Aotearoa Art Fair. Aukland

The 2025 Aotearoa Art Fair in Auckland proved once again that there is a real appetite for contemporary art in this remote and beautiful country. This year, the art fair worked with Paererewā – The 1000 Year Bench Project, who launched this ambitious and intriguing programme at the fair.

Paererewā means “beam’ or “threshold”, the “intersection of time, place and human experience” a place of exchange in the Māori language. The idea is that purpose-made benches are placed in selected locations across New Zealand. They become points for contemplation and reflection, they are intended to prompt a personal connection to the environment, its past, present, and future. Rather like the benches we see in parks and gardens, they can be endowed in memory of an individual, or a group, society or even as a diplomatic gesture.

Most importantly they bring together the local community and the makers to find sustainable, meaningful and high-quality designs. By using different designers, artists and makers, uniqueness and site specificity is ensured. The notion of exchange is both physical and metaphysical, the land and the ocean, life and after-life.

It is a not-for-profit organisation that importantly sets aside a portion of the donated monies to maintain the installations for generations to come. It is perhaps not surprising that the driving force behind the project is the family behind the Benesse Art Site Naoshima in Japan.

Hideaki Fukutake together with Sam Johnson and Derek Handley presented three of the first examples of the Pae at the Aotearoa Art Fair.

Aotearoa (New Zealand) is a surprisingly spiritual place where Māori tradition forms part of everyday life, not only with language but with ritual. Before the art fair opened a Pōwhiri was performed, a traditional blessing and welcome ceremony conducted in the local language which was a fascinating and moving experience. It is interesting that the message of the occasion is really about the relationship between the settlers and the land they settled, the Maori are after all Pacific islanders who arrived by boat and colonised the islands.

New Zealand has a population of around 5.5 million and about 18% of them are Maori, and whilst there are inevitably social problems, there does seem to be a balance between the European and Maori communities and a genuine respect for their traditions. It is especially noticeable in the art world, indigenous artists are producing some of the best and most important works in the country today, as was evidenced by their representation at the fair.

It has been a privilege to begin to understand this fascinating country and to meet amd hear artists like Anton Forde, Bob Jahnke and Lisa Reihanna. Their enthusiasm energy and generosity is matched only by their creativity.

Anton Forde will be presenting a major installation of his work at the Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia, from July 2025.