Islands of the Future

Fumio Nanjo, Curatorial Director
For many people the Hawaiian archipelago calls to mind imaginings of a paradise in the
Pacific Ocean. A map of the Pacific Ocean locates the island chain midway between North
America and Asia, but Hawai‘i is also linked by the ocean to thousands of islands to its
north, east, south and west. Contrary to the belief that the Pacific is a vast, empty space,visionary Tongan Fijian scholar Epeli Hau‘ofa once affirmed that “… the sea is our pathway
to each other and to everyone else, the sea is our endless saga, the sea is our mostpowerful metaphor, the ocean is in us.”
As we face the future we confront new challenges together. The islands of the Pacific
Ocean are already dealing with devastating climate change. New technologies such as
artificial intelligence, digital currency, and bioart are now changing the foundations ofsociety, modifying the very meaning of what it means to be human. These transformativeflows of time and events are like powerful ocean currents, while islands are like thehuman beings who boldly exist within that flow. Islands then, can be metaphors forhuman existence and the persistence of people despite successive waves of histories andmigrations.
Islands have long been considered sacred centers of knowledge, exchange andcommunication, with migrations between islands and continents introducing new views
and ways of thinking. Hawai‘i is a vibrant Pacific Island intersection, and Honolulu is a
global base for the economies of commerce, military, and tourism throughout the region,
as well as a focal point for the place-based art and culture of Hawai‘i. We thank theparticipating artists from Hawai‘i, the Pacific region, Asia, and the continental U.S. forgathering in Honolulu, and we anticipate that you will be inspired by their works.
I would like to express my gratitude to the Co-Founders of the Honolulu Biennial
Foundation: Dr. Kóan Jeff Baysa, Isabella Ellaheh Hughes, and Katherine Ann Leilani Tuider,for the invitation to be the Curatorial Director of the inaugural Honolulu Biennial 2017;
to Ngahiraka Mason, the Curator of the Honolulu Biennial 2017; to Dr. Greg Dvorak, Dr.
Katherine Higgins, and Dr. Margo Machida of the Curatorial Advisory Board, for theircounsel. I also wish to sincerely thank the Board Members of the Honolulu Biennial
Foundation, sponsors, staff, volunteers, and supporters who all generously helped torealize this inaugural biennial.

2

Talk Story: Mobile Geographies
Ngahiraka Mason, Curator
Prologue
In a recent interchange with a downtown Honolulu
retailer, we shared how special Hawai‘i is andwhy we are energetically drawn to this location,over and beyond professional commitments andpersonal interconnections.1 We instantly agreed
that a defining feature we experienced in ourjourneys throughout the Hawaiian Islands is thepractice and continuity of aloha. Despite diverse
cultural, political, spiritual and social differences,aloha makes Hawai‘i stand out in the Pacific and in
the world. What is this aloha? At its simplest, it isgood manners, respect, and compassion, showing
and performing mundane tasks with kindness, careand joy. At its most complex, it is still these things.
In explaining my role with the Honolulu Biennial,
I shared the tenor of topics and issues addressedby artists, imparting an opinion that biennials
should also be uplifting and bear forward feelingsof happiness. We talked about art as a mirror thatreflects past, recent-times and present-day life
realities and that understanding art is a pathway to
uplifting people, as sharing awareness can produce
happiness.
In this exchange I realized that the impetus formaking art is not the same impulse for experiencing
art. Seeing and experiencing art is different totalking and writing about art. Interpreting art
for understanding rather than describing art fortheoretical study engages different parts of ouremotional and cognitive acumen. The heart’s
experience of art is dissimilar to the mind thatseeks to describe and define the creative process.
Like aloha, you firstly follow your heart.
In my exchanges with my retail discussant I cameto see that one can be shaped by the process andfrequency of aloha in Hawai‘i. Notwithstanding, myaloha for contemporary art is sometimes at odds
with the conditions that produce and maintaincontemporary art practice, especially here in
the Islands. The history of contemporary art in
Hawai‘i is young when compared to other partsof the world, yet its achievements and historicalperspectives have begun to unfold with an
openness and depth of richness.

Honolulu Hawai‘i: Living Aloha
The image of Honolulu, Hawai‘i in the 21st century
is defined as a destination paradise, a worry-freeplace to escape the demands of life; complete withbeachfront apartments, and first world shopping
malls. The struggle to refine and expand this image
is tied to tourism and the U.S. military, which
provides the economic backbone in the Hawaiian
Islands that its permanent inhabitants and visitors
have come to rely upon.
The presence of corporations, investors, landlords,
millionaires and billionaires are felt in the Islands
as earnestly as the high cost of living, which has
led to large houseless populations forming onbeaches, sidewalks and public parks. Plastic, fishingand cruise-ship waste circulate the islands brought
in on Pacific currents from continental mainland
U.S., Japan and the Pacific. Hawai‘i ships in 85-90%2
of its food to feed its permanent population andtourists. Hawai‘i has no recurring natural resources,
and thus relies on the importation of domestic
and commercial building materials and householdcommodities.
“Living Aloha” is a shared, cultural mantra anda hallmark of this dynamic society that hasdeveloped a way of looking outward to theworld by first reflecting inward to its people
and this place. The chain of eight islands thatcomprise Hawai‘i are primarily inhabited by Native

1 Personal discussion with Tibetan store owner about Honolulu Biennial on February 7, 2017.
2 Retrieved from The Hawai‘i Independent: http://hawaiiindependent.net/story/hawaiis-path-to-a-better-food-system-where-were-at-bythe-numbers.

3

Hawaiians, settlers from America, immigrants from
Asia, and the Pacific. This diversity of people co–exists in a uniquely local style of accord that finds
common ground through “talking story” or throughcordial exchanges. Hawai‘i’s permanent population
is open to finding solutions to island concerns, andinnovating from an island worldview. The Honolulu
Biennial was founded in this manner.
Why a biennial in Hawai‘i? Who are biennials
for—the local community or for artists, curators, or
institutional recognition on the world stage? Has alimit been reached for exhibitions of this type? Is it
sustainable to travel to biennial destinations and to
set up the circulation of art as a monetary system?
What is the role of art today?
The Honolulu Biennial founders proposed tosupport and create opportunities for Hawai‘i’scontemporary artists, to showcase art from theregion and to be conversant with our nearest
neighbors connected by the Pacific Ocean. The
Honolulu Biennial starts with the charting andmapping of a region as an approach to showcasing
place. The inaugural Biennial has unfolded
contemporary art practices in Hawai‘i to the world.
It has achieved practical understandings of thecomplexities of bringing together geographic,
temporal, and cultural ideas, which are regarded asimportant today.

Hawai‘i In The World: Island Thinking
The power of geography is real. Where we live
shapes who we are, and our everyday surroundings
affect our daily lives. A tropical climate, active
volcanoes, coral reefs, mountains, waterfalls
and year-round blue ocean produces a different
relationship to a place, to living in a densely
populated city comprised of high-rise living, fast
rail and underground transportation, pollution,
metropolitan culture and concrete landscapes.
Geographic insights from this location are sightseen
by artists; they are referenced and interpreted
within a Hawai‘i contemporary art milieu. Michelle
4

Schwengel-Regala’s water column sculptures andknitted and embroidered data textiles combine
her art, science and nature foci. She has createdabstracted representations of ocean environments
and the micro sub-structures that interpret what
scientists are learning about the quality of waterin the Pacific. Schwengel-Regala recently voyaged
between Hawai‘i and Pape‘ete Tahiti aboard theresearch vessel Falkor learning how scientists
collect and understand data. Embedded in
Schwengel-Regala’s narrative, is also a deepened
connection with ocean and a greater respect
and understanding of Polynesian voyaging in the
Pacific. In June 2017 the Polynesian voyaging
canoe Hōkūle‘a, will return home after completingfour years of sailing across Earth’s oceans, raising
consciousness about sustainable coexistence withplanet earth.
Local Knowledge by Les Filter Feeders is a series ofpaintings that recognize the way the “locals” talk.
There is a dynamic living system of urban speechin Hawai‘i that interconnects with community
knowledge to express how local interpretationsof information relate to broader global systems ofunderstanding. Colloquial language and a sense ofhumor shows cultural fluidity within community,
and the role of the individual within them.
Charlton Kupa‘a Hee melds his science and art
training and land conservation interests in his
artwork. His hand-built ceramic gourd forms thatare covered with contemporary stories show
cultural relationships between people and land.
Hee is part of a generation raising awareness ofinvasive flora and fauna in Hawai‘i by perpetuating
living stories that matter in Hawaii; such as theendangered O‘ahu tree snail and O‘ahu ‘elepaio, an
endemic bird whose habitats are threatened andwhose numbers are in sharp decline. Borrowing
from the ancient Greek tradition of sgraffito
scratching on urns and vases, Hee has transferred
this decorative technique to Hawaiian gourd forms.
Hee has swapped the “gods and mythology”
narrative used by Greek artisans for conservation
concerns, taking a unique approach to thediscourse on land and living history.

Chris Ritson’s bio-generative artwork The
Corallinales are living paintings, growing in two
aquarium tanks under artificial light. To create thiswork, Corallines algae have been scraped fromocean trash collected from the Honolulu Harbor,
Waikiki, Diamond Head and from the surf breakwhere Ala Wai Canal, an artificial and controversial
waterway at the northern end of Waikiki, flows
into the Pacific ocean. The algae are placed ina supportive environment for the corallines tothrive on glass and plastic debris, allowing themto produce a range of red, pink, grey and mauve
abstract paintings.
Drew Broderick’s vinyl billboard work consistsof a manipulated image with a neon sign anda reproduction of a historical painting by 18th
century artist George Carter, entitled The Deathof Captain Cook (c. 1783). Broderick’s response to
the painting is a direct examination of authorship,historic violence, and the realities of a highly
militarized life in Hawai‘i. Broderick grew up in anO‘ahu suburb that overlooked the Marine Corps
Base of Hawai‘i between Kailua Bay and Kāne‘ohe
Bay in the ahupua‘a of Ko‘olaupoko where militaryconvoys used the same streets that he walked to
get to school.
Trained as both an ocean engineer and an artist,
Jane Chang Mi combines her interests in therevisionist politics of land and ocean with her
focus on a cultural and military site Pu‘uloa (Pearl
Harbor), on the island of O‘ahu. Underwaterarchival video-documentation taken by divers
surveying the waters of Pu‘uloa provides theimpetus for her installation The Eyes of God. Pearl
Harbor has an earlier history as a food basket andsource of pearls, but is remembered for the 1941
bombing of Pearl Harbor, precipitating U.S. entry
into WWII.
While deeper truths about water, food and shelter
are obvious—we know the planet is mined outof balance—how do we move forward from thisposition? Sean Connelly’s installation invites thecontemplation of the future of building materials
in places like the Hawaiian Islands where steel isimported and not locally occurring. A component ofConnelly’s installation Thatch Assembly with Rocks(2060s) is locally sourced thatching, which Connelly
considers a recurring resource for architectural andartistic achievement.
Tackling topics with an alternative viewpoint is aspace that Kaili Chun inhabits. Chun’s Veritas II iscomposed of 54 steel sculptural forms exhibited ina grid formation as an examination of containment
and exposure, agency and restraint. The artist
believes that art is a language to speak about issues
through dialogue and through the materiality ofher sculptural installations.
“Letting go” and “transcendence” are recurring
themes in Andrew Binkley’s art, which is focused
towards Buddhist concepts. Binkley’s Stone Cloudwork is a large boulder floating in the sky intended
to create a shift in perception of something solidthat usually sits on the ground. Living in Hawai‘i
provides the artist with daily contact with ocean,sky and floating clouds, a reminder that even innature, things do not stay the same.
Marques Hanalei Marzan is a student of Hawaiian
material culture, a fiber artist and cultural specialistat Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, home to thelargest Pacific collection of its kind in the world,
numbering over 77,000 cultural objects. ‘A‘ahu
Kino Lau is a fiber, textile and garment installationby Marzan that honors the four major gods of the
Hawaiian pantheon—Kanaloa, Kane‘ohe, Lono,and Ku— venerated for their divine dominion overheaven and earth.
At the intersections of world and personaltransformation is where one can meet change.
Al Lagunero’s practice is based in old wisdom,rooted in the nature of nature, which he recognizes
as a vital teacher. Lagunero’s commissioned
performance is inspired by a work by Japanesemonk Myoe (1173-1232) who lived at Kozanjo
Temple in the mountains outside Kyoto. Myoe
wrote “Letter to the Island,” which is addressed tohis favorite island. On delivering the letter, Myoe’s
devotee casts the message to the wind.

5

Mobile Geographies
As much as the Honolulu Biennial introduces
Hawai‘i’s artists to a diversity of artists from
Asia, the Pacific, Australia and the U.S., thesegeographies are also open to scrutiny andinterpretation from this location, recognizing that
artists take their worldviews wherever they go.
In this way, the imprint of mobile geographies,
technology and its global-reach connects us
to the priorities of elsewhere. In some regions
technology is used as a contemporary platform
to raise awareness of issues, causes and conflicts
as they occur.3 Our dependency and reliance on
information currents that flow and saturate withoutend (and sometimes without purpose) have
impelled freedoms and access to people and ideas,
unimaginable a decade ago. However, there is ashadow side to borderless cyber worlds, and actual
borders in the lived world.
An artist residency program based in Honolulu4
regularly hosts artists from Islamic countries tocreate artwork and contribute to the growth ofIslamic Arts and Culture in the State of Hawai‘i.
Muralist, painter and Indonesian artist Eko Nugroho
arrived to Honolulu recently on a valid P-3 visa for
artists and entertainers and was required to leave
before his residency was completed, following
an executive order from President Trump. Global
outrage and support for Muslim people waspalpable in all forms of media and was responded
to by Nugroho with a painted mural that asks fora deepened understanding of difference, a callfor peace and a return to our humanity. The artist
paints words and image in a graffiti street-styleshowing heavy black lines and dripping paint. Hisveiled and masked human figures appear caught up
in the strangeness of threat and violence. Acutely
aware of the politics of his homeland region,
UAE artist Mohammed Kazem has an art practicethat seeks to capture the intangible and makeit tangible. A bringing together of GeographicalPositioning Systems (GPS) coordinates is at thecenter of Kazem’s work. A pioneering conceptual
artist, his work takes the country coordinates ofartists participating in the Honolulu Biennial, andblurs fixed ideas of borders. The coordinates aretransferred to vinyl and adhered to glass window
surfaces enabling natural light to cast a shadow
image on wall and floor surfaces.
Wasl (Arabic for “Union”), a new video work by
Palestinian American artist Sama Alshaibi sets out
to underscore peoples and cultures under threatof physical displacement, due to increasing fresh
water scarcity and rising oceans levels. Underlying
this project is the idea that the ocean does notfollow boundaries set by individuals and nations,and that natural calamities can unite island
nations. This fact has correlations with the focus
of Marshallese artist Kathy Jetn̄ il-Kijiner, whose
homeland island was colonized and occupied firstby German missionaries, then by the Japanese
during WWII, before being “liberated” by America.
Her project Islands Dropped from a Basket speaks
to a Marshallese legend that is interwoven anddirected to the Marshall Islands as a nuclear testingzone, which not only devastated the islands, and its
peoples, but reduced its inhabitants to dependency
on America. Tahitian American artist Alexander
Lee has produced drawings and prints related to
below and above ground nuclear tests performed
by France in French Polynesia, to which the
Mururoa atoll is largely a no-go zone. Lee’s suite ofmushroom clouds prints respond to 193 nuclear
explosions undertaken in the region between
the years 1966–1996. New Zealand Māori artist
Brett Graham takes on American expansionism(recent and past) with four large discs that hangon walls positioned at true cardinal points in
Honolulu. These ‘four directions’ represent thehistories, rights, interests and subjugation of people
and place, including the island of first contact“Guanahani to the east, “Code Geronimo” in thesouth referring to South West Apache resistancefighter whose name was appropriated as a codename for Osama Bin Laden, “Standing Rock” inthe north a sacred site under threat of violation

3 Some recent grass roots organisations implemented viral messaging to support their activities and causes: the “Black Lives Matter” activist
movement launched in 2013 after a series of killings of young black men. In 2015, Maunakea on Hawai‘i Island, Hawai‘i became a site ofprotest against the building of a Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) proposed for the sacred site of Maunakea. In 2016 “Standing Rock” became
a site for protest against the Dakota Access pipeline proposed to cut through a sacred site.
4 Shangri La Center for Islamic Arts and Culture, Honolulu was created in 1998 to promote the study and understanding of Islamic arts andculture.

6and Kaho‘olawe, Hawai‘i in the west, where theU.S. tested weapons and nuclear projectiles for 50
years.
Beijing-based Chinese artist Zhan Wang creates
sculptures that consider what it means to imitate
nature. His presentation of two identical rocks—
one natural rock and the other a stainless steel
form—sit alongside each other, posing thequestion, does human activity supplant nature?
Ken + Julia Yonetani’s recent work is comprisedof uranium glass—depleted of uranium—
repurposed as the glowing element of four, hanging
chandeliers, which are suspended in a dark room.
The size of each chandelier represents the numberof active nuclear power stations in the UnitedStates, China, Japan and Taiwan. When exposed ina dark room or under ultraviolet light, the uranium
glass produces a rich glow-in-the-dark green color.
Taiwanese American artist Beatrice Glow addresses
the extraction of natural resources from theIndonesian Spice Isles, which began with the Dutch
and British transnational colonial expansion during
the 17th century. Nutmeg was naturally occurring
in Rhun and through trading became a highly
sought after commodity. Glow’s scented installation
incorporates a blood red Delftware porcelain tea
set to amplify colonial commerce as exploitative ofhuman labor and a natural resource.
“The beach” is contested space for artist Vernon
Ah Kee, an Indigenous descendant of the Kuku
Yalandji, Waanji, Yidindji, and Gugu Yimiithirr
people of Far North Queensland, Australia. Muchof Australia’s sand covered coastal beaches are
idealized and central to the identity of white
Australia, yet these expanses are sites of historicand contemporary cruelty toward the indigenous
peoples of Australia. The central component of
Ah Kee’s project CantChant is a three-channel
video work. One screen depicts a hanging broken
surfboard wrapped in barbed wire, being shot at;
the second video shows the artist’s family on thebeach and the third video portrays indigenous
pro surfer Dale Richards riding waves on theartist’s specially made surfboard. Undertaking analternative approach to “the beach” is Korean artist
Choi Jeong Hwa with his large-scale installation

Gather Together. The commissioned project
involves making art from plastic buoys collectedfrom Hawaiian Islands coastline beaches. The
artist’s intention is to transform ocean debris into
sculptural pillars bringing the discarded, overlooked
and the obvious together as a platform for seeing
everything as art. By way of contrast, Japan’s Yayoi
Kusama’s room installation I’m Here, but Nothingis intended to be a grandiose caricature of modern
Hawai‘i. The rooms furnishings are submerged inpurple eerie light and fluorescent polka dots, thesignature form adopted by Kusama, flicker andfluoresce creating what appears to be anotherworld. For Kusama, the polka dots symbolize thesun and other principles of nature.
In art today, how do we recognize the nature of
reality and the reality of our nature as individuals
in the world? Taiwanese artist Lee Mingwei isrepresented with the series 100 Days with Lily,
first made in 1995. Five large photographs show
the artist’s grief process following the death of hismaternal grandmother. The artist ritualized theloss of his loved one by planting a lily and tending
the natural cycle of the plant from germination,
growth, full-bloom to the fading and death ofthe lily. He randomly chose a moment each day
to document his grieving process. Death is alsopart of New Zealand, Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Hineartist Lisa Reihana’s project Tai Whetuki – Houseof Death, Redux. The work unfolds the dramaticstory of a dying warrior whose death is avenged
by a chiefly mourning party. Using “day for night”
cinematography, Reihana’s project evokes imagined
rites and rituals set in a dark landscape.
New Zealand photographer Fiona Pardington who
is both Scottish (Clan Cameron of Erracht) andMāori (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāti Kahungunu),
works with archival material and museum
collections. Pardington creates, re-presents andre-archives fragments and histories as a study
that celebrates the assembling of collections andtheir preservation through a new series Nabokov’s
Blues: An Enchanted Circle. The project is a suiteof photographs recognizing Vladimir Nabokov’slife passion and study of butterflies. By way ofcontrast, Graffiti Nature by teamLab from Japan7

is an interactive installation created for childrenof all ages. Visitors are invited to draw and colorin animals and flowers, which are scanned andprojected onto the floor, as one ecosystem.
Intended to amplify and imitate nature, this isan environment where flowers grow and bloom,
animals interact, eat, repel and attract each other, aplace where the cycle of life and death is renderedthrough technology.
Yuki Kihara’s photographic series considers 19th
century anthropometry and motion studies of
Samoan men portrayed as powerful, primitive andobjectified specimens. Of Samoan and Japaneseheritage, Kihara’s project shows continuities
between past and present representations of the
Pacific male through A Study of a Samoan Savage.
New Zealand born Samoan photographer Greg
Semu addresses the male body through portraiture,tatau (tattoo) studies of Semu’s body tattoos andphotographs inspired by religious allegories such as
the dead Christ. Conceptual artist, John Vea’s video
and floor-based installation reflects on how herelates to family land in his Tongan homeland, whileliving permanently in Aotearoa New Zealand. Vea
constructs a conversation between what it means
to belong to a place and owning real estate.
Pacific Asian American artist, Lynne Yamamoto
was born and grew up in Honolulu. Her installation
is inspired by plantation-style homes that canstill be seen in neighborhoods around Foster
Botanical Gardens. The artwork recalls the early
20th century period when Japanese immigrant
enclaves wove around the land surrounding theNu‘uanu and Puehuehu Streams. Families who
lived in communities such as the one rememberedby Yamamoto were enriched by familial systems,
shared values and interwoven cultural perspectives.
Urban Honolulu in the 21st century like othercenters in the world continues to evolve andchange with new movements of migrants to the
Hawaiian Islands. The range of people on themove now includes refugees, asylum seekers andeconomic migrants, in pursuit of a better life. In thisseemingly organized push for a new life in Hawai‘i,people also bring their histories, rights and values
with them that are physical and mental but also of
the spirit. It is human to want to remain connected
to a past and to transport what we are and how
we think, to where we settle. People create humanrealities. We are the architects of our thoughts andwe extend continuities of these realities.

Transformative Epistemologies
But for the hard-won voices of Pacific peoples,
perspectives about Island nations have changed
little since Tongan Fijian scholar Epeli Hau‘ofa
wrote about them in his seminal essay “Our Sea
of Islands.” Island populations today are evenmore dependent on world powers - the militaryand financial aid, yet remain the most at risk fromclimate change, and problems that originate fromdeveloped nations. Political issues of the 20th
century, prevailing views held by the West about
Islanders continue to be perpetuated by wellmeaning politicians, historians, anthropologists,
critics and academics. Hau‘ofa recognized in
1993 that Islanders possess transformative
epistemologies5, which include Island knowledge,
Island worldviews, wisdom and native common
sense.6
The republishing of Hau‘ofa’s essay is powerfulin the context of the Honolulu Biennial because
it champions transformative epistemologies
from Island perspectives and celebrates Island
thinking. Hau‘ofa models and exhibits his purposein life: to share and reflect on self-knowledge, toamplify Island truths and one’s lived realities withdirectness, conviction, wisdom and aloha. His
legacy is important because it confirms that the
future lies within us. We must express our own
ideas, insert Island meanings and be clear about
the richness and interdependency of our seas ofislands.

5 Epistemology is the study of knowledge systems that asks questions that open up worldviews and understandings. The Honolulu Biennial
has at its center multiple worldviews woven together to show the now and here.
6 I borrow the term “native common sense” term from Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer. Retrieved 21 February 2017. http://education.illinois.edu/
docs/default-source/default-document-library/hereca256a3980b76a29a33dff4b008a8698.pdf?sfvrsn=0.

8

As curator for the Honolulu Biennial, I demonstrate
the privilege of Western schooling and over 20
years in a traditional museum setting. But, mycultural education as an Indigenous Tuhoe personfrom Aotearoa New Zealand dominates mycuratorial practice that is place-based and is driven
by tacit knowledge, propelled forward by a searchfor understanding what I said yes to and how best
to serve and honor the invitation to co-curate
the Biennial. It matters to me that the Biennial
experience is transforming for the artists and its
multiple publics.

One can come to contemporary art with a personal
worldview, and comprehensions of historical,
modern or contemporary art. One can also
maintain Western training and combine these with
cultural knowing. Information about social issues orknowledge of world politics has its place in society,but is not required to engage with the way artists
express ideas. A one-world epistemology or single
way to see ourselves in the world can separate
people, but a willingness to engage with an open
approach, from multiple perspectives can transform
how we decide to see each other now and here.

9Entering the Same Waters Twice
Kóan Jeff Baysa

As the inaugural Honolulu Biennial (HB2017) opens
on 8 March 2017 for two months, it marks Hawaii
joining a roster of close to 200 international recurring
art biennials and triennials that regionalizes andinternationalizes art worlds. Hawai‘i is unique in its
central Pacific position north of the equator and
HB2017 sharpens the growing global attention to its
vibrant existing creative communities by showcasing
the diversity of art and culture from Hawai‘i, thePacific Islands, Asia, North America, Australia, New
Zealand and the Asian continent. This essay’s title
plays off of the epigram by the ancient philosopher
Heraclitus about change and flow, and in this context
refers to the waters of the Pacific as having properties
and consequences of direction and transformation asfunctions of time.

ennale has never been just about art. In 1930 Benito
Mussolini saw the Biennale’s potential as a propaganda machine and controlled it from his office. In
2015 the Vatican used its first appearance to rebuild
relations between art and faith. Every other year the
Venice Biennale is in step with Art Basel, the world’s
prime commercial fair for modern and contemporary art. The brand Art Basel has extended its global
reach with Art Basel Miami and Art Basel Hong Kong,
appealing to and locating near the centers of international art collectors and art capital. Typically, thebiennial itself lacks the funds to produce, ship, insure,and install large-scale works. Therefore, the financial
involvement of galleries and dependence on commercial sponsors by both formats is largely unavoidable
and indispensible, an often conflicted position.

The biennial (or biennale) is used as a general term
for recurrent international contemporary art exhibitions, in contradistinction to art fairs that are essentially trade shows for art. The timely and relevant focus of Honolulu’s inaugural biennial is reflected in its
title, Middle of Now | Here with characteristic biennial agendas that include regional strategies,
internationalism, re-imagining of history and political geography, renegotiation of public spaces, andsite-specificity, all presented within the spectacle ofa large-scale event with multiple venues in the hostcity. The art fair is presented in a similarly spectacular setting, but in contrast, is typically housed under
one roof with fundamental strategies to promote andsell art. Whereas the biennial is where art and public
spaces come together, the art fair is the space whereart and commerce collude. However, as biennials
expand as global purveyors of cultural capital, andgrow as economic engines for cities, they develop
more complex relationships with the commercial art
market, and the margins between art fairs and biennials blur.

Contemporary art biennials use public spaces andaddress public audiences more than other culturalmodels and have become the dominant formats forpresenting, promoting, and critiquing culture, andthereby carry the weighty potentials for fosteringchange. They offer newcomers to the global art community a stage on which to participate in the contemporary art scene and provide the globally expanding
art audience with more venues to view current art.
For artists, they are opportunities for heightened
visibility and experimentation in extraordinary venues
and contexts. The proliferation of biennials has fostered a coterie of artists traveling globally from country to country creating large-scale, site-responsive
projects with sundry degrees of socio-political commitment and orientation. Installation, multimedia,
and performance works increasingly dominate contemporary exhibitions. For the purposes of presentation and collectability, these formats are ill-suited tothe small booths of art fairs and are better served by
the biennial model.

That the agendas of the two forms have become
blurred is reflected in the history of the original
event, the Venice Biennale. First held in 1895 with thegoal of establishing a new market for contemporaryart, it brought artists and clients together, with sales
remaining an integral part of the biennale until thesales commission was banned in 1968. The Venice Bi10

There have been various motives for forming international biennials. Established in 1955, Documenta thattakes place every 5 years in Kassel, Germany was inpart an attempt to counter the cultural repression of
Nazism. Asia’s oldest biennial, the Gwangju Biennale
in South Korea, was founded in 1995, inspired by
the memories of civil uprising and repression of the
Gwangju Democratization Movement in 1980. The

inaugural Honolulu Biennial 2017 distinguishes itself
from other biennials by its island location and ecosystem, delivered with Hawai‘i’s own unique ineffable
form of hospitality. Concentrating on issues of the
Pacific area, it heralds a paradigm shift away from theusual continent-based perspectives. Reflecting thediverse shifts in global demographics and art audiences are the notable curators of biennials. In 2015,
Nigerian Okui Enwezor became the first African-born
curator in the Venice Biennale’s 120-year history. In
2017, the Whitney Biennial will open, organized by
two of the youngest curators in the museum’s history:
Christopher Y. Lew and Mia Locks. In 2018, Japan’s
Mami Kataoka will be the first curator from Asia tobe appointed as Artistic Director of the Biennale of
Sydney that was established in 1973.
Heretofore, the proximal countries of Australia and
New Zealand have received the most regional attention from the international art community becauseof the concentration of artists and works from Pacificislands in their larger cities and due to their established events, specifically the Biennale of Sydney andthe Asia Pacific Triennial, home-based in Sydney andQueensland, respectively and New Zealand’s Auckland Triennial. Outward from those perspectives arelarge expanses of water populated by islands, large
and small, reaching out to the shores that define theperimeters of the Pacific Ocean. The inaugural Honolulu Biennial makes its mark by shifting the focus
to the Pacific’s geographic center, positing that thesevast waterways always functioned as connecting
bridges, rather than isolating expanses, that acknowledge, honor, and pay homage to the Pacific-wide
shared histories of kinships and migrations.
Partially in response to threatening biennial fatigue,
organizers scramble to come up with new paradigms.
In 2008, Prospect 1 was positioned as a post-Katrina
initiative to boost tourism in New Orleans. The economic impact was $25M, but in the end there wasan $800,000 shortfall in the $5M production budget.
Site Santa Fe staged its international biennial since1995 then decided to halt production of its trademark
show. For 2016, it unveiled a different type of international exhibition with regional roots: much wider thana line was “an articulation of the interconnectednessof the Americas and various shared experiences suchas the recognition of colonial legacies, expressionsof the vernacular, the influence of indigenous understandings, and our relationship to the land.” Thelandmark Whitney Biennial of 1993 was eye opening, provocative, and inclusive, touching on timely
issues of gender, AIDS, diversity, and poverty. Similarly, HB2017 will galvanize audiences by addressing
timely and relevant environmental and socio-politicalissues of the Pacific area, many within new contexts.
A notable example is global warming and the massmigration of native individuals from the Marshall Islands to Hawai‘i, where some come to be treated forthe medical sequelae of radiation exposure and many
encounter and suffer sharp discriminations. Commendably, the Marshallese Islander invited to participate is a poet, not a visual artist, and she has createda brilliant and incisive installation that explores someof these keys issues facing her people.
In order to fulfill the definitions of a biennial, HB2017
needs to be recurrent. In order to be recurrent, weneed to have continuity. In order to have continuity,
we need to have longevity. In order to have longevity,
we must be sustainable. The Honolulu Biennial must
triumph with more than two successful iterations;otherwise those will be seen as just two large groupexhibitions separated by time. The singular strengths
of HB2017 includes its unique location in Honolulu,
dramatic indoor and outdoor venues, performance,
poetry, and large-scale, kinetic, immersive, and interactive installations, the integrating of native Hawaiian
ceremonies, and the participation of artists ranging
in age from 28 to 88 representing different countries
and constituencies.
Solutions to our most pressing social and environmental problems will not be found in extant antiqquated social policies nor in ossified political hierarchies but rather as consequences of daring imaginings by artists and other visionaries, with enacted
moments of refusal and resistance, and consequent
realizations of collective responsibility and action.
The challenge of future biennial iterations will beto generate new orders and to build new infrastructures of transcultural exchange by using this recurring event as a medium and as a context for dialogue
where vital concerns can be freely described, discussed, and challenged. Among those who affirm
that art can make a difference, the inaugural Honolulu Biennial 2017 may well be viewed as among
those creative global crucibles facilitating educational achievements and instigating heightened publicawareness that effect change.
11

Where the mo‘o lives: a perspective
Nāpali Aluli Souza and Manulani Aluli Meyer

I ulu no ka lālā i ke kumu.
We are products of our genealogical connections.
There is a belief that art starts at nothing. An empty canvas. A blank page. A shapeless mass. It is said thatthe job of the artist is to bring something new into existence, something out of the void, something that
did not exist before.
In Hawai‘i, genealogy is the meta-structure of space, place, and time. Genealogy is how we connect toeach other and to ‘āina; from ka wā kahiko, to right now, to the space and time in front of us. In Hawaiian
thinking, all our beliefs, perceptions, practices, neuroses - the stuff of creative inspiration - they are
inheritances. They exist because of succession.
Mo‘o is the Hawaiian word for succession and continuity. Mo‘o are also ancient reptilian beings, revered
as ancestral gods and guardians of Hawaiian fishponds. It’s no coincidence that the word for genealogy
is mo‘okū‘auhau, the word for grandchild is mo‘opuna, and the word for story is mo‘olelo. Mo‘o is what
they share. Family lineage is biological and spiritual succession. Stories, and the knowledge they contain,
survive because of ‘ōlelo, because of talking and speaking, and through expression and practice, from one
generation to the next. Succession. Continuity. Purpose. Meaning.
In the same vein, art is the succession of human connection. The job of the artist then is to situatematerial in a way that triggers a connection at the level of meaning-making. In that space between theartist and the viewer, this is where the mo‘o lives. It is born from the artist’s genealogy, a hologram ofpresent/past, and within it the ability to transmit mo‘olelo far into the future. Here is where culture
matures. Here is where society transforms. Here is where mo‘olelo inspires.
So, art starts not at nothing. It begins and thrives where the mo‘o lives, and the mo‘o lives in succession.
It is the verb-nature of all life found in meaning-making, continuity, and the creative endeavor some callArt. The question remains: Where does the mo‘o live in this very first Honolulu Biennial?
Pu‘upu‘u lei pali i ka ‘ā‘ī.
Even the different and imperfect lei is beautiful when worn, like the foliage in the cliffs.
Diversity is essential to the acceptance of oneself and of others. It is the fiber of culture.
We are not avid consumers of art. We are producers. Whether we call it design, pot-luck, lei-making,stone carving, aloha ‘āina, or setting an imu for a family lū‘au. We here in Hawai‘i have our own ways toexperience the purpose and function of creativity. The mo‘o thrives where meaning is shared. Continuity
is thus found in how that sharing makes sense. We have never fully acquiesced to mainstream society’s
belief in art as a creation of artists for sale in galleries. What is the function of that? How is culture
strengthened and extended?

12

Contemporary art here in the Islands for Kanaka ‘Ōiwi includes all expressions of life: music, dance, chant,care of land, child rearing, teaching, painting, surfboard shaping. The list is endless. The mo‘o thus lives inall forms of continuity, and because continuity evolves as culture, what then is the culture of the Honolulu
Biennial? Will we add something unique on a world-stage as Island people, or will we simply link ourselves
to a world-wide art phenomenon as another venue for the machinations of capital and political will?

‘A‘ohe hana nui ke alu ‘ia.
No task is too big when done together by all.
Effulgent coherence, the idea that our values touch everything simultaneously, is an operating philosophyof Island peoples. We here in occupied Hawai‘i know this as a touchstone for consciousness in our daily
lives. Aloha aku, aloha mai - Love comes from loving. Here is the purpose of life; the mutual causal
world explaining why things endure. Does meaning sit at the surface of things, or do we engage in thespace “between” to create the on-going function of what meaning exists to produce? Here is where thecontemporary of art makes sense to us. Yes, the mo‘o is found in the quality of how things are done, notjust the product.
Meaning is then also found in what the designated artist accomplished and how the fullness of thatevent was experienced – by everyone and at every moment. Here is an example: This Honolulu Biennial
has been produced through the vision of people. A small and fresh collective formed around the ideathat Hawai‘i has something to express on a world-stage. Some called them naïve. Many doubted. They
persisted, however, against all obstacles, odds and nay-sayers. It was to take them countless hours andyears of volunteering, planning, meeting and struggle to come to this stage of what you now see.
We have before us a miracle of vision, persistence and trust. Three relentless founders discovered aninternational art director, an indigenous curator, and a cast of creative characters to pull off something
unknown, untried and spectacular. So, what then is it? Does the mo‘o live in this exhibition? In Hawai‘i
we thus can ask the question: Is aloha present? Have friendships survived the toss and turmoil of putting
it on? Is there community forming around the concept of meaning-making in all its expressions? How is
the quality of relationships being forged as ideas develop? What culture is found when strangers, friends,
Board members, co-workers and artists share their excellence? Does the growing collective of individuals
become ‘ohana? Aloha aku, aloha mai: does continuity exist in how people are being cared for?
The mo‘o runs throughout the all of life, but she lives where aloha finds safe harbor. We have seen
it and cheered it on in both process/product of this very large public experiment. However, she has
been tentative to claim a global space, but stepping from the shadow of all odds she now asks fromus: Can Hawai‘i maintain the Aloha Spirit that has made us distinct in the world, or do we collapse into
mainstream art rhetoric based on a-cultural assumptions of power and money? Here is the question weare asking in this essay. Here is the question we are asking the world.

Aloha mai, aloha aku. Continuity comes from loving.
Here is where the mo‘o lives.

13

SPONSORS AND PARTNERS
TITLE AND FOUNDING SPONSOR
Howard Hughes Corporation, Ward Village
FOUNDERS’ CIRCLE
State of Hawai‘i, State Legislature of Hawai‘i
Taiji and Naoko Terasaki Family Foundation
CURATOR’S CIRCLEBank of Hawai‘i Foundation
Creative New Zealand
DISTINGUISHED SPONSORS
Hawai‘i Tourism Authority
Korea Foundation
Neiman Marcus
BENEFACTORS
Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
Cognoscenti Japan LLC
Don Quijote (USA) Co., Ltd.
Engaging the Senses
Hawai‘i Gas
HOSPITALITY SPONSORS
Hawai‘i Prince Hotel Waikiki
The Surfjack Hotel & Swim Club
Halekulani
CREATIVE PARTNER
Nella Media GroupMEDIA SPONSORS
Anthology Marketing Group
ArtAsiaPacific
Art Monthly Australasia
Art News New ZealandartnetHonolulu Magazine
PacRim Marketing Group Inc.
Stryker, Weiner & Yakota
Summit Magazine

14

VALUED SPONSORS
A&E Equipment Rentals Inc.
Accel Party Rentals and Design
Aēsop
Air Tahiti Nui
Alert Alarm of Hawai‘i
Alston, Hunt, Floyd & Ing
Enterprise Holdings
HonBlue
Kelly Ann Brown Foundation
Mori Art Museum
ProService Hawai‘iSouthern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits
COMMUNITY PARTNERSArt Explorium
The ARTS at Marks Garage
Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum
Center for Pacific Islands Studies, School of Pacific 		
and Asian Studies at University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
City and County of Honolulu
Consulate General of Japan in Honolulu
Foster Botanical Garden
Hawai‘i International Film Festival
Hawai‘i Tourism Japan
Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau
Honolulu Hale
Honolulu Museum of Art‘Iolani SchoolO‘ahu Visitors Convention Bureau
Mayor’s Office of Culture & the Arts
MORI by Art + Flea
Nā Mea Hawai‘i
Pegge Hopper Gallery
Shangri La Center for Islamic Arts and Cultures
Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office
TautaiDISTINIGUISHED SPONSORS
Yusaku Maezawa
Yoji Shimizu

INDIVIDUAL DONORSBENEFACTORS
Anonymous
Cristiano Cairati
Michael and Kristen Chan
Glen S. and Sakie T. Fukushima
Ambassador Omar Ghobash
Jonathan Kindred
Yoshiko Mori
PATRON
Gloria Lau
FELLOW
Wana‘ao Eldridge
Stacey and Sam HughMike Watanabe
FRIEND
Mona Abadir
Katherine Don
Brian Doyle
Meli James
Bruce L’Orange
Li Lundin
Shaunagh Guinness Robbins
Sherron Rosenberger
Heather Shimizu
Darryl WongSUPPORTER
Edith W. Don
Bennett Lieberman
LUMINARIESBaryn Futa
Suzanne Sato

DONORSElba Agusti
Grimanesa Amoros
Roger Bellinger
Bea Camp
Eric Chang
John Hoke
Jane Katayama
Deirdre and Eugene Lau
Christine Limbach
Kourtney Logan
Katherine Love
Eric Lundin
John Lundin
Tadia Lynch
Leila Mahdjub-Hughes
Maile Meyer
Janetta Napp
Deborah Nehmad
Jessica Ragusa
William Rinehart
Michele Snyder
Robert Strain
Audry Tafoya
Joshua Tengan
Linda Tyler
Kathleen Vickland

If you enjoyed your experience, we welcome your support.
Please make your tax-deductibledonation here:
www.honolulubiennial.org/join.
For corporate sponsorship opportunities during Honolulu
Biennial 2017 and future iterations, visit:www.honolulubiennial.org/partners and contact Katherine
Ann Leilani Tuider: katherine@honolulubiennial.org.
For opportunities to volunteer, contact Carol Khewhok:
carol@honolulubiennial.org.

15