Te Papa North goes South

Looks like the sorry tale of Te Papa North has finally come to an end. Of course in PR speak this comes out as 'We are very committed to it. I would hope – as does the board – that we will be successful in a future budget bid.' But as the request rejected by Government was only a capital cost of $40 million (about as much it takes to run the Te Papa Mothership for little over nine months), it’s a fair bet that Te Papa North as an idea has slunk out of the building. 

Someone else who has left the building is the Project Director for Te Papa North. Te Papa told media she was only on a one year contract which sounds odd in itself for what was going to be a major Te Papa initiative over at least three or four years. 

And what about the pressing storage requirements and the dramatic threat of Wellington (and Te Papa's collections) being leveled by an earthquake? The CE of Te Papa told the media that 'there was no pressing need for additional storage in the next 2-3 years' and the talk of Wellington as earthquake central seems to have abated (which is nice). In fact, looking back at the sorry two year life cycle of Te Papa North, you have to ask whether it was ever a serious proposition in the first place. 

Anyway now that CE Rick Ellis has announced more of his plans to service the whole country via digital technology all this talk of bricks and mortar could hardly be more off brand. So let’s see how that plays out.

By the numbers: links edition

0   the amount of significant change (pdf.) in attendance by 10-14 year olds at visual arts events or locations since 2011

0  the number of flag designs presented in the flag panels current top 40 that are worth pursuing

3   the number of comments generated by John Hurrell’s review of the new Len Lye Centre on eyecontact that included his opinion that “there is a strong sense that the Lye Centre has hijacked the Govett-Brewster, that the Govett is only a mere annex to the Lye project.”

4  the number of lectures on Len Lye you can find on Circuit

5  the number of people (ok men) on the 185 strong 2015 NBR Rich List who chose to be photographed with art in the background

5   the number of prints of the 21 published for Artspace’s twenty-first birthday that have sold out

11    the number of visual art works Te Papa currently has integrated into its non-art exhibitions.

27    the number of artist talks available as Auckland Art Gallery podcasts

704  the number of days that have passed since the Government announced Te Papa North

799  the number of art works registered as ‘by New Zealander’ in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales

A change is as good as a holiday

Te Papa has recently published what it intends to do over the next year or so. It's of special interest this time round given the new Chief Executive Rick Ellis's talk of big changes He's said many times that those changes will centre on digital delivery although he's not shared anything specific so far about ideas and content. The word is it will be a digital hub of some kind with a public presence inside the building that feels like more Wellington based commercial fundraising than the physical and digiatal distribution of the collections through the country. But at this stage who can tell? In the meantime, we've picked through Te Papa’s published performance expectations.

So what’s different from this time last year?

Last year (and the year before that) Te Papa North was 'a key priority’.
This year (four years after the initial announcement) the project is ‘still under consideration by Government and no decision has been made.’

Last year one of Te Papa’s strategic intentions was ‘Saving the planet’.
This year Te Papa has dumped this as a strategy.

Last year the Te Papa Board, in line with Government philosophy, was ‘leading work to increase philanthropic giving to support Te Papa’s activities’.
This year the word philanthropy does not appear in the document.

Last year the key measurements for engaging audiences were ‘the amount of time people spent at Te Papa’ and ‘reported learning experiences’ that demonstrated ‘levels of engagement.’
This year the amount of time spent at Te Papa has been dropped as a measurement.

Last year internet traffic numbers were based on site visits.
This year they’re based on page hits.

Last year the philosophy of mana taonga was ‘led and embedded in Te Papa by the Kaihautu’
This year the Kaihautu is not mentioned in the document.

Last year digital ‘access’ was to be ‘improved online and on mobile devices.’ 
This year creating a digital ‘experience’ will be ‘a major focus’.

Last year Te Papa operated within its set level of funding from government.
This year Te Papa warns that ‘redeveloping the fixed exhibitions and investing in digital requires some trade offs’

Sources: Te Papa Statements of performance expectations 2014/15 and 2015/16

Out with the old, in with the old

Has Rick Ellis got a vision for Te Papa? Not really. Listening to Radio NZ it’s sounds pretty much like less-business-than-usual plus digital. The big idea is to ‘refresh the fixed exhibitions’ so they'll last another 15 years which (as anyone who works at there knows) has been a big idea at Te Papa for about five years now. Has Ellis any idea about what those displays will be? No, there’s to be a 'consultation process' with ‘community groups’ who might well wonder why the highly-paid experts at Te Papa can’t work out what’s needed by themselves. To do all this he is going to ‘establish a senior leadership team’ oh, oh.

One fatality will be temporary exhibitions. They'll be 'suspended for three years', so goodbye to ‘we’re showing more art more of the time’ and Sarah Farrar’s on-again-off-again Art at the Boundaries exhibition. Talking about Te Papa’s interest in art, what’s the story about having a separate art gallery? Ellis's response: ‘Not something I’m focused on to take further.’ Even the chances for the 18-month old Te Papa North project sound blurry in Ellis-speak, 'We have a bid in for a new facility. That bid is going through the budget process.' 

As to upping the level of digital output Ellis made no mention of where significant extra costs for storage and staffing were going to come from, and hard to see how it can be achieved on current budgets and staff levels.

Don’t watch this space.

If I were King of Timbuktu ....

Imagine for a moment you're Rick Ellis and you've just been made CE of Te Papa. Whoops. Just kidding. Get up off the floor. After our pretty successful attempt at guessing the kind of person who would be picked as Te Papa’s next CE let's look at his track record and take a stab at what he's likely to do.

Ask questions. Ellis will quickly discover there's a big difference between what Te Papa claims to be doing and what’s actually going on. Basically it’s a kid's museum with scholarly pretentions, so an easy model to change so long as he doesn't get lost in the current echo chamber. Asking real questions and expecting real answers at Te Papa? Brutal.

Focus. The current mantra "Changing hearts, changing minds, changing lives" would suit a neighborhood bookstore just as well as Te Papa. Expect Ellis to take up the challenge and shift scale. The 200 (+ however many) staff of Te Papa makes it a giant in the cultural arena but in media and tech it's a minnow. As he’s done in the past look to Ellis to focus on attracting bigger audiences in the right demographics, and with no advertisers to satisfy. Brilliant.

Bring in some friends to help. It's what professional CEs always do. If he's only got three years to sort things out he's going to need help fast from people he knows can deliver. The current staff spend their time tip-toeing round in what's being called a 'toxic' culture. Rick Ellis is known to be impatient when he's slowed down by anything (especially the incumbent culture slowing things down). Watch for the rapid departure of top-level staff.

Play the game he knows. This is someone experienced in media production, communication and digital services. He'll see Te Papa as an under-utilised brand property with commercial potential as a digital platform. And why wouldn't he.

Play the game he knows Part II. Ellis is a money guy. He's going to expect return on the building and the assets. He believes in the logic of the market. Conventional museum shows don't bring in big profits (especially when you take into account the costs) so what's a new CE to do? Branch out, that's what.

Learn from the Giant Squid. No big secret that Te Papa’s most popular events have all been based on the cabinet of curiosities principle. More, bigger, stranger stuff. Bring on the society of the spectacle. 

Franchise, partner, whatever. Developing new stuff from the ground up takes too long and it's too expensive. The proposed movie museum and WETA are obvious targets for Ellis's media experience and connections. Peter Jackson’s skills can bring people and cash to Te Papa and Te Papa can put the Jackson story round the world with classy packaged exhibitions in premium venues. Born for each other. And Ellis will have many other friends in the entertainment culture industries to play with. He will be furious though about the mega Gallipoli exhibition being held in the old National Museum and Art Gallery and not on the waterfront at Te Papa. But what are the chances of the government changing NZ's remembrance date for him. Not high.

Go national. The drumbeat to serve the whole nation is sounding loud and clear. Sticking the lesser collections and a few classrooms in Manukau City was never going to do it. Talking digital and interactive isn't either but guess he'll figure out the ROI and problems with content soon enough.

Pull a rabbit out of the hat. Work out how to pay for a serious digital presence and not leave the current building as a run down brand-embarrassment? (see staff cuts below).

Cut staffing levels (duh) and move to part-timers for basic operational services. He's done it before. He definitely knows the way.

 Interrogate the scholarly staff and peer review their outputs. Move them out of the building, give them targets and genuine accountability. Threaten them with absorption into the tertiary sector as Plan B. Sorted.

Get all that pesky art stuff the hell out of the building.  There’s no money to be made on it and precious little thanks (Rick Ellis pauses, looks out his window at the old National Art Gallery building in the far distance .... hmmm … he thinks to himself .... maybe after that Gallipoli exhibition…..)

That was then

In september we: got unduly excited at te papa changing its photo policy • raved about the kentridge exhibition at the city gallery • wondered when the hell the te papa north thing would get off the ground • added some new faces to otn/studio • loved the hang of hotere’s airport mural • followed the shake-up at webb’s • went to see the walters prize • questioned numbers through the door as a measurement for art museums • showed flagging interest in the koru • visited Fiona conner’s studio • gave it up for luke willis thompson • reported jenny gibbs walking out the venice patrons after all those years • stuttered in indignation at the Auckland art gallery sound system

Northern exposure

Happy anniversary. Today a year has gone by since the announcement that a mini Te Papa cunningly named Te Papa North would be built in South Auckland. You might remember the Minister Chris Finlayson expressed his determination to get on with the job. “We will develop a plan to consult with stakeholders over the coming months” and (as if that weren't enough to keep everyone busy) “a fully detailed and specified business case“ would be presented to cabinet in November 2013. Well that fell over. 

But help is at hand. The Dominion Post crowbarred some info out of Te Papa via the Official Information Act. Weirdly of the 183 pages, 100 were blacked out to withhold info from the public gaze. Oh, very CIA. And how do you line up such a mind-your-own-business response with an organization that calls itself a “cultural and intellectual leader” and claims to “signpost pathways to the future by initiating, hosting and engaging in debates that explore a wide range of contemporary issues”?

Still the DomPost did get something out of the exercise.  The budget for Te Papa North as at July this year is still set at $30 million with annual running costs estimated at $3 million. So no change there after a year but now have projected annual attendance figures. These have been put at 650,000. This is 30,000 more than the Auckland Art Gallery got the year it opened its new building and 200,000 more than it got last year. The Auckland Museum, a mega enterprise with 10 times the proposed budget of Te Papa North, attracts 847,000 a year. If that figure of 650,000 reported by the DomPost from the Te Papa papers is part of the business plan, given the Napier experience, you do have to ask who is running the business. So here we go again with a small idea saddled with hugely unrealistic expectations, that is if it even gets off the ground.

And what are the chances of that?

Well, when you look at the agreement written up between the Government and the rest (Te Papa, Auckland Regional Council, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland Museum and Otara rep) it was only ever to “explore the development of a proposal” or as former Te Papa CE Mike Houlihan put it “exploring the feasibility of a proposal ...” The latest Te Papa Statement of performance objectives describes it as a 'key priority.' So lots of wriggle room there.
 
Is there any real political will behind Te Papa North? There's no mention of it in the National Party arts and culture policy but then that’s because three weeks out from the election it hasn't published one yet (last election it came out 15 July). There was certainly no mention of Te Papa North when the Minister announced the latest round of museum building grants in June this year. Labour’s culture policy is supportive of the project and in a one upping gesture they have promised "a major presence in both South Auckland and Christchurch.”

Now that earthquake fever has subsided somewhat in Wellington and a new Chief Executive for Te Papa actually in the building is at least six months away, Te Papa North can probably be laid to rest for another year. Last words then to Douglas Adams, “'I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”

LATER: In July 2014 Te Papa advertised the position of Project Director, National Centre for Collections, Exhibitions and Learning in Manukau, Auckland. (Thanks R)

By the numbers

0         the number of speeches the Minister of Culture and Heritage has made so far this election year

1.6      the percentage of dealer galleries from New Zealand in the total number at Art Basel Hong Kong

3.5      the number of years since Te Papa last had a senior curator of art

6         the number in thousands of dollars of the average Boosted grant over the programme's first year

10       the number in millions of dollars the Government wants spent on new public art on the banks of the Avon River ,while simultaneously announcing it won't pay for it

15       the amount in dollars charged as the entry fee for adults visiting the MTG Hawkes Bay (formerly the Hawke's Bay Museum & Art Gallery)

17       the number in millions of dollars that the Ministry of Culture and Heritage is spending on the celebration of World War One

21       the number of reviews John Hurrell has written for EyeContact in the last two months

47.43   the number in thousands of dollars being spent by the new director of the Govett-Brewster Simon Rees on his first submission of contemporary art acquisitions to the City Council

130      the average number of dollars donated by individual contributors to Boosted in its first year 

213      the number of days community leaders, museum and art experts and iwi and cultural representatives have left to prepare a business case for Te Papa North

Northern exposure

The business case for Te Papa of the North was due to go to Cabinet toward the end of last year so time to get ready for the promised consultations around this big culture-to-the- people idea. As Te Papa consistently gets 98 percent “good to excellent” in its audience surveys expect general support for a Te Papa to go in Manukau.  Hard to believe that questions will be test priorities. “Would you rather have a Te Papa storage facility cum display area or a swimming pool, a library or a sports stadium?” is unlikely to feature. #dontaskquestionsyoudontwantanswersto. Last year when the Stuff organization (Dominion Post etc.) went out with the bald, “Do you agree with the plans for a Manukau Te Papa?” just 750 votes were cast of which 56.7 said no.

The Minister for Arts, Culture & Heritage has certainly been touting for the Te Papa of the North concept.  It was nice to have him actually comment on something cultural. Of course he couldn't help himself and retorted to critics of the far flungness of the Manukau site that, “As the crow flies, it is but a few hundred metres from the Royal Auckland Golf Club.” Rich in sarcasm of course but digs at the hoity-toity attitudes of NZ’s 1% is a bit rich coming from a man who names Bayreuth as a personal cultural hotspot.

For the record here’s what they all said when announcing Te Papa of the North so you can compare it to what they’ll all say later.

It will “improve the accessibility of our national treasures” – Minister for Arts, Culture & Heritage

“It will enable South Auckland to have a place that has a Pacific focus, and be an invaluable resource for the area's schools”  - Mayor of Auckland

It will “create an innovative cultural hub at the heart of New Zealand’s most culturally diverse and fastest growing region” Mayor and Minister

“Manukau is not off the beaten track.” – Minister for Arts, Culture & Heritage

“Different stakeholders will be consulted at different times, and on the aspects that are relevant to them.” – Chief Executive, Te Papa

Start spreading the news

It’s a dream come true and it’s been achieved virtually overnight. Te Papa has established a robust Regional Gallery Network. Yes, 33 (count ‘em) buildings branded with the Te P thumb strategically dotted throughout New Zealand. “The Te Papa: Art Regional Gallery network has a commitment to showing a wide variety of art media from a range of eras – from historical to contemporary – with an emphasis on works about and by artists from the region.”

For close watchers of Te Papa the speed of this national roll-out may come as rather a surprise but think about it. With the new network Te Papa will be able to respond quickly to the urgent requests that come in daily from the regions. “Can we get Michael Stevenson’s Trekka here pronto” “the far North wants to see more of et al. and they want to see it now”.

But don’t just sit there. Check here for details and venues near you. 

NOTE: Since posting this  story Te Papa (possibly concerned that people might believe that the idea of their having a regional presence was all true) has evidently asked the site to put up the disclaimer "This website is an artwork intended to question a leading New Zealand art institution by suggestion. The idea is fictional yet we, the artists, believe it is in fact plausible, and even essential, to ensure that our National Collection is given safer storage and made more accessible to all New Zealanders."

Images: Top left Te Papa in Fiordland and right Bay of Islands with prospective sculpture park out front. Bottom Te Papa Southland and drawings for Te Papa Wairoa as part of a new culture precinct development

Future proofing

OTN isn’t so keen on (#didn'tgetroundtomakingone) annual that-was-the-year-that-was lists, but what-do-you-reckon-will-happen-this-year lists? Now that’s a different story.

Steady on
Around the end of April the Walters Prize selection committee will produce a more conventional list of older finalists

Drawing the line
More university art schools will come under severe pressure from the Government via the Tertiary Education Commission to reduce staff and student numbers

HK OK
Dealers will swing their art fair energy from Europe to Asia

Still life
A lot of art will be made and a heap of museum time and money expended to glorify the completely senseless slaughter of World War I

Man alone
A lone New Zealander will slope over to Sydney to install his work in the 18th Biennale of Sydney

Boy oh boy
More men will get more solo shows in the public art museums

Time Lord
In Auckland T J McNamara will ease into his 47th year of reviewing art for the NZ Herald

Painting by numbers
More figurative paintings will create more auction records

Northern exposure
Te Papa will start wishing it had never come up with the idea of putting an outreach gallery into South Auckland

How great thou art
Everyone will be super excited by the awesome art stuff that will be tweeted throughout the year #whoa #thrilling #because

But who’s counting
Over the net will publish its 4,000th post

The Scottish play
The Auckland Art Gallery will announce the mother of all art works is to hang in its foyer

On reflection
The Govett-Brewster will find out whether or not that shiny mirror surface on the Len Lye Centre is feasible and, if it is, whether it’s actually a good idea

Slice and dice
Creative New Zealand’s budget will be spread even thinner across a wider range of art forms

Movement
Christchurch Art Gallery will straighten up

Mini me

Te Papa is now busy socializing its Manukau ICH (Innovative Cultural Hub) to be built in Hayman Park. The project is still often referred to as Te Papa North, but it’s not. The business plan (#begging bowl) which is to be presented to the Government in December asks for a $33+ mil loan (how Te Papa intends to pay back this money is anyone’s guess as it is already struggling to find funds for the over-due re-do of its own displays).

One rather strange twist is Te Papa’s conviction that it will be able to create a genuinely New Zealand experience for New Zealanders in Manukau. Where have we heard that before? Apparently there is some concern that nearly half of the current 1.3 million visitors to the Te Papa Mothership are tourists. So it’s Our Place again only this time in an economy pack.

Is Te Papa consulting with the local community as it develops this new project? Well the original idea was certainly sprung on them as a surprise leg-up for Len ‘Manukau’ Brown, but no doubt at some stage the roads of Manukau will be clogged by streams of pizza deliveries to focus groups for local input.  As for how this new entity might collaborate with other institutions from what we hear the briefing to the museum profession was a this-is-what-we’re-doing affair rather than a got-any-thoughts-on-how-we-could-do-this-together? 

So the big question remains how will Te Papa deliver Manukau something that will be locally important and develop a presence in the wider region? And all this within a pressured budget that includes allowing for an expensive storage responsibilities.
 
Still, as everyone said back in the 1980s when the original Te Papa was being developed, “It’s no point just being critical. You have to give them a chance to show what they can do.” And that’s what we all did.

Think small

Te Papa has finally announced it is moving North, it’s all very Game of Thrones. There has been a push for a National Museum presence in Auckland for a while, particularly by Hamish Keith. He called for a destination building on the waterfront to display the National treasures so Aucklanders could share in the richness of Te Papa’s collections.

Well that’s not quite what’s going to happen. What is proposed is a $30 million multi-purpose construction sited in Manukau, about 20 k south of the centre of Auckland. It seems the building will also serve as a Te Papa storage facility and potentially a place where other museums might hold exhibitions or displays. If Auckland can get its cultural institutions to work together in this way it will certainly be a breakthrough.

But $30 million? Seriously? The Auckland Art Gallery cost four times that with a reno and rebuild. The mothership Te Papa in Wellington cost $300 million back in the day and the proposed motorway that will eventually take you from the CBD to Manukau to see TePN is currently estimated at a minimum of $105 million per kilometre. And we found at least one house currently being built up North budgeted at around $40 million. So is Te Papa North going to be very small or very cheaply made? 

On Radio NZ on Sunday Te Papa CE Mike Houlihan gave a clue to the small category claiming Te Papa North would be "in scale with the local community" (Manukau City alone has a bigger population than Wellington). As to cheap, Houlihan again "it might be more like a classroom than a conventional gallery."

However they go showing the Nation’s treasures comes with a host of high-cost conservation, air conditioning, specialist staff, loading and packing facilities. Hard to believe that $30 mil is going to do much of a job. 

So while the idea of having a National collection in Manukau sounds like a new big idea and a real effort to expand Te Papa’s reach and audience mix, the money on the table is vintage Think Small.

Shaky grounds

If you want to study the progress of a muddle in which two reasonable ideas get mashed into one stupid one, you need go no further than yesterday's NZ Herald editorial. The theme is grabbing some Te Papa action for Auckland with the NZH quickly finding the silver lining in Wellington’s recent earthquakes. Calling them “the catalyst for the advancement of the concept of Te Papa North” and unashamedly reaching for a cliché award by pulling out the “eggs-in-one-basket” argument, the big idea is to hot-foot a chunk of the National collection North.

Hamish Keith’s original Te Papa North concept was to have some of the great works from the National collection on show in Auckland as part of a series of curated exhibitions in a stand alone destination building. It was certainly not to help out Te Papa's everyday challenges in securing the storage of items many of which are not of great interest or necessarily in a condition to be presented to the public.

As to Auckland taking advantage of storage problems highlighted by a couple of earthquakes - be careful what you wish for.
 
Image: Te Papa storage via colourmefiji

Is it time for the City Gallery and Te Papa to partner up?

Given the Wellington City Council’s drive to cut costs and Te Papa’s struggle to develop a credible contemporary art presence, maybe now's the time for the City Gallery and Te Papa to get together on a permanent basis. It could be a simple and elegant solution and benefit both. 

Te Papa would get an established contemporary art space, curatorial support and a way to escape its embarrassing inability to build a new art gallery. Forget Te Papa North. With the City Gallery spaces the national museum could properly show not only its own large contemporary collection but also mount an expanded programme of temporary national and international exhibitions. Historical art could stay where it is in the, almost entirely history-focused, Mothership with a bit more space to play with.

For the Wellington City Council there'd be a significant cut in operating costs at a time when it is under major financial pressures. And it would still keep a serious contemporary art presence on Civic Square.

City Gallery would get access to a large collection, curatorial support and avoid death by a thousand cuts - door charges, scaled down budget and reduced staff. It would also have a place in the queue for Te Papa marketing clout. 

Sure there are risks. Bureaucratic overload is one. Hi-jacking by other Te Papa interests is another. And you could certainly expect resistance by existing power structures along with in-fighting over ownership and status. But it's got to be an idea worth considering.

Te Papa struggles with contemporary art and the City Gallery is going to struggle with funding and resources one way or another. Besides the City Gallery has already dipped its toe into these waters, showing works from Te Papa’s collections and mounting joint exhibitions (and let's not forget Oceania). Making the relationship closer and more formal could easily be the best thing for both of them.

Oh, oh

“Consider this the official PR spin from the Te Papa Museum Building at this point in time, but the concept idea of a facility in Auckland that could potentially host items in the national collection is very interesting, surely sharing the national collection, and the expertise of the people caring for and learning from the collection is a good thing huh?... The point I’m going to proffer is, that as long as a collection is accessible to as many people as possible – then where it's housed should not matter at all, right?”

Te Papa’s Communications Department on the Te Papa blog

Reality TV

In Wellington there is a saying, ‘When they come, they will come from the North.' Never has this been so true than in the campaign to take Te Papa to Auckland, the ongoing push to share the loot of the National Collections. The media is all over it - more coverage than Venice already by our reckoning - and the tenacious TV3 is right up there on the front line probing and expounding. 

For instance a few days ago when TV3 “wanted to show [viewers] through Te Papa's storerooms to see what treasures could possibly be lent to an Auckland exhibition building", you can imagine their dismay when “Te Papa refused.” But hang on, Te Papa is always difficult about allowing film crews inside their building or allowing anyone to film ‘their’ treasures. TV3 was just getting a taste of that most puzzling of all experiences for media people, being treated like everyone else.

Images: Top to bottom, John Campbell is stunned, the reporter is horrified and Te Papa is unmoved.