Company of Giants and Pew Charitable Trusts present
Rangitahua: The Stopping Off Place

Audiences will be treated to a live installation experience, a breathing gallery of stories, waiata and music weaving through and responding to the works of art within the Kermadec: Discoveries and Connections exhibition.

Six months after the New Zealand Government declared its intention to establish the 620,000 square kilometre Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary, Company of Giants will bring the Kermadec inspired art of Phil Dadson, Bruce Foster, Fiona Hill, Gregory O’Brien, Jason O’Hara, John Pule, John Reynolds, Elizabeth Thomson and Robin White to life to reveal the remarkable history of human contact with these rugged volcanic islands - stories of resilience, tragedy, exploration and settlement in an investigation of the people drawn to the elemental and isolated isles.

Rangitahua features a collection of historical and contemporary stories and events from the extraordinary islands, woven together with live music and storytelling. From Maori voyagers to American whalers, colonial explorers to eccentric pioneers seeking sanctuary and freedom, Raoul Island has attracted many visitors throughout its history. Indifferently, the rugged, remote volcano half way between New Zealand and Tonga, has resisted human efforts to settle and tame it. Earthquakes, eruptions, extreme weather and isolation have thwarted and discouraged us – we have stopped, we have settled, though we have rarely stayed.

This is a unique, immersive experience for all ages where performance meets visual art in a profound collision that brings to life the myth, history and importance of the Kermadec Islands - at a critical point of history in which it's unique watery surroundings stand to be protected for all. The isolation of the isles have led the evolution of a unique and fragile world, one which New Zealander's continue to work on protecting with the creation of the world's largest ocean sanctuary.

After seasons at the Whangarei Art Museum and Gisborne's Tairawhiti Museum, Company of Giants bring this unique installation performance to join the Kermadec artists at the Academy Galleries, Queens Wharf, Wellington for four days only from April 16 – 19.

'Fascinating....disturbing' – www.theatreview.co.nz