Maree Sheehan: 'Ōtairongo', New digital presentation coming soon

Friday 1 May, 1pm (NZST)

Artspace Aotearoa in association with the Auckland Arts Festival on Friday 6 March 2020, celebrated the opening of Ōtairongo, the debut solo exhibition by artist Maree Sheehan. This was closely followed sorrowfully by a collective national rāhui to protect our community from the exponential global COVID-19 crisis - Artspace Aotearoa along with other arts organisations closed.

Artspace Aotearoa determined to respond to the crisis with resilience and fortitude. To ensure the life of Ōtairongo remained vital, the team alongside Maree Sheehan collaborated with website designers Tyrone Ohia and Dexter Edwards to develop an interactive digital iteration of Ōtairongo.

Launching tomorrow, Friday 1 May at 1pm (NZST) this digital experience will be available online for a limited time only. This new iteration of Ōtairongo will continue to present the portraits of three mana wahine Māori - Moana Maniapoto, Te Rita Papesch and Ramon Te Wake through the use of immersive binaural sound-capture technologies. These works are intended to be presented in darkness, elevating aural perception and approaching a renegotiation of how wāhine Māori might be interpreted and represented. The online presentation will require the listener to engage with the work with these elements in mind outside of the gallery space.

Kua whakairitia ake te kaupapa o te mahinga o Ōtairongo i te ipurangi i runga i ngā āhuatanga o te wā e pā ana ki te mate urutā. Waiho tēnei hei koha ki te iwi i ēnei wā pāhekeheke o te rāhui. Waiho tēnei hei wāhi e āhei ai te iwi ki te whakarongo ki ngā whakaahua kiritangata ā-oro o Moana, o Te Rita me Ramon. Kia whakawhiti atu koe ki ngā ao o ō rātou reo, o rātou whānau me ngā oro o ō rātou whenua, ā, kia rongo hoki koe i te mauri o ēnei whakaahua kiritanga.

The kaupapa of creation of the Ōtairongo web experience online was developed as a response to COVID-19. It is an artistic offering to people in these uncertain times of lockdown. It is a place whereby people have the opportunity to listen and experience the audio portraits of Moana, Te Rita and Ramon. To be transported into the realms of their voices, their whānau and the sounds of their whenua and to sense and feel the mauri of these portraits.

• Maree Sheehan,
  Te Reo translation by Hēmi Kelly