, Samara Reweti and Taane Mete (choreography and dance); taonga pūoro soloists (composition and playing) Ariana Tikao with Alistair Fraser, alongside cellist Paul Mitchell with composition and sound mentoring from Dame Gillian Whitehead. The project also features harakeke weaving arts from Kahu Collective (Lisa Harding, Corabelle Summerton and Cathy Payne), with the GCA digital and design team highlighting motion graphics, VR and film arts from Daniel Belton, Jac Grenfell and Patxi Araujo, supported by Stuart Foster and Donnine Harrison. Special thanks to the College of Creative Arts Toi Rauwhārangi, Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa. Ngā mihi nui Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa for supporting the realisation and sharing of this collaboration project.