Modded Server-Rack Display with David Darchicourt Commissioned Map of Aotearoa New Zealand; 2015; Powder coated 19" server racks, Cisco Systems WS-C2948G switches, LAN cables, Bachmann power strips, HP Proliant 380DL G5 servers, steel trays, UV prints on Aludibond, laser cut plexiglas letters, powder coated steel and aluminium components, aluminium flagpoles, zinc plated aluminium round spear ornament finals, cord and tassels, nylon flags with brass grommets, architecture models, UV print on sandblasted laminated safety glass, LED strips, custom-made Modulan cabinet system: 254×350×313,5cm.
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Buchholz Berlin/Cologne/New York, Petzel Gallery, Michael Lett, Fine Arts, Sydney, T293 and Altman Siegel.
Modded Server-Rack Display with David Darchicourt Commissioned Map of Aotearoa New Zealand; 2015; Powder coated 19" server racks, Cisco Systems WS-C2948G switches, LAN cables, Bachmann power strips, HP Proliant 380DL G5 servers, steel trays, UV prints on Aludibond, laser cut plexiglas letters, powder coated steel and aluminium components, aluminium flagpoles, zinc plated aluminium round spear ornament finals, cord and tassels, nylon flags with brass grommets, architecture models, UV print on sandblasted laminated safety glass, LED strips, custom-made Modulan cabinet system: 254×350×313,5cm.
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Buchholz Berlin/Cologne/New York, Petzel Gallery, Michael Lett, Fine Arts, Sydney, T293 and Altman Siegel.
Modded Server-Rack Display with David Darchicourt Commissioned Map of Aotearoa New Zealand; 2015; Powder coated 19" server racks, Cisco Systems WS-C2948G switches, LAN cables, Bachmann power strips, HP Proliant 380DL G5 servers, steel trays, UV prints on Aludibond, laser cut plexiglas letters, powder coated steel and aluminium components, aluminium flagpoles, zinc plated aluminium round spear ornament finals, cord and tassels, nylon flags with brass grommets, architecture models, UV print on sandblasted laminated safety glass, LED strips, custom-made Modulan cabinet system: 254×350×313,5cm.
Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Buchholz Berlin/Cologne/New York, Petzel Gallery, Michael Lett, Fine Arts, Sydney, T293 and Altman Siegel.

This Is New Zealand explores the role art has played in asserting and questioning notions of national identity. It considers how our country has represented itself, and what those representations have included and excluded. It takes a critical look at the stories we have told ourselves—and the stories we have told others—about who we are.

New Zealand has been going to the Venice Biennale since 2001, declaring our internationalism. However, some of our chosen artists have taken the opportunity to tackle old themes of national identity, playing on the Biennale’s anachronistic national-pavilion structure, so reminiscent of World’s Fairs and Expos.

This Is New Zealand re-presents Venice works (by Michael Stevenson, Michael Parekōwhai, and Simon Denny), alongside New Zealand works created for World’s Fairs, Expos, and other diplomatic contexts (by Marcus King, John Drawbridge, Inia Te Wiata, Hugh Macdonald, Para Matchitt, Douglas Lilburn, and Fiona Pardington), and films, TV ads, and early tourism campaigns. There are also new projects exploring national iconography (by Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, Gavin Hipkins, and Emil McAvoy).