{"id":823,"date":"2018-12-14T09:00:56","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T09:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/francismcwhannell.com\/?p=823"},"modified":"2021-08-28T04:25:46","modified_gmt":"2021-08-28T04:25:46","slug":"to-rework-and-divert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/francismcwhannell.com\/?p=823","title":{"rendered":"To rework and divert"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2018 marks twenty years since the founding of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, which saw the amalgamation of two major institutions, the National Museum and the National Art Gallery, and the beginning of a grand project: to tell the stories of the nation in an interdisciplinary manner.[1]<\/a> In March, Te Papa unveiled a revamped art gallery complex named Toi Art (each word translating the other),[2]<\/a> together with a suite of ambitious exhibitions. Among these was an elaborate installation by famed Aotearoa artist Michael Parek\u014dwhai (Ng\u0101 Ariki Rotoawe, Ng\u0101ti Whakarongo), attended by a slick online guide, and carrying the seductive title D\u00e9tour<\/em>\u2014accent on the \u201ce.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The accent matters. It adds both a performative air of Francophone sophistication and some semiotic colour. In French, a d\u00e9tour<\/em> is not only a deviation or diversion from a course, but also an evasion. This suits Parek\u014dwhai\u2019s established mode of dancing round meaning. At the same time, the title has been carved out of a larger word, d\u00e9tournement<\/em> (roughly \u201crerouting\u201d or \u201chijacking\u201d), used by members of the radical collectives the Letterist International and the Situationist International to describe the process of reworking familiar texts, images or objects in order to highlight or subvert latent significations.[4]<\/a> D\u00e9tour<\/em> is, on the whole, a grand act of d\u00e9tournement. In it, Parek\u014dwhai remixes works by well-known 20th-century artists from various parts of the world to create a kind of compact museum within a museum. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue reading<\/a> on Extended Conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> For a very thorough discussion of Te Papa\u2019s raison d\u2019\u00eatre, see Conal McCarthy, Te Papa: Reinventing New Zealand\u2019s National Museum, 1998\u20132018<\/em> (Wellington: Te Papa Press, 2018).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a> The first in a planned series of rejuvenation projects, Toi Art added 35% more space for the display of art within the museum. Chair of the Te Papa board Evan Williams has commented, \u201cWe wanted to put art first and build a gallery that was larger and more flexible and would truly work as a home for New Zealand\u2019s national collections.\u201d \u201cTe Papa\u2019s Toi Art \u2018A Huge Milestone\u2019,\u201d Radio New Zealand, March 17, 2018, https:\/\/www.radionz.co.nz\/news\/national\/352727\/te-papa-s-toi-art-a-huge-milestone<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a> D\u00e9tour<\/em> closed in November, but the guide is still available online<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/a> For further information about d\u00e9tournement, see Guy Debord and Gil J. Wolman, \u201cA User\u2019s Guide to D\u00e9tournement,\u201d in Situationist International Anthology, ed. and trans. Ken Knabb (Berkeley, CA: Bureau of Public Secrets, 2006), 14\u201321. See also http:\/\/www.bopsecrets.org\/SI\/detourn.htm<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2018 marks twenty years since the founding of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, which saw the amalgamation of two major institutions, the National Museum and the National Art Gallery, and the beginning of a grand project: to tell the stories of the nation in an interdisciplinary manner.[1] In March, Te Papa unveiled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[79,154],"class_list":["post-823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing","tag-michael-parekowhai","tag-museum-of-new-zealand-te-papa-tongarewa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/francismcwhannell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/francismcwhannell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/francismcwhannell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/francismcwhannell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/francismcwhannell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=823"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/francismcwhannell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1469,"href":"https:\/\/francismcwhannell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823\/revisions\/1469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/francismcwhannell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/francismcwhannell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/francismcwhannell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/francismcwhannell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}