An Acti.VA.tion by Rosanna Raymond

27 April 2014
2 p.m.

Humboldt Lab Dahlem
Dahlem Museums
South Sea exhibition of the Ethnological Museum Berlin
Lansstraße 8, 14195 Berlin

Samoan-New Zealand artist Rosanna Raymond is visiting artist at the International Research Center in April 2014, during her residency at the Ethnological Museum Berlin. Raymond artistically investigates the Museum’s South Sea collection, creating a live artwork in response to it. Her work crosses boundaries between artistic media and genres, drawing on her New Zealand, European and Samoan heritage. A ‘Tusitala’ (a teller of tales) at heart, her art practice takes a variety of forms ranging from installation works, spoken words and body adornment, fusing traditional Pacific practices with modern innovations and techniques.

An opportunity to witness Raymond’s work is her Acti.VA.tion: »Soli I Tai – Soli I Uta (Tread on the Sea – Tread on the Land)« in which she seeks to bind the living and the past, bringing all into a dynamic time and space, which can be carried on beyond the museum holdings and into the present.

The Acti.VA.tion: »Soli I Tai – Soli I Uta (Tread on the Sea – Tread on the Land)« takes place on Sunday, 27 April at 2 p.m. at the South Sea exhibition of the Ethnological Museum Berlin. It is followed by a reception and a discussion with the artist.

Admission is included in the admission to the museum (8 Euro, reduced 4 Euro). There are no advance ticket sales.

The event will be followed by a conversation between Rosanna Raymond and Helen Gilbert, Dani Phillipson, Sergio Huarcaya, Rose Harriman (European Research Council project »Indigeneity in the Contemporary World«), Agnes Wegener, Nadine Ney, Hélène Tschopp (Humboldt Lab Dahlem), Markus Schindlbeck, Indra Lopez Velasco (Ethnologisches Museum Berlin), Christel Weiler, Torsten Jost and the IRC Fellows on 29 April 2014 at 10 a.m. at the Research Center. (Please note that seating is limited. If you are interested in attending the event, please contact us at info@interweaving-performance-cultures.com.)

Rosanna Raymond currently lives and works in London. She has achieved international kudos for her performances and art practice. Raymond has undertaken art residencies at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, the University of Hawaii (Honolulu), the Museum of Art and Anthropology, UBC (Vancouver), and the Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology UK, where she curated the internationally acclaimed Pasifika Styles exhibition with Dr Amiria Salmond. She has performances, new works and residencies scheduled for the coming year in the UK, Nederlands, Canada and Sydney.

A published poet, writer and founding member of the SaVAge K’lub with art works held in museum and private collections around the world, Raymond has forged a role for herself over the past 20 years as a producer and commentator on contemporary Pacific Island culture in Aotearoa NZ, the UK and the USA. She specializes in working within museums and higher education institutions as an artist, performer, curator, guest speaker, poet and workshop leader. Raymond has recently been appointed an Honorary Research Associate for Department of Anthropology and the Institute of Archaeology at the University College of London.

The residency has been made possible by a cooperation between the Humboldt Lab Dahlem, the European Research Council Project »Indigeneity in the Contemporary World,« led by Professor Helen Gilbert (a former Fellow at the Centre), and the International Research Center for Advanced Studies on »Interweaving Performance Cultures« at the Freie Universität Berlin.