Te Papa is working on a new exhibition called Slice of Heaven: 20th Century Aotearoa. It is expected to be open for at least 10 years and will prove a useful milestone in assessing the value Te Papa places on the visual arts. As the exhibition is about “the stories, people, and events that changed New Zealand's twentieth century and gave the century its unique flavour,” it’s reasonable to expect art to play a significant role.
Watch out for what Te Papa selects to show the evolution of modernism in NZ, the way we turned our gaze from Europe to the United States in the 1970s and particularly the reassessment of Maori culture, Te Reo and the effect of urbanisation through contemporary Maori art at the end of the century. When it comes to our particular slice of 20th century heaven, the visual arts have made up a significant part of the pie.
