Fashionably Late, But Worth The Wait! New Opening Date Announced For DIVA At Auckland Museum
Press Release – Auckland Museum
Exclusive international exhibition brings global icons to Auckland from Saturday 28 June
This month, Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum welcomes the spectacular international exhibition DIVA, with a new opening date announced for Saturday 28 June 2025.
Exclusive to Auckland, DIVA is a bold celebration of iconic performers who have defined eras, challenged norms and changed the world through the power of performance.
Developed by London's Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), DIVA showcases over 280 objects, including fashion, photography, costumes, music, and design, featuring trailblazing performers who have made their voices heard from the 19th century to today.
Through theatrical staging and an immersive musical soundtrack experience, DIVA explores stories of the creativity, ambition, and resilience of some the world's best-known divas, from opera goddesses and silent movie stars to Hollywood legends and today's global megastars.
Visitors will encounter legendary names from the worlds of opera, theatre, film, rock and pop music, including Maria Callas, Cher, Madonna, Tina Turner, Marilyn Monroe, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Björk and Billie Eilish and many more.
David Reeves, Tumu Whakarae Chief Executive of Auckland Museum, says DIVA promises to be a spectacular experience.
'We had an unexpected delay to DIVA due to our temporary closure in May, but our team has worked incredibly hard to get us back on track, and we're thrilled to now open DIVA on Saturday 28 June.
' DIVA is a tribute to those who've used performance to challenge convention and push boundaries. This is a celebration of the diva identity in all its power and complexity.
'Visitors will be up close with outfits and objects seen in countless iconic movies, pictures, and performances. The costumes are extraordinary in themselves, but they also represent powerful stories of immense talent, resilience, transformation and cultural revolution.
'These divas didn't just perform, they reshaped the stages they stood on and the world watching them,' says Reeves.
Curated by V&A's Kate Bailey, DIVA explores the performer, not just as artist, but as an activist and trailblazer. The exhibition shows how divas leverage fame and spectacle to advocate for change, from civil rights to gender equality.
Kate Bailey, curator of DIVA, said, 'Today the word diva holds a myriad of meanings. At the heart of this exhibition is a story of iconic performers who with creativity, courage and ambition have challenged the status quo and used their voice and their art to redefine and reclaim the diva.
'It's a privilege to tour DIVA to New Zealand. We are thrilled to be working with Auckland Museum and that this powerful story is being shared around the world. Viva La Diva!' says Bailey.
From exquisite couture gowns and showstopping costumes to intimate personal items, visitors will journey through the worlds of some of history's most magnetic performers, and consider how the very idea of 'diva' has been redefined over time.
The exhibition is split into two acts, the first traces the origin and legacy of the diva across opera, stage, and screen. The second act explores the construction of the modern diva through fashion, voice, image and political power.
Included in the exhibition are over 50 diva looks that have rarely been on public display, including: a stage ensemble worn by Maria Callas as the title role of 'Norma' (1952); the fringed black dress worn by Marilyn Monroe as Sugar 'Kane' Kowalczyk in 'Some Like it Hot' (1959); the only known surviving dress worn by Clara Bow, rarely seen outside of the U.S; iconic costumes designed by fashion designer for the stars Bob Mackie, including looks worn by Tina Turner, P!nk and Cher; a Louis XIV inspired look with towering powdered wig and train worn by Elton John for his 50th birthday celebration, designed by Sandy Powell; and Shirley Bassey 's couture pink gown designed by Julien MacDonald including diamanté-studded wellington boots, worn on stage at Glastonbury (2007).
For Auckland Museum's exhibition, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has lent her millennium coat, worn at the New Year's Day 2000 performance that was broadcast to one billion people around the world.
DIVA is on from Saturday 28 June until Sunday 19 October 2025. Tickets are on sale now at aucklandmuseum.com/diva.
Auckland Museum Membership provides unlimited free entry to DIVA, discounted event tickets and exclusive Member-only events.Find out more at: aucklandmuseum.com/membership.
DIVA is a V&A exhibition touring the world.
DIVA
OPEN SAT 28 JUN – SUN 19 OCT 2025
ADULT $25, CHILD 5–15 $15, UNDER 5 FREE
FAMILY (2 ADULT, 2 CHILD) $72
CONCESSIONS (ADULTS & SENIORS) $23
FREE FOR MUSEUM MEMBERS
DIVA is a dazzling celebration of the artists who have captivated audiences around the world, driven change, and redefined culture. This spectacular international exhibition comes exclusively to Auckland Museum from the V&A in London. Featuring over 280 objects, including show-stopping costumes, fashion, photography, and music, DIVA explores the power, ambition, and artistry of some of the most legendary performers in history.
About the V&A
The V&A is the world's leading museum of art, design and performance, with collections unrivalled in their scope and diversity. It was established to make works of art available to all and to inspire British designers and manufacturers. Today, the V&A's collections, which span over 5000 years of human creativity in virtually every medium and from many parts of the world, continue to intrigue, inspire and inform. vam.ac.uk.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
17-06-2025
- NZ Herald
Who Are You Calling A Diva? What History Tells Us About The Prima Donna
The diva. She's a divine cantatrice and a villainous prima donna. The curator of Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum's upcoming exhibition Diva speaks to Madeleine Crutchley about the fantastical and fraught figure. 'Okay, diva!' There's a kaleidoscope of connotations for this phrase. It could be
Otago Daily Times
11-06-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Exploration key for artists
A collaboration between digital artist Kereama Taepa (Te Arawa, Te Āti Awa), and musician Tiki Taane (Ngāti Maniapoto), Mai Te Uira explores the spirit of creativity. The pair talk to Rebecca Fox about exploring new ideas and trying new things. Everything Kereama Taepa creates begins digitally but can manifest itself physically in all sorts of different ways. It is a world away from growing up carving bone, sculpting clay, painting and drawing — his father is a clay artist, his grandmother a painter. But a random choice during his studies for a bachelor of Māori visual arts at Te Pūtahi-a-Toi, in Palmerston North, to take up a graphic design paper changed everything. "I just loved it so much and I really responded with that way of working — it just felt natural to me." From there it snowballed. Taepa began teaching himself to use other programmes, including 3-D sculpting, where the skills he learned carving and sculpting came in handy. Taepa, who grew up in Upper Hutt, calls his practice and philosophy "whakapai", a term he created to acknowledge the carving (sculpting) of his tīpuna (ancestors) and the digital space he works in. The Māori word for carving is whakairo, the process where the kaiwakairo (carver) chips away at the wood to reveal the sculpture hidden within. "Whakairo" literally translates to "be like the grub", eating away at the wood. "Whakapai" is "to be like the honey bee", Taepa says, which excretes wax from its abdomen and builds its hive layer by layer. "It refers to the artist layering and building up [adding] parts of the work bit by bit in which to create it." He first applied it to 3-D printing but found in reality layering is a fundamental aspect of all digital creation software so he uses the term for both contexts. "With a reductive approach to sculpting like whakairo you are restricted by many things, from your materials, your tools and to the environment also. With these restrictions you can only create in a particular way, only when you extend those restrictions can you start to explore the new." But using an "additive approach" in te ao matihiko/mariko (virtual world) means he can create with fewer restrictions, "even gravity is not always a concern". While all his projects begin digitally they manifest themselves physically in different ways, including bronze, concrete, installations, digital projection mapping, artificial reality, virtual reality or even in a game. "It manifests however I need it to in order to achieve whatever is required at the time for the context of the work." Now a father of five and living in Papamoa, he has found working digitally "just clicks" for him. "I'm definitely not a programmer in any way, but learning and using software has always been something I can do easily, very quickly. It also means I don't have to always worry about certain restrictions the real world has. For instance I mentioned gravity, it really is a bummer. "It also means I don't have a big mess to clean up afterwards, other than sorting and arranging my desktop every once in a while." Although making his designs a reality does mean he has artwork "all over the house hidden in cupboards, under couches, even at my former place of employment, wherever I can find space." He sees his work over the years as being about how digital technologies — "while sometimes not good" — can be used to aid in the advancing of whatever message someone wants to put forward. Mai Te Uira has its origins in plans to take Māori art out into marae and communities instead of them coming into galleries. "I was just keen on the whole idea, I really liked the flipping of the engagement with art, taking it to the marae." For this project, a partnership between The Dowse Art Museum and Chamber Music New Zealand, Taepa also wanted to acknowledge the atua Māori he believes governs digital spaces. It is told through the stories of three auta, Te Uira, the atua of lighting, Tāne Mahuta, a creator himself, and Hine-te-Iwaiwa, the atua of weaving. "It considers creativity, innovation, technology and the essence of digital technologies in our creation stories and how we as Māori whakapapa to that space." Taepa, who has taught on and off over the years at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi and Waiariki, now Toi Ohomai, believes it is not enough to just fill technological spaces with indigenous people and use the technology. "That's not indigenising the tech space. To me, indigenising the tech space is to view that space through that indigenous world view. It should fit into that world view and not the other way around. For us as Māori it begins with whakapapa and how we genealogically connect to that space, only from there can we work in a way that aligns with a Māori world view." He formed these ideas more than 15 years ago and has exhibited work around them many times but it "made sense" for him to put it out there again in this way as Mai Te Uira was going out to marae and community. "It's a proposal of sorts in that it's ultimately up to Māori to agree or disagree with my thoughts around how we whakapapa to te ao matihiko — the digital world." Taepa wrote a karakia some years ago for the creatives who use digital technologies to create their work that acknowledges the atua Māori he thinks govern digital spaces. "It considers creativity, innovation, technology and the essence of digital technologies in our creation stories and how we as Māori whakapapa to that space." He sees Mai Te Uira, which starts with that karakia, as a conceptualisation of the dialogue between himself and te ao Māori — represented in this project by musician Tiki Taane who responds live and unscripted. "Mai Te Uira is a synthesis of that dialogue that happens during or after an introduction of a new concept that which, in time, becomes a part of culture — or not. I suppose it's a meta artwork in that way." Taepa put Taane's name forward for the project when a live music collaboration was suggested as he was a fan and knew he lived close by. But did not think he would seriously consider it. "I was absolutely stoked when he said yes." For Taane, who has been a leading figure in the contemporary New Zealand music scene for more than quarter of a century and currently mixes making music for a video game and other projects with mentoring emerging artists, taking part is a no brainer as he is always keen to push new sounds and visuals and loves what Taepa has done with the digital art. "I love the concept of exploring atua or Māori gods and karakia from the digital realm and what that would look like, sound like. And also, you know, exploring the concept of artificial intelligence and the effect that that has on indigenous cultures and the world today. So, to be able to put all that into a show and then also add music to it and perform was just an awesome challenge." It meant working out how to create music and sound that represents artificial intelligence (AI) and do it from an indigenous point of view. "The things that have been working is the fact that I improvise live and I basically make music and soundscapes and musical ideas live using all sorts of stuff." Along with his guitar, conches, tambourine and mixing desk, he also uses taonga pūoro (traditional instruments) and industrial tools, such as a drill and screws. "I mean, I can't believe I get paid to do this. It's so much fun. And it's like, I'm probably the person who's having the most fun out of everybody in the whole thing." As most of the show is improvised, no two shows are the same. As well as singing, rapping, doing spoken word and creating the music, Taane also triggers the visuals. "I'm kind of like a mad scientist with all these things. It's weaving back and forth, the conversation between me and the world we live in right now. And then it's a conversation with the digital realm that has been created." Taepa says the collaboration has worked really well, with several meetings between the pair to share ideas and go over the kaupapa of the karakia and the concept. "Tiki is amazing at what he does and can create exactly what you're thinking into sound — so there's full trust that it's going to just work." Surrounding Taane are the projections of Taepa's work (none of which use AI). The visuals or animations took months part-time to complete. At the time he had been experimenting with some new work "just the style, working figuratively". "I had done heaps of small simple animations before, so I had to step up a bit to learn my way around the animation side of things but it was really just time. I already had the vision of what I wanted to create and just got to it and modelled everything for the animation process. It was all then married with Tiki's audio and then that was that." Taepa admits the use of technology and AI in art is a controversial subject as people view it in many different ways. "But really, to me, it's just another way in which we can explore and create, and in a way that we can't always create in the "real world". We currently spend more time in te ao matihiko (virtual world) than we do in the real one. So to me it just makes sense to create from that same space." Regardless of what happens with AI or other technology, Taepa says he will still be making art. "That is the role of the artist, to explore and question the human condition through creative expression. And personally, I think the general population will look first to the artists and their artwork to come to terms with that major humanity shift." To see Mai Te Uira, Glenroy Auditorium, Dunedin, June 18, 7.30pm.
Otago Daily Times
11-06-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Canterbury A&P Show 'back on track'
By Keiller MacDuff of RNZ The Canterbury A&P Show is back on track after a last-minute resurrection in 2024 saved it from cancellation amid financial troubles, staff upheavals and board bickering, organisers say. The show - which has a 160-year history - was cancelled in April last year after the A&P Association claimed it was not financially viable. After a $5 million injection from the Christchurch City Council and an almost complete overhaul of the board, a downscaled format was announced in conjunction with events management company Event Hire. Updating councillors at a meeting on Tuesday, Canterbury A&P Association chair Sir David Carter and general manager Peter Engel said last year's show had been a huge success, especially given the three month timeframe between the men coming on board and the show. Halving ticket prices had helped bring in strong crowd numbers, to the point that organisers were close to shutting the gates due to numbers at one point, Engel told the council. About 275 exhibitors took part, down on the usual 500, but Engel told the council some were influenced by the publicity surrounding the cancellation, and a tumultuous period in which the board was almost entirely replaced. Many larger agri-businesses did not feature as they did not budget for the show after it was initially cancelled, he said. Engel expected they would return in future shows. The downscaled show shifted from the traditional Wednesday to Friday, to being held from Thursday to Saturday, which Engel said had been well received. A "strong appetite for town meets country" saw farmyard animals, wood chopping and shearing exhibitions among the most popular attractions, he said. The city council's $5m bail out required the Association to use $1m to repay an existing council loan, while the remaining $4m bought out the remaining 95 years of the lease for Canterbury Agricultural Park, five hectares of council land on Wigram Road. The money was tagged to a new charitable investment trust, the revenue from which would be used to help cover the cost of running future shows. Former board member Steve Barry was paid $75,000 for his role in landing the deal, it later emerged. In September, the council gave the association another $125,000 without consulting councillors beforehand.
