A brief history of Aotearoa

“A (VERY) BRIEF HISTORY OF AOTEAROA” is an adaptation of the classic space invaders game. It is part of a multidisciplinary art installation by New Zealand based artist Kereama Taepa. The artwork intends to outline New Zealand’s history while also making reference to past, current and future technologies. The installation consists of four sculptures accompanied with QR codes.

The four sculptural works take the place of the once popular ‘space invaders’ characters and are thus pixilated versions of the Māori meeting-house for the space ship (representing Māori – the indigenous people of New Zealand), whilst the ‘invading aliens’ are the Mitre (the popes hat representing the missionaries and initial settlement), the Crown (representing the Queen and the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi) and the Beehive (representing our current Government). These icons outline the major events of the colonizing of New Zealand and the formation of its government.

Large QR codes were adhered to the faces of the bollards underneath the sculptures. The QR codes provided access to this app that contextualizes the sculptures within a digital environment making reference to not only our history, but also past, current and future technologies.

The sculptural installation was situated outside the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand between 2016-2018. The project is known as the Four Plinths project and is held bi-annually to coincide with the New Zealand Festival. The Four Plinths project is headed by the Wellington Sculpture Trust and supported by the Wellington City Council. Gamefroot also supported the project by developing this app.