'Te Hiko Hou' (could be translated as The New Electric), presents the work of three Maori male artists exploring aspects of contemporary ethnicity, its politics and its relationship to a cultural identity which is becoming ever more diverse and individually specific.

The three artists, Shannon Te Ao, Nathan Pohio, and Rangituhia Hollis, all come from urban backgrounds and knowingly reject the commonly presented stereotypes of Maori male identity. Working in an increasingly technologically-engaged and globally-networked context, each approaches the construction of identity differently yet they all point to the psychologically charged space between our individual and communally lived ethnic experience of Aotearoa.

Shannon Te Ao’s work is concerned with what it is to be Maori in contemporary Aotearoa. His innovative and challenging work has ensured his place as an artist to watch and he was recently awarded the Rita Angus Artist in Residence supported by the Wellington Institute of Technology.

Nathan Pohio often works with found or gifted materials. Within his video and photographic work, he often deals with the Maori experience of colonisation and employs historic references and practices from cinema to explore his ideas.

Rangituhia Hollis is an Auckland based artist who uses video and 3D animated works to both familirise and unsettle his audiences. Exploring Maori identity through these ultimately familiar mediums means that audiences are asked to discuss the concept of identity in our world today.

'Te Hiko Hou' is part of the Ngā Kaitiaki O Ngā Taonga Whitiāhua / The New Zealand Film Archive's new initiative, Curator-At-Large. The programme was established "as a way of inviting new people to explore our collections, make new collections, and add new material to our collections". Opening access to our collections and inviting subject specialists will allow us to discover new information about the collection and new ways of looking at New Zealand’s moving image history. We are also hoping to develop new audiences and to increase our knowledge of, and appreciation for different areas of the collections.

Each year the focus or subject specialty of the Curator-At-Large will be different. In its inaugural year, the four exhibitions will explore current themes and approaches to video art showcasing work from established and emerging artists. This year, two curators have been appointed, Jenny Gillam and Eugene Hansen who have curated a series of four exhibitions that range in subject matter and ways of using video art.

Floor Talk on Friday 29 June at 5.30pm
Film Screening on Saturday 14 July at 4.30pm