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THE BANYAN TREE
Travelling Visual Art Exhibition
Cook Islands National Museum
8th - 22nd January 2010
During January of 2010 the Cook Islands National Museum hosts the Banyan Project, a major international exhibition featuring 50 artists from 20 countries including the Cook Islands. The show comprises of paintings, sculptures, videos, photographs and installations.
Exhibition Curator Alfred Banze who first visited the Cook Islands in 1993 is pleased to welcome the audience to a “journey around the world.” After Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Berlin and Papeete, Rarotonga is the 5fth station to feature the world wide touring exhibition. Representing the Cook Islands are local artists Mereana Hutchinson and Mahiriki Tangaroa.
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A guided tour
through the exhibition took place on Friday 8th January.
A Banyan Workshop
for young and established artists took place on the 11th - 12th of January.
Inspired by the Banyan tree and the artwork of many countries and cultures, the Banyan exhibition combines tradition and modernity, to a global experiment in art and cultural practice. The touring exhibition shows both, the artworks and their interpretations - Remixes - developed in art workshops by children and young people from around the world. Banze has organized numerous workshops for children and young people in schools, galleries, cultural centers and artists’ studios in many countries around the globe. The now displayed exhibition shows both, the original artworks and the remixes by children and young people, all inspired by the Banyan Tree.
In the northern latitudes the Banyan Tree is known as “Ficus” in the flowerpot. In the tropics, it is revered, loved and feared. In the Polynesian culture, the Ava, also called Ora, and the Mati have cultural importance.
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