Abstract

This article critically analyses how policies emphasising public accessibility are translated into an exhibition at Te Papa, New Zealand’s new national museum. I focus on the main long-term art exhibition, Parade, which uses material from several disciplinary departments to produce a thematically cross-pollinated exhibition dedicated to many forms of creativity. Parade aims to elucidate aspects of national identity in ways that provide a popularly accessible visitor experience. The museum has generally been successful in attracting impressive visitor numbers that largely represent the public demographic. However, there has been little sustained inquiry into the success of the exhibitions themselves.

The first section of this article outlines the policy imperatives that partly inform Parade. When the former National Art Gallery and National Museum merged into the single new institution, amongst its founding philosophies was a profound change in its relationship to its national constituency. ‘Customer focus’ was nominated as a ‘corporate principle’. This amounted to close attention to the total visitor experience, which would ideally be participatory and interactive.

The main section of this article critically analyses Parade’s strategies of narration and display. In order to convey these practices most effectively, I focus on the treatment of a limited number of emblematic displays, which includes two vehicles, a Colin McCahon painting, and a fridge and television. These objects and artworks are used in an allegorical fashion. The exhibition urges visitors to consider aspects of these works which articulate something of what it means to live in New Zealand. Art and commodities are made equal partners in the social and historical inquiry into what makes the nation unique.

In the spirit of democratic accessibility, Parade prompts the viewer to make their own judgments about the comparative value of high and mass culture objects. In this, the central frame of reference remains with the visitor: what has been more formative in the construction of their own sense of identity? The logic of this strategy makes the visitor - not the artist - the central object of inquiry. The aim is to produce a co-operatively evolved text where the object is denied transcendence and visitors are ostensibly granted the right of interpretive authority equal to that of the curator.

Postmodern display practices allow Te Papa to distance itself from the hierarchies of taste that have previously formed a barrier to inclusiveness. However it is my argument that the interspersal of objects drawn from social history and everyday commodity forms does not necessarily achieve an effectively socially contextualised art exhibition. Parade’s fragmented and relativistic narrative sits uneasily alongside policy that remains concerned with the systematic and positive expression of all things national. As a solution, the exhibition attempts to construct a vision of popular culture that projects an image of productive, everyday do-it-yourself creativity. While this notion may be popular amongst many visitors, its awkward constellation of effects do not easily enable an understanding of New Zealand’s more conventional art history.

Date published: May 2001