Homing Instinct Opening Day Talks

20 July. Free entry.

Join us on the first day of Homing Instinct, Saturday 20 July, to hear from artist Dieneke Jansen, and a kōrero between James Tapsell-Kururangi and artist John Vea. 

There'll be some good sustenance and thoughtful conversation about the need for expanded ideas of what housing, shelter and belonging might mean or look like, and time for discussion together.

Homing Instinct is a programme of newly commissioned moving image works from Ananta Thitanat, Ari Angkasa, Kahurangiariki Smith with Buntheun Oung, and an existing work from Dieneke Jansen. We are so grateful to our partners in developing Homing Instinct: Storage (Bangkok), Composite (Naarm), and CIRCUIT (Te Whanganui-a-Tara).

10:30am Coffee, tea and introductions
10:45am Dieneke Jansen will speak about her practice in relation to her contribution This Housing Thing (2021)
11.15am John Vea and James Tapsell-Kururangi will discuss John's practice and some recent projects that think about housing and labour
12pm Refreshments and time for conversation
1pm All who would like to, walk down to Palestine rally at the Bridge of Remembrance

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Dieneke Jansen is an artist based Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, who works with lens-based documentary and social practice. Jansen's practice engages with tensions between site-responsive interventions, performative actions and lens-based documentary practices, and works with community to productively challenge inequality. Projects such as Dwelling on the Stoep, Jakarta Biennale, 2015, and Te Wai Ngutu Kākā Gallery (then St Paul St Gallery), Tāmaki Makaurau, 2016; working with the Tāmaki Housing Group on exhibitions G.I. Areas A & B, 2015, and 90 DAYS+, 2018, Te Tuhi, Pakuranga), and Backdoor Doorbell Studio, Artspace Aotearoa, Tāmaki Makaurau, 2022, inform her current work, which focuses on the social dimensions of lens-based practice with inner-city residents in Tāmaki Makuarau.

Tongan artist John Vea works with sculpture, video and performance art. He is a lecturer at Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury and has previously lectured at Auckland University of Technology teaching undergraduate papers in the Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies – School of Art and Design. In 2021 John completed his practice led Ph.D. also at Auckland University of Technology. In his academic research John has developed interests in how Pacific Artist practice operates in the context of Visual Arts/Fine Arts, and within hegemonic landscapes defining rules relating to labour and immigration policies. Performance art is another area John continues to examine, exploring how 2nd or 3rd generation Pacific creatives respond to space and politics from a limbo/liminal perspective and in relation to Tangata Whenua. He is also interested in the advancement of Pacific-oriented pedagogies and knowledge systems, such as Talanoa as a way of research.

James Tapsell-Kururangi is an artist from Rotorua who grew up spending his summers in Maketu. He has Te Arawa, Tainui and Ngāti Porou whakapapa. James was the inaugural Te Tuhi curatorial intern in 2020, and was involved in the development and curation of their programme Papatūnga. In this role, James has supported the growth of arts practitioners, fostering values of whakawhanaungatanga and whakapapa. He was the recipient of Delfina Foundation's 2023 curatorial internship in London, in partnership with Te Tuhi and Metroland Cultures. During 2022-23, James has been a professional teaching fellow at Elam School of Fine Arts. He is also a practising artist, currently working with moving-image.