Where whales journey, people follow
18th of April, 4:30pm
Te Papa, Reading Room Level 4 Free Entry
Vincent Chevillon (Te Whare Hēra French Artist 2023), Felix Marx (Curator Vertebrates, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa) and Dr Huhana Smith (Professor, Massey University) explore art, history and science in the wake of the whale.
Vincent Chevillon (Te Whare Hēra French Artist 2023
Initially trained in Earth and Life Sciences, Vincent Chevillon grew up overseas.He then went on to study Fine Arts and a post-grad diploma from the Beaux-Arts of Paris, La Seine, in 2021. Later he joined the SPEAP (Art-Science and Society) experimental programme alongside Bruno Latour in Sciences-Po Paris. Since 2014, he has been teaching Space(s) at the Haute École des Arts du Rhin (HEAR) in Strasbourg.
His research is based on several fields of study, navigating between anthropology, geophysics and iconology. His practice continues to evolve using collected or modelled objects, images, and narratives that come alive in installations, digital artworks, and sculptures.
Felix Marx (Curator Vertebrates, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa)
Felix is a palaeontologist and biologist with an interest in all things marine mammal: whales, dolphins, and seals. He specialises in the evolution of baleen whales, but has worked on a broad variety of topics, from macroevolution to feeding ecology, biogeography, and behaviour. After obtaining his PhD from the University of Otago, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at various institutions in Australia, Belgium and Japan before taking up a position as Curator Vertebrates at Te Papa.
Dr Huhana Smith (Professor, Massey University)
Professor Huhana Smith (PhD) affiliates to Ngāti Tukorehe/ Raukawa ki te Tonga. She is Head of Whiti o Rehua School of Art, spanning Māori Visual Arts, Photography and Fine Arts. Huhana is an artist, curator and Iwi researcher for large-scale environmental and climate change research projects that benefit Māori land holdings. She is a member of Te Waituhi ā Nuku: Drawing Ecologies, which functions within Drawing Open: An International Research Community founded by Associate Professor Emma Febrve Richards and Monique Jansen Senior Lecturer from University of Technology, Auckland (until February 2023). As part of a longer engagement between Govett Brewster Art Gallery and Toirauwhārangi College of Creative Arts, Massey, Huhana and Monique became a key part of an artist/regenerative agriculturalist team for the Kuku Biochar Project within Te Au: Liquid Constituencies. See https://govettbrewster.com/exhibitions/te-au-liquid-constituencies for more information on the action-orientated exhibition/installation as research method. See also Kuku Biochar Project and Kuku Biochar Project May 2022 for more information on biochar.
