Museum inside the artist

George Nuku is one of New Zealand’s leading contemporary artists. As a sculptor, he works with stone, bone, wood, shells, polystyrene and Plexiglas. In his works, he constantly questions the relationships between man, nature and culture, using millennia-old traditional elements of Maori culture to juxtapose them with contemporary themes such as decolonization, repatriation and reconciliation. His works are exhibited internationally.

George Nuku and Dorothea Deterts, the curator of the Oceania exhibition, begin their tour with the ships from Oceania. They talk about the importance of boats and navigation in Oceania, especially in New Zealand. They continue with the Maori objects on display, their significance and their relationship to people, ancestors and gods. You are cordially invited to listen to the artist’s stories.

George Nuku is a CoMuse Fellow at the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst in March 2024.

CoMuse – The Collaborative Museum is an initiative by the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst that aims to develop multi-perspective approaches to collection-based research and to test new formats of international collaborative processes in order to intensify the decolonization and diversification of museum practices in sustainable way.