Exhibiting connections, connecting exhibitions: constructing trans-Pacific relationships through museum displays in Oceania (2006-2016)

Christophe, Alice (2016) Exhibiting connections, connecting exhibitions: constructing trans-Pacific relationships through museum displays in Oceania (2006-2016). Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This research explores the correlation between exhibitions and networks in the context
of the 21st century Pacific. Firstly, exhibitions are envisioned as relational and
connective practices that trigger interactions through their making. Secondly,
exhibition-­‐products are regarded as the result of these relationships, which bring
together a wide range of agents including makers, things, spaces and epistemologies.
Applying the Actor-­‐Network-­‐Theory to the field of exhibition studies, this thesis follows
the path of six trans-­‐Pacific museum displays. These case studies were developed
between 2006 and 2016 by three major institutions of Oceania, located in Aotearoa
New Zealand (Auckland Museum), Hawai‘i (Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum) and Taiwan
(Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts).
After a theoretical and methodological introduction, Chapter 2 dwells on the history of
the institutions included in this research and pieces together the genealogical grounds
for each exhibition case study. Short-­‐term exhibitions and their capacity to open new
museum routes are explored in Chapter 3. Long-­‐term displays and the musealisation of
temporary pathways are presented in Chapter 4. While reassembling the trajectories of
each exhibition in Chapter 3 and 4 and connecting their genealogies, this study
examines the existence of parallels, translations and echoes amongst the case studies in
Chapter 5. Chapter 6 further emphasises these relationships and equally dwells on the
limitations and impacts of connective narratives by analysing the Pacific maps displayed
in these trans-­‐Pacific exhibitions.
By and large, this research explores the increasing development of a trans-­‐Pacific
culture of display in Oceania, which is examined through the lens of exhibitions
developed and presented in this region at the dawn of the 21st century.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Art, Media and American Studies
Depositing User:	Users 4971 not found.
Date Deposited:	16 Jun 2017 15:23
Last Modified:	16 Jun 2017 15:23
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/63757
DOI:

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