Wellington Museums Trust newsletter June 2004

AOTEAROA IN THE ALPSA photography exhibition by Paul Thompson, Director of the Museum of Wellington City & Sea, has won acclaimin Zurich both for its quality and for its strong New Zealand flavour.Paul’s exhibition Niu Tireni was spottedat Wellington’s Idiom Gallery by visitingSwiss gallery director Philippe Rey, whowas in New Zealand looking for artistswith a distinct antipodean style. Philippeapproached Paul to show his work inZurich and the exhibition opened atPhilippe’s gallery, Galerie Röemerapotheke,in March.“Niu Tireni is a Maori term for New Zealandand features on the Maori King TeWherowhero’s flag,” Paul says.“As the starting point for this exhibition,I considered some of the shapes andsymbols used by Maori in the 19th Centuryin designing their own flags.“Niu Tireni features modern flags thatmake reference to those earlier symbols,Paul Thompson at hisexhibition “Niu Tireni”photographed in ways that bring outissues about land, identity and history.”Paul attended the opening of Niu Tireniin Zurich, combining his trip with a tourof Europe investigating museums, galleriesand institutions that featured photography.“We had a good turnout at the exhibitionand Tim Caughley, New Zealand’spermanent representative to the UnitedNations, came down from Geneva for theopening,” Paul says.“The Swiss were fascinated by the imagesand asked lots of questions, so I got usedto giving a rather abbreviated version ofNew Zealand’s interracial history.“Wearing my museum director’s hat, Ialso gathered information during my tripthat will assist the Trust with its rapidlydeveloping involvement with photography– as evidenced by the success of the Shed11 partnership.” (see story opposite)CRICKET MUSEUM’S GREATEST XIAn exhibition of New Zealand cricket greats – arguably, the top Kiwi team of all time – has been attractingan enthusiastic response from visitors to the New Zealand Cricket Museum at the Basin Reserve.2The brainchild of Museum Manager DavidMealing, the exhibition features a selectedX1 chosen by two ex-national convenorsof selectors, Don Neely and FrankCameron, and ex-New Zealand test andone-day international cricketer GavinLarsen. The museum worked with theSunday Star Times to develop acompetition in which readers chose theirgreatest-ever New Zealand cricket X1 andmatched that against a selection madeby the expert panel. The competitionculminated in an exhibition of theselectors’ chosen team.“The Greatest New Zealand Cricket X1”was officially opened by NZ Cricket ChiefExecutive Martin Snedden on March 27following the second day’s play of theBlack Caps’ test against South Africa.Official guests included former Australiantest cricketers Neil Harvey and Ian Craig.“With this project, we set out to encouragedebate about New Zealand test cricketand to raise the awareness of the museumand its role in stimulating anunderstanding of New Zealand cricket,its history and relevance to our society,”David says.“We have had a very positive responsefrom museum visitors, while a furthermark of the project’s success has beenthe recent formulation by The Listener’ssports writer Joseph Romanos of a secondGreatest X1.”Posters and postcards of the cricketingdream team have been produced and arenow on sale at the museum.