MAU: House of Night and Day

Overview

Set in Te Papa's Toi Art gallery, MAU: House of Night and Day focuses on themes of ceremony, philosophy, culture, activism and performance. Attendees are able to visit the live stage, which takes visitors back to more than three decades of art projects for MAU. Lemi Ponifasio, a multidisciplinary artist, director and choreographer, is the founder of MAU, the international theatre and creative forum which has worked with communities and artists around the globe.

Through the forum, Ponifasio is known for creating large-scale productions and installations. He's also the mastermind behind this latest exhibition. One key element of House of Night and Day is a performance based on a previous work titled Lagimoana — 'lagi' meaning heaven in Samoan and 'moana' referring to the ocean.

It was created by Ponifasio for the 56th International Venice Art Biennale 2015, curated by the late Okwui Enwezor, and is intended to be a welcome call to the ocean to return us back to our nature.

Entry is free, and the show runs until October 4.

Image: Gallery shot of Lemi Ponifasio's MAU: House of Night and Day exhibition, March 2020, Toi Art, Te Papa. Photo by Maarten Holl / Te Papa (150999).