Hawaiian Futurisms: Exhibition and Symposium
Presented by Pacific Arts Association and the Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts
Honolulu Hale and Mission Memorial Building
June 3-28, 2024
Register Here

Coinciding with Ho‘oulu Lāhui: 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture, the Pacific Arts Association and the Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts present Hawaiian Futurisms bringing together Kānaka Maoli artists and scholars for an exhibition, symposium, and community talanoa, or discussion, to develop the growing field of Hawaiian Futurisms. 

The ʻōlelo noʻeau or Hawaiian proverbial saying, “I ka wā ma mua, I ka wā ma hope” or “the future is in the past” is the theoretical grounding in which music, art, and activism represents an aesthetic and praxis of Hawaiian Futurism. By weaving ancestral knowledges into Kānaka methods of cultural expression, these artists and scholars create anti-colonial art that addresses the problems of the present. This critical cultural framework is generative for bringing into existence anti-capitalist futures that elucidate Hawaiian relationality to ʻāina (land) and people. Hawaiian Futurisms embodies the actualization of the futures we want and need, and in doing so, we realize we must first look to the past for guidance, protocols, and answers. 

On Saturday, June 15th from 9:30am-4:30pm, the Pacific Arts Association invites the community, artists and researchers to join us to discuss these topics around art and literature. The Hawaiian Futurisms Symposium centers around an exhibition displayed at Honolulu Hale (City Hall) during the month of June featuring the work of Nanea Lum and Noah Harders. Join us for the opening of this exhibition in Wednesday, June 12th from 4:00-6:00pm.

Hawaiian Futurisms Exhibition: Nanea Lum and Noah Harders
Presented by the Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts
Honolulu Hale, 530 South King Street, Honolulu, HI 96813
On view June 3-28, 2024
Opening event on June 12, 2024 from 4:00-6:00pm
Hours of operation: 7:45am-4:30pm Monday-Friday

Pacific Arts Association One-day Symposium and Talanoa
Saturday, June 15, 9:30am-4:30pm
Mission Memorial Auditorium, 550 South King Street, Honolulu, HI 96813

9:30am
Welcome from the Pacific Arts Association and Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts
Caroline Vercoe and Marion Cadora

9:45-11:30am
Hawaiian Futurisms Panel Discussion
Brandy Nālani McDougall, Nicole Furtado, James Miller, and Halena Kapuni-Reynolds 

Break 

11:45-12:45pm 
Artist Conversation
Nanea Lum and Noah Harders facilitated by Nina Tonga and Nicole Furtado

Lunch provided by Pacific Arts Association (Registration is required)

2:00-4:30pm
Talanoa: Facilitated by Caroline Vercoe and Nina Tonga
PAA’s Talanoa invites participants to share their experiences, responses to talks, research, and art practices, fostering interaction, connection, and exchange. 

7:00-9:00pm
On View: Nu‘uanu Streaming by Nanea Lum and Collaborators
Nu‘uanu Avenue at Hotel Street
This large-scale video, projected onto the blacktop of a city block on Nuʻuanu Avenue, commemorates the freshwater stream system that still flows through the area but has been diverted and polluted by rural flood management projects. The video projection will flood the street with light and moving images, helping the community collectively remember the wai that once flowed as an agricultural system and nourished the region.

Nu‘uanu Streaming is co-sponsored by the Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts, Hawai‘i Contemporary, and Downtown Art Center, and is funded by Native Arts & Culture Foundation 2023 Lift-Early Career Support from Native Artists Program.  

For more information about the Hawaiian Futurism program contact: moca-info@honolulu.gov