2020 media releases

World of WearableArt Up Close exhibition opens at Te Papa

Sat 12 Dec 2020

A new exhibition with the WOW factor has opened at Te Papa, offering an up close view of wearable art from around the world.

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Curator Athol McCredie holds up the negative of the photo of Michael Joseph Savage

Te Papa discovers original negative of iconic Michael Joseph Savage portrait

Mon 7 Dec 2020

It is one of New Zealand’s most famous photographs, a black and white image of the gently smiling Michael Joseph Savage.

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Child sitting next to a glass wall looking at coloured ribbons

Couple’s generosity creates new way of looking at Te Papa’s Toi Art

Fri 4 Dec 2020

New balustrades help to create more accessible viewing platforms in Toi Art gallery spaces.

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A smiling Felix Marx holds a seal skull in his hand

New fossil seal species rewrites history

Wed 11 Nov 2020

A new species of monk seal has been identified in Te Papa’s fossil collections, and the discovery radically changes scientists’ understanding of how seal species evolved around the world.

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A group of people enter a building. Three of them carry boxes

Toi moko from Germany welcomed home at Te Papa

Tue 3 Nov 2020

Four toi moko (Māori ancestral heads) have been welcomed today in a solemn ceremony on Te Papa’s marae, after returning to New Zealand from Germany.

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Portrait of Chiharu Shiota sitting at her desk in her studio. Above her hangs the red frame of a sailing boat frame with red wool being threaded across it

Chiharu Shiota brings her spectacular two-storey high installation to Aotearoa for the first time

Wed 14 Oct 2020

Award-winning Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota will unveil a fully immersive installation in Te Papa’s Toi Art this summer.

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A group of people hold boxes containing Māori and Moriori skeletal remains

Four toi moko begin their long journey home from Germany

Mon 12 Oct 2020

Four Toi moko are being received by Te Papa in Germany this week, to be repatriated to Aotearoa New Zealand.

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A photo of a woman wearing glasses in a dark hallway

Arts accessibility accolade award for Te Papa‘s Judith Jones

Fri 9 Oct 2020

Te Papa visitor host and accessibility advocate Judith Jones has been awarded the 2020 Arts Access Aotearoa Accolade award.

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Front cover of the book Crafting Aotearoa

Te Papa Press books share top honour at design awards

Fri 25 Sep 2020

Judges were unable to separate the excellence of two recent Te Papa Press titles, announcing them joint winners of their category in the prestigious Museums Australasia Multimedia and Publication Design Awards (MAPDA), presented in an online ceremony this week.

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Two people wearing black and white costumes

New dates for World of WearableArt exhibition at Te Papa

Tue 18 Aug 2020

Te Papa will host the World of WearableArt – Up Close (Ao KākahuToi – Kia Tata) exhibition from December 2020 to February 2021, rather than in August and September 2020 as originally planned.

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A man and two children standing on a suspension bridge look into the bush

Te Papa partners with Department of Conservation for Whānau Day 2020

Mon 10 Aug 2020

To celebrate Conservation Week 2020, Te Papa has partnered with the Department of Conservation for Whānau Day on Sunday 16 August (10am – 3pm).

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A man and a woman, smiling, look beyond the camera with their backs to a mirror. The mirror showing what we see, an impossible view of them looking in the same direction

Te Papa’s Surrealist Art exhibition postponed to 2021

Sat 8 Aug 2020

Te Papa and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam have agreed to postpone Surrealist Art until June 2021, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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A woman's eye showing through sea shapes made of felt

World of WearableArt Up Close at Te Papa

Thu 30 Jul 2020

World of WearableArt – Up Close (Ao KākahuToi – Kia Tata) is a brand-new exhibition featuring garments from World of WearableArt, the world’s most significant wearable art competition.

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Puawai Cairns appointed as Director Audience and Insight

Fri 31 Jul 2020

Te Papa has appointed Puawai Cairns (Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi) to its executive leadership team as Director of Audience and Insight.

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Display of a mid-century living room set up in an exhibition, with chairs, painting on the wall, and a sideboard

Te Papa’s Modern Living exhibition explores New Zealand’s unique design history

Wed 22 Jul 2020

Te Papa’s Toi Art presents ‘Modern Living: Design in 1950s New Zealand’ | ‘Te Noho Hou: Te hoahoa i Aotearoa i ngā tau 1950’. The exhibition opens to the public on Saturday 22 August and runs until May 2021.

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Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Te Puru o Tāmaki Taikura, Taikura Kapa Haka, 2018. Te Papa

Matariki 2020 at Te Papa – remember and share with us

Fri 10 Jul 2020

Matariki celebrations at Te Papa will begin by coming together as a community to commemorate and honour those loved ones who were lost over the past year, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Arapata addresses the room standing in front of a cloak draped on a mannequin

Feather cloak and helmet gifted to Captain Cook to return permanently to Hawai‘i

Thu 9 Jul 2020

An ʻahu ʻula (feather cloak) and mahiole (feather helmet) gifted to Captain Cook in 1779 are being permanently returned to Hawaiʻi by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

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Safua stands to the right of the photo frame in front of a waka

Dr Safua Akeli Amaama appointed as Te Papa’s Head of History and Pacific Cultures

Tue 30 Jun 2020

One of the Pacific’s leading Sāmoan studies scholars has been appointed as Te Papa’s new Head of History and Pacific Cultures.

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People in front of a Black Lives Matter banner marching in a tree-lined street

Te Papa and Third Culture Minds stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement

Mon 29 Jun 2020

Te Papa and Third Culture Minds are standing in solidarity with the global Black Lives Matter movement, with an after-hours event Black Lives Matter | Patua te Kaikiri – A Conversation on Culture, on Thursday 2 July 7–10pm.

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A guided tour happening in front of lots of paintings

Rediscover Te Papa with free tours throughout June

Wed 10 Jun 2020

Visitors are invited to rediscover Te Papa by experiencing one of the museum’s daily guided tours for free throughout the month of June.

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Juliet sits at her desk, with her arm over the back of the chair, in her office. Behind her is a large printer and shelves with books and framed photos

Prime Minister’s Chief Science Adviser Professor Juliet Gerrard appointed to Te Papa board

Wed 3 Jun 2020

The Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, Professor Juliet Gerrard, has been appointed to the Board of Te Papa.

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Four people stand talking in an art gallery with a large rainbow of colours behind them

Prime Minister announces funding boost at Te Papa’s re-opening

Thu 28 May 2020

At Te Papa today, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that the museum will receive an additional $18 million of Crown funding for the financial year 2020/2021.

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Two people stand in front of a table with an array of safety notices on it

Welcome back to our place: Te Papa re-opens Thursday 28 May

Fri 22 May 2020

Te Papa will begin a phased re-opening from Thursday 28 May.

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A woman wiping the floor passes a large round window in the Te Papa foyer

Te Papa plans to re-open within two weeks of alert level two

Sat 9 May 2020

Te Papa announced today it will open to the public within two weeks of the country’s move to alert level two.

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Rita Angus, Cleopatra, 1938, oil on canvas. Purchased 1998 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds © Reproduced courtesy of the Estate of Rita Angus. Te Papa (1998-0028-2)

Te Papa’s Rita Angus exhibition in London postponed to 2021

Tue 28 Apr 2020

Te Papa and the Royal Academy in London have agreed to postpone a planned Rita Angus exhibition in London until 2021, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Te Papa visitors Saturday 14 March: consider self-isolating due to Ruby Princess passengers

Sat 21 Mar 2020

Te Papa has new important advice to visitors who were in the museum on Saturday 14 March.

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View of Te Papa building from the side, on a sunny day, showing the green trees of Bush City behind it and people sitting in the marina in front

Te Papa closes temporarily to protect health of the community

Fri 20 Mar 2020

From 6pm today, Te Papa will closed to the public. The museum will review the situation after two weeks and advise the public on Friday 3 April of its status.

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World famous collection of surrealism coming to Te Papa

Mon 2 Mar 2020

A unique, world famous collection of Surrealist art is coming to Te Papa this summer.

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Te Papa acquires Le Lau Ta’amu Tafea, a sacred ‘ie tōga (finemat) from Sāmoa

Thu 27 Feb 2020

His Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi (Former Head of State of Samoa) will present Le Lau Ta’amu Tafea, a sacred 'ie tōga (fine mat) to Te Papa.

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A man walks around a space that contains a box with two women inside and a massive projection on the wall of a woman contorting her body

Enter the alluring world of acclaimed artist Lemi Ponifasio at Te Papa

Tue 25 Feb 2020

Te Papa’s Toi Art presents MAU: House of Night and Day, a major installation by renowned director, choreographer and multidisciplinary artist Lemi Ponifasio. The installation opened to the public on Tuesday 25 February and runs until 24 May.

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Person holding a mosquito between some tweezers

Te Papa seeks citizen scientists to catch and dispatch mosquitos

Mon 24 Feb 2020

Instead of squashing that mosquito on your leg, you could post it in to Te Papa and be part of New Zealand’s first mozzie census.

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