Auckland Artfair 2021 Talk 3: Collecting Anew

Who and what are the new collectors? Should we talk simply about a new generation of collectors, or do we see a shift of focus in the attention of new collectors? What are the social motivations for collectors to collect and do they apply a more ‘ethical’ and political approach in their work? How do artists develop new ways of making a market for themselves, one that considers new infrastructures beyond galleries alone?

The panel will be led by Remco de Blaaij with Hannah Chiaroni Clarke, Nikau Hindin, Jennie Hu and Nomadic Art Gallery (prerecorded response).

Nikau Hindin

Nikau Hindin (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi) is a contemporary artist and with a revivalist agenda to reawaken Māori aute. She completed her conjoint BA in Māori studies and Media studies and Honours in Fine Arts at the University of Auckland. In 2013, she did an exchange at the University of Hawai’i (UH) where she first learned about Māori aute. In 2014 she was part of the crew on Hōkūle’a from Auckland to Golden Bay. She is the recipient of the Māori Battalion VC scholarship and the Sir Hugh Kawharu award which enabled her access to study the Auckland War Memorial Museum collection. She returned to the UH, on a Graduate Assistant Scholarship, where she learned from Master knowledge holders. In October 2018, she completed a deep sea voyage from Norfolk Island to Tāmaki Makaurau. Nikau completed her Masters of Creative Practice at Toihoukura Art School. This year Nikau showed at the Auckland Art Fair, Te Uru Contemporary Gallery, Millers O’Brien Gallery. She has been featured recently in three shows around Aotearoa New Zealand: Native Voices at Tairawhiti Museum, Te Rangi Haupapa: A Woven History at Tauranga Art Gallery and Tākiri: An Unfurling at the New Zealand Maritime Museum.

The Nomadic Art Gallery

The Nomadic Art Gallery is an art gallery on wheels that is travelling the whole of New Zealand during the year 2020. With a total of ten hosted exhibitions, reaching each corner of New Zealand and involving more than fifty artists, this art gallery aims to challenge people’s perception of art.

This project is run by Arthur Buerms and Eugénie, a dynamic couple from Belgium with a strong passion for art and entrepreneurship. Arthur Buerms, the brain behind the exhibitions, is a freelance art curator with a legal background and specialisation in copyright law. Whether in art or in law, Buerms has always been driven by the fine boundaries in art: what constitutes art? And in how far is art influenced by its environment? Also intrigued by the social discrepancies and controversies within the art scene, the Nomadic Art Gallery strives to bridge the gap between artists and the often-assumed and so-called “elite” by bringing art to the public.