A shot of a hilltop awash in saturated red and pink. At the top appears to be the limbs of a human.

Sriwhana Spong, Badlands (2023)

KiriataScreening

Navigating Slowly

Eight works by Aotearoa artists which choreograph new temporal relations with whenua, whakapapa, and our changing ecological world.

Curated by Noel Meek with support from CIRCUIT Artist Moving Image, a screening of eight works by Aotearoa artists made between 2017-23 which seek to choreograph new temporal relations with whenua, whakapapa, and our changing ecological world.

Featuring: Sione Faletau, Jeremy Leatinu’u, Janine Randerson, James Tapsell-Kururangi, Nat Tozer, Noel Meek, Jake Kīanō Skinner, Sriwhana Spong, and Ana Iti.

Navigating Slowly interrogates our relationships with whenua by demonstrating forms of traversal that are slow, that are circuitous or circular, that give still time to place, seeking out new knowledge in the land via reversals, retreats, returns, and hauntings. The programme brings together contemporary artists from Aotearoa who share a meditative approach in their visual practice that runs counter to the accelerated narratives of colonialism and capitalism. The works sit with whenua, telling tales of travel, whakapapa, geology, language, and wairua.

Noel Meek is an artist and composer based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara with a practice that explores relations with the more-than-human through time-based works. He says: "This programme gathers together some of my favourite artworks of the last decade, but I hope it also gives the audience a guide to what I see as common features in local moving image works. Whether it’s Jeremy Leatinu’u’s narrative palindrome of language and migration, Nat Tozer’s meditation on manmade geology, James Tapsell-Kururangi’s familial portrait, or Sriwhana Spong’s saturated dream of Tuscany, these works all share a close attention to time and place, a pace that gives us room for considered thought, and a great generosity of beauty and spirit.”

Screening details

7 March 2026
Dunedin Public Art Gallery
presented by Blue Oyster Project Art Space
Ōtepoti Dunedin

12 March 2026
CIRCUIT
Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington

14 March 2026
Gus Fisher Gallery
as part of the Auckland Arts Festival
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

    Related artistsHe ringatoi anō

    An abstract digital pattern based on Pasifika motifs

    Sione Faletau

    Sione Faletau
    A grey screen with the words that it catches on a current written in white.

    Ana Iti

    Ana Iti
    A large rock sits on a forest floor surrounded by bush. A creek can be seen in the top left-hand side of the frame.

    Noel Meek

    Noel Meek
    An animated swarm of insects in front of a sunset

    Sriwhana Spong

    Sriwhana Spong
    Colourful bits of chewing gum are affixed to the concrete of a suburban fence

    Nat Tozer

    Nat Tozer

    CIRCUIT is the
    leading voice
    for artist moving image
    practice
    in Aotearoa New Zealand,
    distributing works,
    critical review and
    dialogues
    which reflect our unique, contemporary
    South Pacific context.

    Ko CIRCUIT te māngai
    mō ngā mahi toi kiriata
    o Aotearoa, e tuku
    atu ana i ngā mahi toi,
    i ngā arotakenga
    me ngā whakawhitinga
    kōrero e kitea ai
    ngā āhuatanga
    motuhake o tō tātou noho i te ao hou ki
    Te Moananui-a-Kiwa.

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