Power & Taboo events at the British Museum

**Pacific Island Public Conference**

Carved wooden figure known as A'a. From Rurutu, Austral Islands, French Polynesia, Pacific Ocean. Late 18th century AD

Taboo in the Pacific: managing sanctity
Friday 1 December, 10.30–19.00
BP Lecture Theatre
Talks and academic papers exploring the themes and debates raised by the Power & Taboo exhibition.

The Pacific Islands in Britain
Saturday 2 December, 14.00–20.00
BP Lecture Theatre
Talks, demonstrations and performances by Pacific Islands artists and cultural groups followed by performances. In partnership with the Pacific Islands Society of the UK and Ireland (PISUKI).

Each day:
£18, concessions & members of PISUKI £12
For further information email pacific.conference@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

Convened by the British Museum and Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, University of East Anglia

**Pacific Islands Day**

Saturday 4 November, 12.00–16.00
Great Court
A day of celebration of the best of Pacific art and culture including sculpture with
George Nuku, storytelling, performance and craft demonstrations. Events in Room 5.

Admission free, just drop in.

**Lectures, Talks, and Workshops**

Feather god, From Hawaii, Polynesia. Pre-19th century.

The Shark God: encounters with myth and magic in the South Pacific
Thursday 9 November, 13.30
Stevenson Lecture Theatre
Award-winning journalist Charles Montgomery explores how myths are born in his new book, The Shark God, with spectacular photos and stories from his South Pacific expedition.

Admission free, booking required

Taboo and the West
Thursday 23 November, 18.30
BP Lecture Theatre
A panel of art historians, anthropologists and psychoanalysts will discuss the
relationship between Modernist art and Pacific art, and the way the concept of taboo has been treated in Western thinking. In partnership with the London Review of Books.

£5, concessions £3

Contemporary Polynesian performances and cultural identity
Monday 4 December, 13.30
BP Lecture Theatre
Adrienne L Kaeppler, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, looks at the importance of
performance to the cultural life of the Polynesians, focusing on the Pacific
Festivals of Art held every four years in the Pacific Islands.

Admission free, booking required

Power & Taboo: drawing in the exhibition
Friday 8 December, 11.00–14.30
Studio, Clore Education Centre
The Polynesian collections of the Museum have had a continuing influence on both
indigenous and Western-trained artists, including Henry Moore and Pablo Picasso.
Participants in this workshop will be able to follow in this tradition by handling objects and drawing in the exhibition.

£15, Members and concessions £12

[From the British Museum e-newsletter.]