Museum of new Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and One Day Sculpture present James Luna's Urban (Almost) Rituals.

Live and online Thursday 14 May, 8am - 4pm New Zealand time.

Native American artist James Luna (Luiseño, Pooyukitchchum/Ipai) will present his work Urban (Almost) Rituals in the Te Papa Amphitheatre. This newly-developed performance/installation is about native survival in urban settings, and was commissioned by Te Papa as the Museum’s contribution to the One Day Sculpture project.

The day and the work will unfold from 8am on 14 May, in the Te Papa Amphitheatre. In the event of bad weather, the event will take place in Te Papa's Soundings Theatre.

Costumed in his self-described character of the Shame Man, Luna will perform a series of actions and rituals as he forms a spiral, acting as circus ringmaster, court jester, and occasional merchant of venom.

James Luna is an internationally recognised conceptual artist who works with installation and performance. These, he believes, offer ‘… an opportunity like no other for Indian people to express themselves in traditional art forms of ceremony, dance, oral traditions and contemporary discourse without compromise. Within these spaces, one can use a variety of media …so that there is no limit to how and what is expressed.’

James Luna came to New Zealand on a three-week research trip in January and, with Te Papa curators Charlotte Huddleston (Curator Contemporary Art) and Megan Tamati-Quennell (Curator Contemporary Māori and Indigenous Art), travelled and met a variety of people, including tangata whenua (local Māori, tribal representatives) and artists in Wellington, Auckland, Taranaki, Christchurch, and Dunedin. The final form of Luna’s work will respond to what he experienced during this trip.

The James Luna project is the first commissioned art project Te Papa has undertaken with an international indigenous artist. For those who can’t make it to Te Papa, James Luna’s total presentation will be web streamed live on www.tepapa.govt.nz/jamesluna

The research phase of the trip was covered on the Te Papa blog site, and updates on the development of the project will be posted in the lead up to the presentation of the work at http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/category/art/

For more information on James Luna: http://www.jamesluna.com/

The One Day Sculpture project involves a partnership between all of the leading art institutions around New Zealand. For more information on these projects and the upcoming symposium: http://onedaysculpture.org.nz/