Donors to Hocken Collections were thanked last weekend, coinciding with the launch of a new exhibition which showcases both their gifts and other new acquisitions.
Collection Work is open to the public, and presents a selection of recent additions to the Hocken Collections, featuring taoka (treasured items) acquired since the start of this decade.
The Hocken, has been hosting an annual Donors Day since 2008.
Receiving, gathering, appreciating, selecting, ordering, and describing materials are at the heart of the work of the Hocken Collections’ staff.
This exhibition is an opportunity for them to share a small number of the items that have entered their care over the past four years, curator art Hope Wilson says.
“Collection Work is an opportunity to celebrate recent acquisitions by Hocken Collections, but it also refers to the activities associated with caring for these items into the future.
“It's a chance to introduce gallery visitors to a selection of new (to us) material but also a reflection on working with collections and what that means looking forward."
“Donations and philanthropy are vital in enabling the mahi of cultural institutions like ours,” Hocken Librarian Catherine Hammond says.
“Donors Day celebrates the impact of gifts in both building our collections and enabling the research by the many thousands of visitors who engage with Hocken each year.”
Central to the Hocken’s role in caring for these taoka is the importance of continually adding to the knowledge we have about each item. Collection Work is an invitation to join the Hocken in this work.
As guests walk through the gallery, they will be instructed to keep in mind the connections they make between items and to add a thread or note to the collection pinboard to record their observations about the items on display and the end.
Hocken Collections are used for research in many different ways. Each year over 200 books, brochures, conference proceedings, journal articles, theses, exhibitions, exhibition catalogues, reports, websites, displays, plays, films and television programmes are produced making substantial use of the Collections.
Collection Work runs until 13 January 2024.
Kōrero by Internal communications adviser Alice Billington
