Andrew Thomas

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Andrew Thomas has contributed audio to the project, adding a dimension of Navajo (Dineh) culture to Wai.

Biography

Andrew Thomas is a contemporary Dineh (Navajo Nation) flute player. He gives thanks to his extended family: Haltsooí Diné’e (maternal)—Meadow People Clan, Bit’ahníí (paternal)—Folded Arms Clan, Kin Yaa’áanii (maternal grandparents)—Towering House Clan, and Tsé Nahabilnii (paternal grandparents)—Over Hanging Rock Clan. He was born and raised in Rock Spring Chapter near Gallup, New Mexico. He is self-taught, and plays music composed from the heart. He has chosen the flute’s voice to express his way of life, heritage and culture.

The flute provided him the opportunity to create the music and narration for a video documentary about male Navajo weavers entitled Men Who Weave. He feels fortunate that his music has allowed him to travel widely, both nationally and internationally. He has performed all over the United States, including the Indian Summer Festival in Milwaukee, the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Ute Mountain Casino, and over 10 years at the American Indian Powwow Gathering in Hawaii. He has performed in Mexico, Peru, South Korea, and throughout Europe, including Sweden where he had a story published in the book, They Call Us “Indians”. He was also the first Native American artist to play at the World Performing Arts Festival in Lahore. He was honored to perform for the president of Pakistan, as well.

His first venture into recording has resulted in a CD titled “Changing Woman’s Blessings”. More recently, he recorded in Perth, Australia, with a well-known Aboriginal actor and musician, Heath Bergersen. This cross-cultural collaboration has culminated in a CD mixing the sounds of the traditional Australian instrument, the didgeridoo, and the Native American flute titled “Friends for Life”.

Through his music and his life, he is an activist in preserving Native ways, creating awareness of the need for communication across cultures, and protecting all human rights. In this way, he strives to give back to the community. He most enjoys connecting with people of all cultures and sharing the musical language of the flute.

“Flutes are not political. They transcend heritage differences.”

pou hihiri

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Pou Hihiri

Pou Hihiri – The Womb of the Universe

Project team

Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, Poutua, Kaumatua (Elder), Author
Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, Concept Designer & Artist
Julian Priest, Custom Electronics
Tom Greenbaum, Custom Electronics
Craig McDonald, Graphics Artist
Sophie Jerram & Dugal McKinnon – Sound Effects

Artist statement

The Pou Hihiri is a representation of the womb of the universe. Within its core is the blue print, the DNA, the life‐giving blood of the universe, the unrealized potential of all that is and all that is to come. Pou Hihiri is a visualisation of the receptacle, the womb that holds the great nothing, the long nothing, the deep nothing all of which is yet to be realized. It is pre‐emergent potentiality, at times, heaving, breathing, laboring in its efforts to release it’s burden. Pou Hihiri has the deceptive appearance of stillness, timelessness and spatial immortality.

The pou is part of the exhibition Wai at 516 Arts during ISEA 2012 Albuquerque Machine Wilderness.

 

Wai dawn opening

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Wai will open at dawn, 6.53am September 19th 2012 at 516 Arts, 516 Central Ave SW Albuquerque,  led by Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, as part of ISEA 2012 Albuquerque Machine Wilderness. All welcome.

 

There will also be a special session of ISEA, at OFFCENTER in Albuquerque from 12 to 1.45pm on Sunday23rd September. All welcome to that event too.

 

Later that same day, the 23rd, from 4pm till 9pm, the third Intercreate.org project for ISEA 2012 Machine Wilderness Bus garden will be presented as part of the Block Party on Central Ave.

 

 

 

WAI by Te Hunga Wai Tapu

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The Pacific Ocean from space
Image credit: Detlev van Ravensway Science Photo Library

 

Te Hunga Wai Tapu roughly translates as the group of people for whom water is sacred. They are: Ian Clothier, Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, Jo Tito, Craig Macdonald, Julian Priest, Tom Greenbaum, Sharmila Samant, Leon Cmielewski, Josephine Starrs, Andrew Hornblow, Darren Robert Terama Ward, Johnson Dennison, Andrew Thomas, Gordon Bronitsky. Aerial imagery courtesy of Land Information New Zealand.

This group consists of people from Aotearoa New Zealand, the United States of America, Australia and India. A global community representing many cultures, including the indigenous.

The works presented consist of aspects of traditional Māori knowledge; five videos shown through two data projectors; a Pou Hihiri (which reflects the womb of the universe that holds unrealized potential ); and traditional Māori and Navajo/Dine audio generated live by data sensors in New Zealand.

 

Contributors and roles

Ian Clothier is the curator for the project and is project manager.

Wai rests on Mātauranga Māori provided by Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru. Mātauranga Māori refers to traditional knowledge, pre-colonisation in Aotearoa New Zealand, which means before 1840. At the SCANZ 2011:Eco sapiens hui-symposium, Dr Waikerepuru spoke about Wai as central to Maori world view. Wai connects air, atmosphere, mountains, rivers, beaches and humans via breath.

Te Urutahi Waikerepuru has contributed strategy, networking and core creative activity – the Pou Hihiri was created under her direction. Craig Macdonald made the Pou Hihiri graphics which involved  interpretation of traditional stars and concepts into contemporary form and materials. Julian Priest and Tom Greenbaum created the custom electronics LED control system.

Jo Tito is a Maori artist who exhibits internationally. Her contribution is a video concerning Maori notions of Wai.

Sink was created by Julian Priest and is a model of anthropogenic ocean acidification which is based on a scientific view of the interaction of humans and natural systems: a shell acidifies on exposure to greenhouse gases. Priest is well know for his work in open source, open networks and creative projects.

Sharmila Samant is a well known contemporary artist from India. She recently traveled to Taranaki in New Zealand to make a work for the exhibition Sub Tropical Heat: New Art from South Asia. Given her interest in water issues in India, she created a video work in which Te Huirangi spoke about water while standing on the banks of the Waiwakaiho river.

Sydney based Leon Cmielewski and Josephine Starrs are collaborators on an animated video and highly regarded for the work with text and landscape. Their video for features the words of Te Huirangi digitally etched into Taranaki maunga (Mount Taranaki_. Cmielewski and Starrs are fr0m Australia and met Te Huirangi Waikerepuru at the SCANZ 2011 Eco sapiens hui-symposium.

In Aotearoa New Zealand in the small Taranaki town of Opunake are situated three data sensors. The sensors are custom made by Andrew Hornblow. Data from the sensors runs to the project website, where each data reading is correlated to an audio file of either traditional Maori sounds or traditional Navajo sounds. This system was made by Julian Priest and Adrian Soundy for The Park Speaks. Julian Priest also provides server support.

Darren Robert Terama Ward is a contemporary Maori artist who also makes his own traditional musical instruments. He is contributing the traditional Maori audio. Andrew Thomas is a Navajo/Dine musician and is contributing the Navajo sounds, played on traditional instruments.

Johnson Dennison is Navajo/Dine Medicine Man and will contribute to the dawn opening ceremony led by Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru. Te Huirangi Waikerepuru considers it important to contact, respect and collaborate with local indigenous people.

Gordon Bronitsky is a cultural producer and has assisted us by providing connection points to local indigenous peoples and advice of a cultural nature.

wai exhibition

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Wai visualisation

Visualisation of the Wai installation

About Wai

Humanity and Earth are at an important juncture: the intersection of past unsustainable approaches to environment and the potential for a sustainable future. An important factor in these issues is listening to the voice of indigenous people on the subject of environment. It is quite clear that the West will not by its own means resolve climate change issues.

Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, a highly respected Māori Kaumatua (elder) from Aotearoa New Zealand has provided the core concept and ideological underpinning for Wai (which means water or flow). The project is selected for exhibition at 516Arts during ISEA 2012 Albuquerque Machine Wilderness.

Wai is an integrating focus – embracing rain and snow in the mountains, rolling downward via rivers to the beach and into the human body via breath. Māori worldview involves seeing an integrated whole with humans in direct relationship with nature.

Notions of integrated systems will be familiar to many, and the connection to electronic art is found in the words of Associate Professor of Zoology Mike Paulin “Scientists, artists and others are transforming the environment into an organism, as Māori and indigenous peoples have always known it to be.” Wai consists of data sensors in Aotearoa New Zealand, integrated with works by Maori, New Zealand, Australian, Indian and Navajo/Dine artists in an electronic art installation.

wai

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By Te Huirangi Waikerepuru

Wai is an exhibition whose main theme comes from Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru. Wai means water or flow and occupies a central place for Māori. The first stage of this project will be exhibited at 516 Arts in Albuquerque as part of ISEA2012, the International Symposium on Electronic Art.

One of the works in the exhibition Wai is a work by Te Huirangi – Te Taiao Māori.

In 2011 for Istanbul ISEA, Te Huirangi had composed a chart of Te Taiao Māori, the Māori universe. This was presented as a 2.5metre x 3metre chart of words on the wall.

For presentation at Cultura Digital in Rio de Janeiro, the chart was formatted as an animation using After Effects. The background is photo astronomy by Paul Moss, who also took part in the Istanbul show.

The work will be also shown as part of SCANZ 2013: 3rd nature in Puke Ariki New Plymouth opening February 2nd 2013. This will be it’s first exhibition in Aotearoa New Zealand, an important moment for the local audience.

The image above is from a presentation at the Planetary Collegium’s Technoetic Telos on Kefalonia Island, Greece. Previously this detail of the chart had been presented on Waterwheel in Tunisia and had been translated into French.

It is intended that the ISEA Albuquerque version will contain Portuguese and Spanish translations. Part of Te Huirangi’s kaupapa (policy) is that of recognising local cultures.

Clearly there is world wide interest in the Māori worldview and particularly in the context of electronic art. As Steven Kovats observed after seeing the exhibition in Istanbul “the interconnections between the Māori concepts of flow, movement, space, time, collaboration say much about the ideals of open and critical digital culture and theory today.”

Wai or flow is central to Māori who also speak of “Ika Moana, Ika Whenua, Ika Tangata” – fish, fish land, fish people. The Māori expression for ‘Who am I?’ – “Ko wai au?” literally means “Whose water am I?”