Abstract
(2025). In Coblentz, C. (Ed.), Transformative Currents: Art and Action in the Pacific Ocean (1500th ed., pp. 138-141). Oceanside Museum of Art as part of PST ART: Art & Science Collide, presented by Getty.
Whiri Iwi Tuna artwork production still images and exhibition installation images, for the interdisciplinary video installation which explores marine biodiversity in Taranaki, Aotearoa New Zealand. Collaborating with Taranaki Iwi's Te Kāhui o Taranaki Takutai Kaitiaki (coastal custodians), the artists investigate the ecological impact of settler-colonial land mismanagement on aquatic ecosystems. The installation focuses on the critical junction where Te Whanganui river meets Ngā Tai a Kupe and Te Tai-O-Rehua, documenting the paradoxical role of water currents as both life-sustaining forces and vectors of pollution. Through multi-channel video and sound techniques, the work adopts the perspectives of local aquatic species—tuna (eels), īnanga (whitebait), kōaro, and koura (crayfish)—revealing their navigation of and adaptation to polluted environments. The installation's curved monitor arrangement mimics the movement patterns of tuna, highlighting their remarkable adaptability despite environmental degradation. These long-lived creatures, which can survive up to 90 years, perceive changes in water currents through specialized lateral lines, literally "feeling" the effects of human pollution across generations. The sonic component integrates recordings captured via binaural microphones, hydrophones, and geophones, presenting auditory information beyond normal human perception and exposing the acoustic signatures of climate change and environmental destruction. This methodology addresses knowledge gaps identified by New Zealand's Department of Conservation regarding Taranaki's offshore marine ecology, demonstrating how sonic and visual technologies can document previously inaccessible underwater environments.