Colossal squid opens the door to the twilight zone
Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery was packed with young and old enjoying a deep-sea themed evening last Thursday.
The museum hosted a twilight zone-themed evening that coincided with the museum's colossal squid exhibit as well as national Youth Week.
Central Stories manager Paula Stephenson said the event brought 70 children and their families to the museum.
The colossal squid exhibit was loaned to the museum for a month by Te Papa and it contains actual samples from an autopsied squid.
Ms Stephenson said the museum put up a dark twilight zone room to host the loaned exhibit, inspired by the dark area of the ocean with the same name which colossal squids inhabit.
Michael Kelly and daughter 3-year-old Sia read about the colossal squid at the twilight zone event held at Central Stories.
Little is known about the colossal squid and only a few specimens have been studied, she said.
As well as the squid exhibit, there was aquatic creature-themed activities, like making your own jellyfish or biscuit decorating.
For year 9 students and above there was a dark sky photography workshop hosted in the Grant Gallery by Andy Davey.
Mr Davey hosted an interactive talk and when it was dark enough, attendees went outside to put what they learned into practice.
Ms Stephenson said she was absolutely happy with how the event went.
Enjoying one of the arts and crafts activities on offer during the evening is 8-year-old Scarlett Pritchard.
"It was great to see the kids ... be able to celebrate Youth Week and for the kids to be able to take part in some of these interactive activities and learn a bit more about the colossal squid and under the sea."
Nibbles and drinks were also on hand for visitors including squid rings, in keeping with the theme of the evening.
The night was well received by parents, some of who had not visited the museum before.
"They were quite pleasantly surprised about how amazing it was, it was very positive comments, very positive," she said.
The colossal squid exhibit runs until early June and staff from Te Papa will come to return the exhibit to Wellington on June 9.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
13-07-2025
- RNZ News
Decorative Art Design History through Second Hand Shopping
history arts 32 minutes ago As avid opshoppers will know, second hand and antique stores still turn up treasures. Objects from past eras, fallen foul of fashion but that will inevitably return to the cool shelf. Of such shoppers Poneke Wellington's Walter Cook is a collector legend. Cook's first purchase was as a 24-year-old student in 1965. It was an art nouveau tea set from the Willis street shop Odds and Ends. Cook didn't just have a rare passion for old things, as an obsessive collector and reader he had the rare ability to think beyond trends and smartly create a rich private collection, at a bargain. A collection that tells the history of decorative art, from the Arts and Crafts Movement from the 1860s on, through Art Deco, to 1970s modernism. And then, just as the market caught up with Walter in the late 1980s, Cook had the public largesse to gift his collection to the nation. Justine Olsen is curator of decorative art and design at Te Papa. The title of her recently released book Towards Modernism: The Walter Cook Collection at Te Papa, is deceptive. Deceitive because this smartly designed book iss about far more than just about Walter Cook and the collection. It provides an accessible history of modern decorative art as it relates to Aotearoa as a trading nation. It also highlights notable designers through beautiful objects, and chronicles many great retailers and passionate antique dealers along the way. She spoke to Culture 101's Mark Amery.
Scoop
27-06-2025
- Scoop
Taikura Kapa Haka Returns To Te Papa For Matariki
This weekend, Te Papa will once again come alive with the wairua of over 600 kaumātua as Taikura Kapa Haka 2025 takes centre stage. This annual festival celebrating and showcasing kapa haka and kaumātua takes over Aotearoa New Zealand's national museum on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 June. Whether you're a long-time supporter or a first-time attendee, nau mai, haere mai, tautoko mai – come and witness the living legacy of kapa haka. The event will also be livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube, watched by over 100,000 people from around the world, and ensuring whānau near and far can join in the celebration. Each of the 17 regional, marae-based, and hāhi rōpū brings its own regional flair, waiata, and kōrero, creating a rich and vibrant showcase of traditional Māori performing arts, deeply rooted in whakapapa, tikanga, and mātauranga. Chair of He Kura Te Tangata Trust, Turongo Paki says, 'Taikura kaumaatua kapa haka is a festival for all kaumaatua from across the motu to gather and share our culture, the culture that was left behind to us by our tuupuna. 'Although this kaupapa has grown and has become popular, we still have a kaupapa to maintain and that's to celebrate iconic composers such a Tuini Ngawai, Paraire Tomoana, Kingi Tahiwi, Te Puea Herangi, Kingi Ihaka and many more. 'Taikura is the only platform where you would find such taonga showcased by our revered reanga, our kaumatua', adds Turongo. Te Papa Kaihautū | Māori Co-leader, Dr Arapata Hakiwai acknowledges the importance of this kaupapa. 'Taikura Kapa Haka is a deeply powerful celebration of whakapapa, vitality, unity, and our kaumātua who are the taonga of our communities. 'When they stand on stage, they carry the voices of their tīpuna and the hopes of their mokopuna. Their strength, grace, and aroha remind us who we are and where we come from. 'This event embodies the spirit of Matariki mā Puanga: coming together, honouring our past, and looking forward with hope. 'It's an honour for Te Papa to host these living legends.' Carl Ross Te Matatini Te Manahautū | Chief Executive says, 'It's proven that participation in kapa haka promotes physical and mental wellbeing, while the social connections and cultural pride enhances mental health and emotional resilience. 'The Taikura Festival invigorates our kaumātua and gives whānau an opportunity to support and celebrate their nannies and koros performing on stage. 'I am pleased that Te Matatini will continue to strengthen our longstanding relationship with Te Papa as a supporter of Taikura 2025.' Taikura Kapa Haka 2025 is supported by Te Matatini, Te Māngai Pāho, Te Tumu Paeroa, and Te Taura Whiri I te Reo Māori. About Taikura Kapa Haka: The origins of Taikura Kapa Haka date back to early 2000s and the late Te Arikinui Kahurangi (Dame) Te Atairangikaahu who saw the need for performers who no longer participated in Māori performing arts competitions to have a place where old action songs, poi, haka, and waiata could be performed again. As a result, in 2005, under the chairmanship of the late Tama Huata, Taikura was introduced to Te Matatini with the kaupapa of reviving and performing compositions that were composed prior to 1970 by iconic figures such as Princess Te Rangi Pai, Ariki Te Puea Herangi, Hone Heke. Sir Apirana Ngata, Paraire Tomoana, Kingi Tahiwi, Guide Bella, Te Aritaua Pitama, Tuini Ngawai, and many others. In 2008 the He Kura Te Tangata Trust was formed to oversee the kaupapa with the late Tama Huata as the inaugural Chair, alongside trustees, Te Paekiomeka Ruha, Mamae Takerei, Julie Dwyer and the late Puti Mackey.
RNZ News
25-06-2025
- RNZ News
Four questions museum visitors should ask themselves this school holidays
By Olli Hellmann of An exhibition of Tūrangawaewae Art at Te Papa in 2018. Photo: Supplied/ Te Papa Analysis - The winter school holidays will mean families across Aotearoa New Zealand will be looking for indoor activities to entertain children. With millions of visitors each year, museums focused on the country's history will inevitably play host to local and international visitors. Museums tend to enjoy a high level of trust among the public. They're widely seen as neutral, factual sources of historical knowledge. But like all forms of storytelling, museums present the past in particular ways. They narrate events from a certain group's or individual's perspective and explain why events unfolded in the way they did. In this respect, museums are not so different from historical films. Consider the different ways two recent movies - 1917 and the remake of All Quiet on the Western Front - narrate the first world war. In 1917, the storyteller takes the British side, encouraging viewers to invest in the bravery and endurance of British soldiers. But All Quiet on the Western Front is narrated from a German perspective, inviting viewers to grieve for German soldiers as victims of a political system that glorified war. Museum exhibitions tell stories in a similar way. Visitors should be asking not just what story is told, but why. Spoiler alert: it often has to do with national identity. Museums tell particular stories of the past because these stories support a particular image of New Zealand as a nation. At its core, every story has two basic ingredients: actors and events. To turn these into a compelling narrative, the storyteller connects the events into a plot, so they build on each other. The storyteller also transforms actors into characters by giving them particular traits - brave, selfish, wise, cruel and the like. Museums do this, too. As you move through a museum exhibition, try asking yourself the following questions: 1. Which historical events are included - and which are left out? Every story begins somewhere. Museums choose which events to include and which to leave out, shaping how visitors understand what happened and why. Take Te Papa's Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War exhibition. It opens with the landing at ANZAC Cove but skips over events in the lead-up to WWI - such as Britain's earlier moves to seize Ottoman territories like Cyprus and Egypt. Leaving these out helps frame Gallipoli as a noble - albeit tragic - "coming of age" for New Zealand. But in reality, ANZAC soldiers were fighting to support Britain's imperial ambitions in the Middle East. 2. How are events organised into a plot? Museums don't just say "this happened, then that happened". They link events into a larger plot - a chain of cause and effect that explains how one thing led to another. This can happen through text, but also through spatial layout, lighting, sound and other techniques that guide visitors through rising and falling moments of narrative tension. Often, museums use familiar plot types to connect events. One common example is the quest narrative - a story in which heroes must navigate unknown terrain, and where mistakes are part of the journey and threaten to derail the mission. It's a bit like The Lord of the Rings: a journey full of challenges, wrong turns and personal growth. At Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi, Aotearoa New Zealand's Treaty story is told using this quest structure. The Treaty is presented as something unique and unfamiliar and the British, confronted with this unknown, fall back on familiar colonial practices - the "mistake" that led to the New Zealand wars. Because this misstep is treated as part of the learning curve typical of any quest, the exhibition avoids harder questions about this violent part of history, and instead preserves the image of Aotearoa New Zealand as fundamentally tolerant and respectful. 3. Who are the main actors in the story - and who is missing? Every story needs protagonists, and whose perspective frames the story matters. In many smaller regional museums, history is still told almost entirely from the viewpoint of European settlers. But what about Māori experiences of colonisation? Or the histories of Chinese communities and other migrants who arrived in the 1800s? By focusing narrowly on European settlers as the main actors, these museums present a one-sided view of the past and construct an image of New Zealand as a European nation - one that expects others to assimilate. 4. How are the main actors characterised - and how are we meant to feel about them? It's not surprising that museums portray some actors positively and others less so. What's more revealing is how certain individuals are elevated as symbols of the nation and how museums invite us to form personal connections with them. In Te Papa's Gallipoli exhibition, visitors can open drawers and boxes containing soldiers' personal belongings. This intimate activity encourages us to feel close to these figures - not just learning about them, but identifying with them as embodying national qualities: bravery, resilience and a commitment to peace. Historical museum narratives aren't necessarily inaccurate - but, much like historical movies, they are selective. They highlight certain events, actors and cause-and-effect chains to tell a particular kind of story. Often, that story supports a specific idea of what it means to be an Aotearoa New Zealander. By reading museum exhibitions with a critical eye, visitors can better understand not just the past, but how storytelling shapes national identity in the present - and imagine how it might be shaped differently. This story was first published on The Conversation .
