Creative collisions engage communities
The Travelling River exhibition, installed during August 2004 at Nelson's Suter Gallery and the Motueka Museum, was a "creative collision" between science, art and community aspirations for the Motueka catchment. The exhibition engendered lively debate among the more than 2500 visitors, building understanding of our science and encouraging people to think about how their environment has been modified by human and natural actions.
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| Visitors to the Travelling River exhibition. Image - Maggie Atkinson |
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| Mick Park of Te Atiawa, Motueka. Image - Maggie Atkinson |
The project was led by Manaaki Whenua scientists and local artists. It developed understanding of the extensive local knowledge and the sense of place that exist among communities in rural catchments like the Motueka. Above all, it built trust for furthering our integrated catchment management (ICM) research.
The catchment faces multiple, often conflicting, demands from users of land, and marine and fresh water. Local government must manage issues such as water allocation, declining water quality, soil erosion and allocation of marine farming space so that the catchment remains in good heart for the long-term benefit of everyone. Multi-disciplinary research, led by Manaaki Whenua, is supporting an integrated approach that values the role of the community in knowledge management and decision making.
After the project was described at a Seattle conference on art-science eco-cultures, conference convenor Professor Kanta Kochhar-Lindgren commented 'I am excited to see how this work is housed in a science company. This is a cutting-edge model that I hope others will begin to think about replicating.'
Travelling River intentionally raised awareness of the issues within the Motueka River catchment by sharing understanding of how a place is influenced by (and influences) the social and natural pressures upon it. More than sixty people contributed images and stories about their lives or their science along the river and Tasman Bay, into which it flows. The exhibition was organised around extracts from Motueka Song, by local poet Cliff Fell, who won the Montana Book Award for poetry in 2004.
The project also attracted international attention. Project reviewer Dr Sian Ede, Arts Director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in London, commented 'the commitment and the passion that both the artists and the scientists have for this project is absolutely overwhelming, and I think it could well be a world leader'.
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Talk to us |
Andrew Fenemor
Email 
Ph (03) 548 1082 |
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On the web |
| http://icm.landcareresearch.co.nz | |
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Funding |
| The umbrella project, Mountains to the Sea, was funded by the Smash Palace Collaborations Fund and the exhibition by Manaaki Whenua, Creative NZ and Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology |
'Kotahi tonu te mana i kake ai a Tāne
ki Tikitiki o Ngā Rangi - Ko te Hiringa i te Mahara.'
There is but one power that enabled Tane to ascend to the summit of heaven - and that is the power of the mind
Rōpata Taylor, Project Manager, Wakatu Incorporation, Nelson.