Past Exhibitions

2023 Oranjehof Exhibition

Have a Sniff at Scented Artworks

Olfactory Art – Geurkunst – in Aotearoa 

Netherlands-New Zealand Collaboration introduces an old ‘new’ art form

1 April - 2 July, 2023 - Māpuna Kabinet art gallery, Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom, Foxton

An international collaboration between Dutch and New Zealand artists will put a bright spotlight on olfactory art. The avant-garde 'Smells like Roses – Rozengeur' exhibition, in Foxton’s Māpuna Kabinet Art Gallery, will run until early July (1 week closure from 27 May to 4 June).

New Zealand galleries have paid fleeting attention to the art form in the recent past. And a smattering of new perfumers have set up exciting businesses over the last few years – perhaps even the beginnings of an artisanal industry. But olfactory art is still largely an unknown, in Aotearoa.  Listen here for a fun interview on RNZ National Radio.  

Have you ever wanted to experience multi-dimensional art? To walk up to artwork and smell the flowers or the forest in the picture? Now you can at the sensuous art exhibition 'Smells like Roses - Rozengeur.'

Let scented art pieces from the Netherlands and Aotearoa take you on a journey of the mind. Walk among moss and pines. Smell the roses and explore lush scents wafting towards you. 

"Artworks, imbued with scents, are known to create intimate or mood-changing experiences that can evoke memories and emotions," says Arjan van der Boon, Co-Chair of the Oranjehof Dutch Connection museum and co-curator of the exhibition. 

"Dutch museums have used paper strips or 'scent dispensers' to evoke, for example, 18th-century canal house odours – both fragrant and foul. Today, established institutions like the Rijksmuseum, where the old Dutch masters are on display, use smells to let visitors more holistically experience the past. These are the new techniques and approaches to art that we want to introduce to New Zealand audiences."

 "Olfactory art is all the rage in the United States of America and Japan, and let's have a sniff at it in Aotearoa as well," Arjan explains.

 In New Zealand, a few artists and scientists are exploring the field. One of the few artists working in Olfactory art is Raewyn Turner. Raewyn and her artistic partner Brian Harris work predominantly in Aotearoa but have received recognition for their ground-breaking and innovative work, especially in Europe and the United States of America.

Other artists who will participate with Raewyn and Brian are Caro Verbeek, Claudia De Vos and Frank Bloem. Caro has worked on the smells of the Battlefield of Waterloo and an 18th-century canal house to make those scents come alive again.
"Frank was commissioned to undertake a project through the 'Embassea of the North Sea.’ Most Dutch immigrants will have fond childhood memories of trips to the Noordzee and its popular holiday places. We want to bring that intense nostalgia back here. The 'Big Dutch Day Out' in April brings thousands of 'Dutchies' to Foxton, and they will love it," says Arjan.

'Rozengeur' is a first for Oranjehof – an art exhibition through international collaboration. This signifies the importance and benefits of exchanges, inclusivity and diversity – in an ever more fractured world.

"Art isn't always accessible to everyone," says Arjan. "Often, visually impaired people are excluded. This Olfactory art exhibition is making art inclusive to all, including sight-impaired people and people with other disabilities like synaesthesia. Whether you're an art lover, a rose lover, someone loving scents, or just curious, bring your friends and whānau and experience art as you've never done before."

Smells like Roses – Rozengeur exhibition
1 April to 27 May and 5 June to 2 July 2023
Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom
Māpuna Kabinet Art Gallery. 92 Main Street, Foxton
Free entry. Open daily. Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 4pm. Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 5pm

 

For further info, please contact Arjan van der Boon, on 027 494 3658.

Background Resources: 

raewynturner.com

geurambassadeur.nl 

thesnifferoo.com

journeythroughthesenses.org/caro-verbeek

teawahou.com  /  oranjehof.org.nz

 

 

Past Exhibitions

2022 Oranjehof Exhibition

Ans Westra Photographs: after Handboek

 Modern Aotearoa in the Making:  A Photographic Record Spanning Almost 50 Years

Street level culture, change and tensions – Through the lens of an immigrant

23 April - 19 June, 2022 - Māpuna Kabinet art gallery, Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom

She witnessed a great many defining social events, over many decades. An unobtrusive woman, staring intently into a vintage Rolleiflex camera at chest height – documenting life as it unfolded in front of her.

Ans Westra captured the nation’s cultural and generational changes on film, like no other.  

Some 80 of her finest works will be on display in an art exhibition that opens on Saturday 23 April, in the Māpuna - Kabinet art gallery in Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom, Foxton. The show is based on the 2004 retrospective exhibition and significant publication ‘Handboek’, organised by BWX. 

“Handboek provides an in-depth insight into the photographic journey of one of our country’s most persistent documenters,” says Luit Bieringa, curator and coordinator of the BWX Handboek project.

“To see part of that collection of works come to life again, for yet another generation of admirers – in an art gallery with both a Dutch and Māori name – is a fitting tribute to Ans’ work. Several of her ‘photo-stories’ addressed race relations, at a time when that discussion and public reactions were much more fraught than today. It is good to see how far we’ve moved forwards, as a nation.”  

The ‘Ans Westra Photographs: after Handboek’ exhibition features photos ranging from extra-ordinary street scenes to moving marae gatherings, and 1960s rock ‘n rollers to 1990s hikoi protesters. It also includes several books featuring Ans’ images, press clippings and the documentary Private Journeys, produced by Jan and Luit Bieringa in 2006.

Born 1936 in Leiden, the Netherlands, Ans immigrated to New Zealand in 1957. She began her career in 1962 as a fulltime freelance photographer, working mainly for the Department of Education and Te Ao Hou, a magazine published by the Department of Māori Affairs.

A defining moment in her career was the publication of Washday at the Pa, a school journal made for eight-year-olds, which followed a day in the life of a rural Maori family awaiting relocation to a state house in the city. It was controversially withdrawn from circulation by the Department of Education, following protests by the Maori Women’s Welfare League. 

“Ans has been a dedicated supporter of our Oranjehof museum initiative from day one,” says Arjan van der Boon, Co-chair of the Dutch Connection Centre museum trust.

“We are proud to feature eight of her works permanently in our exhibition. Putting 80 more

on display in the gallery, means we can finally say ‘thank you’ to Ans for all her support.

“We want to offer Ans public recognition for her magnificent contribution to documenting a nation in transition. To do that in Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom, will be a fitting tribute,” says Arjan. “After all, we are a multi-cultural facility that was established through a partnership between mana whenua, Dutch immigrants, and mainstream pākeha represented through Horowhenua District Council.”   

Dutch Ambassador, Mira Woldberg and the Hon Marja Lubeck will open the ‘Ans Westra Photographs: after Handboek’ exhibition on Saturday 23 April, at the ‘Big Dutch Day Out’.

 

As the official launch of a nationwide ‘Dutch Week’, the day is organised by Dutch windmill De Molen, next to Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom.

“Dutch Week aims to enhance the visibility of local Dutch communities and businesses, and the contributions they make to a diverse New Zealand”, says Arjan.

Landmarks around the country such as the Michael Fowler Centre and the Sky Tower will light up orange – the national colour of the Netherlands. A Dutch Film Festival features in the three major cities and a nationwide Dutch Speech Competition for youngsters will promote Dutch language.  

“We are celebrating Dutch Week in Aotearoa for the second year in a row now,” says Arjan. “Having Ans showing us her view of our nation at the same time, through the unique lens of an immigrant witnessing history in the making, will make that occasion extra special.”

Ans has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout her career, including the prestigious Commonwealth Photography Award in 1986, as the Pacific regional winner.

She was awarded the Companion of the Order of New Zealand Merit (CNZM) for services to photography in 1998. And Ans received an Arts Foundation Icon Award in 2007, and an Honorary Doctorate from Massey University, Wellington, in 2015. She lives and works in Wellington.  

Ans’ print archive and copyright is managed by David Alsop, director of {Suite} Gallery and co-ordinator of this exhibition at Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom.  {Suite} has gallery locations in Wellington and Auckland – prints from the exhibition are for sale.

 Ans Westra Photographs: after Handboek – Māpuna Kabinet Art Gallery: 23 April – 19 June

Māpuna – Kabinet Art Gallery
Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom
92 Main Street, Foxton 

Suite Gallery
{Suite} acts as agent for Ans Westra.                www.suite.co.nz    /   04 976 7663                  
189 Ponsonby Road, Auckland 1011                 241 Cuba Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011

2021: A Colourful Nation – Kleur Bekennen

The Works of Leon van den Eijkel – A Retrospective

 

24 April - 25 July, 2021

Māpuna Kabinet art gallery, Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom

Leon van den Eijkel’s brightly coloured works are often tinged with humour and irreverence, as he attempts to capture the anarchic and wild essence of Aotearoa – with a finely honed and highly structured Dutch cultural mindset. An impressive retrospective of his paintings and sculptures has been curated by Oranjehof and is on show from 24 April to 25 July.

Unfortunately Leon can never admire his own Retrospective, as he passed away on Thursday 15 April. More on that sad development at the bottom of this page.

The foundations of Leon’s work are deeply rooted in the style set by fellow Dutch artist Mondriaan. But he uses his own vibrant ‘Pacific Palette’ to surprise and delight his audiences.

A 'Stijl' of his own

Leon’s quirky sculptures can be found on the Wellington waterfront, new suburbs like Auckland’s Hobsonville, and the Gibbs Farm sculpture park – where his giant ‘Red Cloud Confrontation’ features side by side with some of the world's most significant artists in a gently undulating landscape.

Leon calls his Pacific colours art a dialogue between European modernism and southern hemisphere environment. ‘A Colourful Nation – Kleur Bekennen’ shows Leon’s development after his arrival in New Zealand in the 1980s. Seeing his work evolve and transition from the 1980s onwards, gives the impression that the freedom Leon found in Aotearoa – with its dazzling light, colours and untamed landscapes – enabled and stimulated him to gradually step away ever further from his organised, structured, disciplined Dutch urban background. In doing so, he found new ways to express who and what we are – as a colourful, multi-cultural nation.

A transformation - Inspired by Aotearoa

Leon burst on to the Aotearoa New Zealand art scene in the mid-1990s, with several major exhibitions. Works that haven’t been seen by the public since then, are brought out from Te Papa to cover his artistic journey from his formative years to today.

The opening of ‘A Colourful Nation – Kleur Bekennen’ will coincide with the first ever ‘Dutch Week’ in Aotearoa New Zealand, and the unveiling of a 50m mural by Leon’s friend and fellow artist Jan van der Ploeg from Amsterdam, on the Oranjehof wall of the Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom building. 

“To the rationalism of a distinctly European modernism, van den Eijkel adds the chaotic excess of a Pacific post-modernism. Not only is this manifested in his discovery of a new, more expansive palette, but it is also evidenced in the multiple, three dimensional form of the work.”

Christina Barton, 1995, Curator Contemporary Art, on ‘MondriAn after MondriAAn’ in Te Papa

A Sad Development - Thursday 15 April, 2021

It is with great sadness that we have to share the news of Leon van den Eijkel’s passing. A truly outstanding artist and dear friend to many, Leon left us peacefully on Thursday evening, 15 April. He was truly looking forward to join everybody at the opening of 'Colourful Nation', and it is a cruel twist of fate that he cannot be part of that career highlight.

It was an honour and a privilege to work with Leon, especially over the last 10 months or so, when we were curating his retrospective: ‘Colourful Nation – Kleur Bekennen’.

We discussed whether the  the 3-month exhibition, in the Māpuna Kabinet art gallery in Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom, should go ahead. Together with the family, the decision was made that Leon would have wanted it that way.

Colourful Nation is a celebration of Leon’s life and work, giving people a hint of his early years as an artist – and the brilliantly colourful transformation he underwent as a post-modern multimedia artist in Aotearoa New Zealand.

We aim to put Leon’s memory in the limelight, and honour his life in the arts. ‘Kleur Bekennen’ will showcase his impressive artistic legacy – through a number of works from Te Papa and private collections.

His cheeky sense of humour and his philosophical nature made Leon a dear friend of many. Thankfully, we can all pay our respects in a way he would have loved – in his virtual presence – in a beautiful art show. He will be smiling down upon us…

Goede vriend, we zullen je missen. We zijn allemaal bedroefd. Maar de herinnering aan je humor en je grappige grijns zullen ons altijd bijblijven.

 

2020: Parallax
Shine and Shadows: Spelen met Licht

Exquisite jewellery – Shining its glittery lights in Foxton

There’s jewellery, and then there is ‘art jewellery’. The differences between the two are vast. And that really showed, in the new exhibition ‘Parallax: Shine and Shadows – Spelen met Licht’ in the Mapuna Kabinet gallery in Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom.

The official opening by Ambassador Mira Woldberg, took place on Saturday 17 October, 2020 at 1 pm.

“Dutch artists since Rembrandt’s days have been fond of the concept of ‘spelen met licht’ – or playing with light,” says jeweller Peter Deckers. “We joined up as one painter and three jewellers, to do exactly that. By coming together in Parallax, we’ve created something unique.”

The art on display in the gallery, was all about illusion. The shine and glitter of jewellery played with your imagination. The artworks were surrounded by the shadows and colourful hues of moody paintings by Gerda Leenards, that worked on the emotions.

The artists who came together in the Parallax group exhibition, love to work with light, ideas, concepts, and interesting new angles to look at things.

 “The vibes of our show are pure Aotearoa, but with deep Dutch roots,” says Peter. “Some might say, that it’s all about heritage and discipline – set free in an edgy land far from everywhere else, that’s full of boundless energy and freedom from stifling traditions.”

A slightly different cultural heritage

The Parallax group exhibition shows how the artistic heritage of two nations can influence each other. One draws on another – to create something new and exciting, with an identity of its own. “The concept of ‘Parallax’ is all about how the appearance of objects changes, if you change your position,” says Peter. “After all, the way you view your surroundings, alters what you actually see.” 

“By bringing four different artists together, various perspectives of mood and transformation are presented, so we can hopefully come to see our everyday reality in a different perspective.”

Parallax: Shine and Shadows – Spelen met Licht

Parallax distinguishes itself through the artists’ innovative ways in working with light and shadows. Each creates pieces with a clear Dutch heritage shining through in their art works.

Peter Deckers, Gerda Leenards, Moniek Schrijer, Nina van Duijnhoven

 

Anne Frank exhibition:  ‘Let me be myself’ 

A challenge to prejudice and racism: 2019

The internationally successful and ground-breaking Anne Frank exhibition – ‘Let Me Be Myself’ – opened in Foxton on 1 November, 2019.

The dynamic exhibition created by the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam had already visited 80 countries, and had been seen by more than 10 million people globally.

“This was a very important exhibition for us,” says Yolande van de Wetering, Co-Chair of the Oranjehof Dutch Connection Museum Trust. “I grew up in an era, when the story of Anne Frank and her diary was still very much front of mind.”

“The horrors of World War II and the 5-year German occupation were fresh in everybody’s memories in the Netherlands. Families would talk about their personal experiences, as many had been traumatised.

"In total some 250,000 Dutch people died – or one in every 40 people. And that included more than 100,000 Jews who were deported, and never returned from the death camps. Educating the younger generations about the ultimate consequences of racism is still very relevant today,” says Yolande.

The Diary of Anne Frank captures the real-life story of a young girl, in hiding with her family from the Nazis, in an attic in Amsterdam.

Using a combination of excerpts from Anne Frank’s famous diary, historical artefacts, pictures, video and testimony, the exhibition showed the life of the Frank family and the history of the era - engaging visitors in a discussion about how the same themes affect our modern world.

Drawing on the experiences of teenagers today, the exhibition also talked about disability, prejudice, homophobia and racism in the 21^st century. It challenges the visitor to examine their own core, moral values.

Additional material – including a testimony from a Māori boy and a British immigrant girl – brought the New Zealand experience into sharp focus.

 

Rembrandt van Rijn - Digitally Remastered

Paintings from one of the world’s greatest artists: 2018

Rembrandt Remastered - with digitally remastered, life-size paintings - was on show  from February to April, 2018.

As part of a touring international exhibition, the paintings were digitally reproduced after years of scholarly research and photography of over 300 of Rembrandt’s works. They looked as they would have, when they left Rembrandt’s studio some 400 years ago.

Gallery visitors had a rare opportunity to see high-quality, digitally remastered works from the great Dutch artist - right next door to Oranjehof, the home of Dutch heritage in New Zealand.

Rembrandt Remastered was brought to New Zealand by Agenda Ltd, in collaboration with the Rembrandt Project Foundation and Professor Ernst van de Wetering, Chair of the Rembrandt Project Foundation and acknowledged world specialist.

 

Welcome Aboard - Abel Tasman 2018

In 1642, Abel Tasman and 110 men set sail to on a journey of some 30,000 kilometers on two small wooden boats. No GPS. No weather forecasts. No communications. The roughest southern seas.

The Tasman Exhibition 'Welcome Aboard' was created in the Netherlands, Tasmania and Aotearoa, to tell that epic story - through the eyes of sailors on board of De Heemskerck and De Zeehaen. The encounter with the people of Ngāti Tumatakokiri in Mohua / Golden Bay and the Dutch was an important part of the story told in the exhibition. (Still available on loan.)

In a seminar hosted at the opening of the Exhibition, several experts focused on differents part of the Tasman story. Dave Horry presented insights about the sequence of events in Golden Bay, where he lives. Rudiger Mack showed a range of the evidence on Tasman from the international archives.

Patricia Wallace brought the Maori perspective, looking at the clothing Tumatakokiri were wearing back then. She showed how images of Māori in Abel Tasman's journal led to the recovery of a particular garment still worn by tangata whenua when James Cook reached New Zealand in 1769.