Te Hono ki Aotearoa: connecting people and navigating a course for the future — film screening

The Team from Alexander Turnbull Library

This event is part of the Pūkana exhibition — a celebration of moments in Māori performance.
In the National Library Gallery

Date: Tuesday, 11 February, 2020
Time: Doors open 5.30pm for 6.00pm start, ends 8:30pm
Cost: Free
Location: Taiwhanga Kahau — Auditorium (lower ground floor), Corner Molesworth and Aitken Streets, Wellington. Entrance on Aitken Street.

Celebrate an extraordinay intercultural partnership
To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of an extraordinary intercultural partnership which culminated in the creation and exchange of the ceremonial waka taua ‘Te Hono ki Aotearoa’ the Dutch Embassy supported by the National Library will screen the film, followed by kōrero and refreshments.

A living connection between Dutch and Māori cultures
‘Te Hono ki Aotearoa’ follows the journey of a waka taua (ceremonial canoe) hewn from a 600-year-old Kauri. The waka taua was ceremonially gifted, on permanent loan, to the Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden, the Netherlands. It is the first and only case in which another culture is entrusted with the custody of a waka.

New Zealand film maker Jan Bieringa created a film, which traces an extraordinary intercultural partnership from the commission, construction and handover of the waka. The waka taua is appropriately named ‘Te Hono ki Aotearoa’, and can be translated to “The Link New Zealand”.

Netherlands Ambassador Mira Woldberg will give the opening remarks of the 10th anniversary of the waka, a living connection between Dutch and Māori cultures.

Panel discussion
Following the film screening is a panel discussion comprising:

•Steven Engelsman, the former Director of the Volkenkunde Museum

•Alex Miesen, member of the Dutch waka crew who look after the waka

•Jan Bieringa, Director of “Te Hono ki Aotearoa”

•Tamahou Temara, Toi Māori Aotearoa Operations Manager

Image: Te Hono ki Aotearoa on the river Thames for the Queens jubilee. Image used with permission.