Hawaii Triennial 2022 Announces Title and Curatorial Team
By Ariana Heffner
Installation view of LELAND MIYANO
Hawai’i Contemporary announced the title for its upcoming Hawai’i Triennial 2022 (HT22), and its full curatorial team on September 2, with associate curators Miwako Tezuka and Drew Kahu’āina Broderick joining head curator Melissa Chiu. Slated to run from February 18 to May 8, 2022, “Pacific Century,” will be held across various museums and public spaces throughout Honolulu.
Previously the Honolulu Biennial and now the Hawai’i Triennial, the next edition simultaneously tackles fluid concepts of place, identity, and history with regards to Hawaii’s location between the Asia-Pacific and Oceania. Speaking further on the idea, Chiu explained, “This is a moment of great change . . . Through an exploration of the idea of the Pacific Century, we hope to take account of recent histories that are informing our present but perhaps, most importantly, re-configuring the future.”
Chiu is the currently director of the Hirshorn Musem and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC. Tezuka is currently associate director of the New York-based Reversible Destiny Foundation, and was previously gallery director of the city’s Japan Society and also curator of Contemporary Art at Asia Society Museum. Meanwhile, an artist, curator, and educator, Broderick is currently the director of Koa Gallery at Kapi’olani Community College in Honolulu.
Following two editions of the Honolulu Biennial, in 2017 and 2019, the Hawai’i Contemporary board of directors announced on January 16 via a press release that the event will be restructured to a Triennial, as this “is the best step forward as we move into this new decade.” At the time, the team claimed that the change was to allow for more collaborative efforts among all the Hawaiian islands and to seek out programming partnerships. According to a report by the Biennial Foundation, the 2017 iteration attracted almost 100,000 visitors and brought in USD 35.5 million for the local economy, while the 2019 edition resulted in 114,000 visitors and USD 81.9 million.
Hawai’i Contemporary’s inaugural Hawai’i Contemporary Art Summit will run from February 10 to 13, 2021, as a precursor to the 2022 Triennial.
Ariana Heffner is an editorial intern of ArtAsiaPacific.
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