Continuing the conversation

It's a month since our offsite project, The levelling of Puke Ahu finished. Featuring the work of Bronwnyn Holloway-Smith, Izzy O'Neill & Aliyah Winter, and Angela Kilford, this site-specific project looked at:

1. The complex histories of Wellington's Puke Ahu (Mt Cook), less visible than the site’s dominant narrative – war commemoration.
2. The potential for contemporary artists to catalyse conversation and contribute cultural value, in responding to a carefully controlled government site of remembrance.

We were interested in the way the site now celebrates war memorial as a unifying, 'nation-making' narrative, sometimes at the expense of other voices, and sometimes without giving thought to the resonance of contemporary political decisions with the histories being 'remembered'.

In the lead-up to ANZAC day we have seen the War Memorial Park open, as well as the opening of Te Papa's Gallipoli exhibition and Peter Jackson's Great War Exhibition in the old Dominion Museum. 

We have also seen protests and a number of critical responses to the World War I centenary, so I thought it might be worth collecting them together into a sort of reading list (suggestions and additions welcome! curator@enjoy.org.nz)

Further reading:

• Elisabeth Pointon's essay and interview on The levelling of Puke Ahu exhibition (available as a PDF download)
• A look at government funding for WWI arts and culture projects
• An older piece from Rachel Buchanan on the development of War Memorial Park
• This Enjoy Journal article by Bronwyn Holloway-Smith and Thomasin Sleigh, which was the starting point for The levelling of Puke Ahu 
• Phillip McSweeney, of Victoria University's Salient magazine, on human costs and corporate pile-on
• 'Historical amnesia over New Zealand's own wars' by historian Vincent O'Malley
• Also from Salient, Charlotte Doyle on remembering to remember the NZ Wars
• Video from Te Ara: the story of Mark Briggs, one of NZ's conscientious objectors (featuring artist Bob Kerr, one of Enjoy's neighbours!)
• NZ History: Conscientous objection in the First World War & some contextual information about the (European political and empirical) motivations for WWI
• Daria Malesic, researcher and editor of WW1 Remembered: Sound and Light show, views on ANZAC day 
• Izzy O'Neil researched this article from Alison McCulloch Lest We Remember during the initial stages of her and Aliyah Winter's performance for The levelling of Puke Ahu
• Henry Cooke considers the history of ANZAC Day and the legacy of Gallipoli from a Turkish perspective
• NZ History: Pacific Islanders in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force
• NZ History: The aftermath of WWI for Pacific Islanders
• And for a broad overview and more links to follow through to see the New Zealand Herald's Political roundup: Anzac fatigue and dissent 

Thanks to those who have contributed to this list!