Awakening The Taniwha - Group Bookings

Awaken the Taniwha! Come along as a group of friends or a team building exercise manifesting your own inner Taniwha. (Technically at 106 Couternay Place)

If you want to make a booking for a different time than those listed, email Linda@sharedlines.org.nz or text 021 0222 6386

Shared Lines Collective invite the public to come together this summer to create, responding to new and existing collaborative artwork, highlighting new ways we are working together in Aotearoa in light of the impact of Covid - following our need to connect better with our environment and each other.

A 72-metre banner has been installed in Te Ngākau Civic Square - flowing long like an awa or river across the outside of vacant civic buildings - the work of 60 artists from around the nation in response to the isolation experienced during Covid lockdown. This work was first shown in Cathedral Square Christchurch as a response to the isolation experienced during our lockdowns.

Pūtahitanga (a word that can be translated to mean a joining place) draws on the surrealist tradition of ‘exquisite corpse’ where each artist contributes an element as part of a collaborative whole.

Awakening the Taniwha provides the opportunity for the public to respond by sharing their own lines. In an inner-city vacant space master carver Natanahira Pona and artists Ngaroma Riley and Frank Topia have provided resources. Linda Lee and other collaborators as hosts will provide a variety of ways for people of all ages to understand taniwha, why our tupuna held them in such high esteem, and how we can maintain relationships with them today. Then make your own taniwha,

Taniwha are supernatural creatures who inhabit rivers, lakes, caves or the sea - some terrifying, others protective. Taniwha are our ancient guide to resource management and perhaps a new way to navigate our understanding of the Covid pandemic.

The space provides a reading and conversational/writing room for sharing perspectives and a weaving space, while an exhibition will include viewings of the 60 Pūtahitanga artists original artworks.

This project also highlights the rich history of Te Whanganui-a-Tara’s own taniwha, Ngake and Whātaitai, and our connection with the natural world.

Shared Lines emerged out of the earthquake events that devastated Canterbury, New Zealand, and Fukushima, Japan in 2011. Shared Lines is now an established collective of artists and art producers that aim to promote artistic exchange between cities and use art to build resilient cities. They have previously held major festivals and events in Christchurch, Japan, Wellington and Kaikōura. First visit the giant Shared Lines: Pūtahitanga work that wraps the Civic buildings inside Te Ngākau Civic Square.

*Children under age 14 should come accompanied by an adult.

With special thanks to LT McGuinness, Urban Dream Brokerage and Wellington City Council.