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In Pursuit of Venus (infected), 2015-17, by Lisa Reihana in the Oceania exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 29 September – 10 December 2018 © Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, gift of the Patrons of the Auckland Art Gallery, 2014. Additional support from Creative New Zealand and NZ at Venice Patrons and Partners © Image courtesy of the artist and ARTPROJECTS; photo credit: David Parry
Exhibition
Oceania
29 Sep 2018 – 10 Dec 2018
Regular hours
- Saturday
- 11:00 – 16:00
- Sunday
- 11:00 – 16:00
- Thursday
- 11:00 – 16:00
- Friday
- 11:00 – 16:00
Cost of entry
£20 (without donation £18). Concessions available. Under-16s free with a fee-paying adult. Free for Friends of the RA, no booking required. Free for all New Zealand and Pacific Island passport holders (show passport at exhibition entrance).
Address
- 6 Burlington Gardens
- London
- W1S 3EX
- United Kingdom
Marking 250 years since Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific, we celebrate the dazzling and diverse art of the region of Oceania, from the historic to the contemporary.
About
The year is 1768, and Britain is in the throes of the Age of Enlightenment. As a group of artists agrees to found the Royal Academy, Captain James Cook sets sail on a voyage of discovery to track the transit of Venus and search for terra australis incognita – the unknown southern continent, as Europeans called it. What Cook and his crew encounter on arrival is a vast number of island civilisations covering almost a third of the world’s surface: from Tahiti in Polynesia, to the scattered archipelagos and islands of Melanesia and Micronesia.
The indigenous populations they met came with their own histories of inter-island trade, ocean navigation, and social and artistic traditions. This spectacular exhibition reveals these narratives – celebrating the original, raw and powerful art that in time would resonate across the European artistic sphere.
Oceania brings together around 200 exceptional works from public collections worldwide, and spans over 500 years. From shell, greenstone and ceramic ornaments, to huge canoes and stunning god images, we explore important themes of voyaging, place making and encounter. The exhibition draws from rich historic ethnographic collections dating from the 18th century to the present, and includes seminal works produced by contemporary artists exploring history, identity and climate change.
