Past Events & Lectures

Auckland Museum Institute organises lectures in partnership with Auckland Museum.  Institute members enjoy discounts to all lectures and special exhibitions. 

Cafe Scientifique and Cafe Humanities

 Past Lectures 

Autumn 2008

The Smithsonian in 1865 

Darcy Nicholas

 Place in the Museum Space: The Smithsonian Museum and NZ Cultural Institutions

Thusday 29 May, 7pm

 Professor Sally Gregory Kohlstedt,
University of Minnesota
and
Darcy Nicholas,
General Manager of Community Services for Porirua City Council
Chaired by Assoc. Professor Linda Tyler
Director of the Centre for New Zealand Art Research and Discovery
Gus Fisher Gallery, University of Auckland

In a shared lecture facilitated by Associate Professor Linda Tyler, the influence of cultural institutions on historic and contemporary culture will be explored.

Professor Gregory Kohlstedt, visited New Zealand as a Fulbright Fellow in the History Department at the University of Auckland to co-teach a course with Associate Professor Ruth Barton.  She first discussed the role of Smithsonian naturalists and anthropologists in the late 1800's including the controversial inclusion of Native American Indian objects as Museum artefacts.  Moving towards a contemporary perspective, she also investigated recent developments in Native American Indian collections and exhibitions.  Gregory Kohlstedt has been President of the History of Science Society in the United States and her research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Woodrow Wilson and Smithsonian Institution fellowships, and other research and travel grants.

The second part of the lecture was delivered by Darcy Nicholas, General Manager of Community Services for Porirua City Council, and responsible for the development of the Pataka Museum in Porirua whose goal was to present another approach to cultural engagement and Museum function.  In 1984 Nicholas won a Fulbright Cultural Award to study and observe contemporary Native and African American arts.  He is a leading Contemporary Maori painter, sculptor and arts commentator, and has been a keynote speaker, writer and commentator on indigenous issues and art in many countries.

 Consumption and Happiness - In Association with the RSNZ
 

Thursday 17 April, 6.30pm - note earlier time!
Museum Auditorium
$10 ($5 members)
Professor Sir Brian Heap CBE ScD FRS
St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, UK 

This was a rare opportunity to hear from a leading European academic and policy advisor as he visits New Zealand.  A biologist, whose main current research interest is in the area of sustainable consumption and production and environmental policy, Professor Sir Brian Heap, works with the British Government’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.  He also chairs a group of European academics working on the future of energy in Europe, including studies on managing energy use and demand, with long term research projects on the generation of power using nuclear fusion.

In this lecture, he addressed the problem of unsustainable patterns of consumption and production; the Western drive to consume despite the relatively low impact such consumption has been shown to have on individual well-being and happiness. While acknowledging today’s complex political, social and economic environment, he discussed risks, challenges and possible strategies for sustainability, exploring new approaches which emphasise efficiency, renewal and repair.

From 1996 until 2004, Sir Brian Heap was the Master of St Edmund's College, University of Cambridge.  He is now Research Associate at the St Edmund's College Capability and Sustainability Centre and also Special Professor in Animal Physiology at the University of Nottingham.  On 8 October 2007, HRH the Duke of Edinburgh opened three new buildings at St Edmund's College, Cambridge, one of which was named the "Brian Heap Building". 

He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1989, held the post of Royal Society Vice President and Foreign Secretary from 1996 to 2001, and is past Executive Editor of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (Biological Sciences). He is a founder member of the International Society for Science and Religion and is on the Faraday Advisory Board of The Faraday Institute; an institution that has a Christian ethos, but encourages engagement with a wide diversity of opinions concerning interactions between science and religion.

Sir Brian has held visiting posts in the Universities of Nairobi, Murdoch Western Australia and Guelph Canada, and consultancies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors and at the World Health Organisation. 

 Guido Reni   (1575-1642)
St Sebastian  c.1618.
oil on canvas, 167 by 127.6 cm
Mackelvie Trust Collection
Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Gift of James Tannock Mackelvie, 1882

 Painting for the Papacy in 16th and 17th Century Rome and the Mackelvie Collection

Mary Kisler, Mackelvie Curator of International Art, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki
Wednesday 9 April, 7:30PM
Museum Auditorium

Mary Kisler has been the Mackelvie Curator of International Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki since 1998 and for the past five and a half years, she has talked about art with Kim Hill on the Saturday morning programme on National Radio.  Before working at the Gallery, Mary taught at the University of Auckland in the Art History, Italian and Women’s Studies departments.

Touching on the careers of Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci, particular attention was given to Guido Reni's, "Saint Sebastian", part of the Mackelvie Trust Collection at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, which has been the subject of extensive research by Mary.

 Summer 2007/2008

 Metazoa - Art and Technology: Where New Worlds Meet

Presentation by Angela Main
Sunday 9 March , 2pm, Auditorium

Angela Main's work Metazoa was installed at the Museum and is a game of evolution, where 500 million years is distilled into less than seven minutes.  Participants are required to physically move and engage with the on-screen character their bodies are mobilizing and also with each other as they move through seven evolutionary stages. Main has recently spent time in Europe, including a visit to the 2007 Venice Biennale.  In this talk, she discussed the power, issues, and problems of digital art.  Like many others, including those who have little to do with the electronic world, Main is concerned about the way people are playing and using electronic media; the culture of video games.  
Among the many interesting new media art experiences Main discussed in her presentation, was the Russian animated film installation Last Riot (AES+F group, 2007).   Last Riot is a response to the game America’s Army which has been officially developed by the United States Army for teenagers with a tag-line “Created by Soldiers. Developed by Gamers. Tested by Heroes.”  Using impassive, emotionless and androgynous characters, Last Riot questions the aesthetic war games create, in a disturbing example of the power of electronic art to provide immediate and contemporary social comment.   

PANEL DISCUSSION 

Being a New Zealander

In association with the RSNZ and the Council for the Humanities

Wednesday 13 February, 7pm
Museum Auditorium

The Council for the Humanities awards two Humanities Awards each year to winners of their writing competition for Year 12 and 13 secondary school students. In 2007 the topic was “Being a New Zealander”. As the New Year begins, the Institute invited a group of thinkers/writers to discuss this concept further. The panel discussion was held in association the RSNZ who sponsored Jo Randerson’s appearance.

Panelists were: James Griffin, Rod Oram, Jo Randerson, Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal, Tamasailau Suaalii-Sauni and Gilbert Wong (panelist and facilitator).

 Spring 2007

Beyond the farm and the theme park

In association with the RSNZ

Professor Paul Callaghan FRS, FRSNZ the Royal Society of New Zealand Distinguished Speaker 
Thursday, November 22nd 7pm

Converting most of our forest into greenhouse gas has given us an abundance of grass and a thriving dairy industry. Yet through good fortune and some wise heads, we have, notwithstanding attempts to subdue it, sufficient residual natural environment to claim the label "clean and green". Our landscape is magnificent and helps define who we are. But this lecture argued that we have the potential to be a great deal more besides, and that we must be if we are to build the society we want our children to thrive in. It argued that we
can enhance our prosperity through sensible investment in science and technology, coupled with culture change.

In association with the Royal Society of New Zealand, the Auckland Museum Institute and Auckland Museum.

Click to go to www.hotscience.co.nz  for a video recording of the lecture.

Darwin and Medicine

Prof Peter Gluckman FRS
Director of the Liggins Institute
Professor of Paediatric and Perinatal Biology University of Auckland
Late Night Wednesday 21 November

The research activity undertaken by Prof Gluckman and colleagues at The University of Auckland’s Liggins Institute is based around the concept that environmental effects during foetal life influence adult health. This ‘foetal programming’ promotes successful reproduction and survival in potentially adverse conditions. The biological and population health implications of this phenomenon are now being explored in relation to evolutionary theory. Peter Gluckman is an endocrinologist and foetal physiologist. He founded the Liggins Institute and is one of only two resident New Zealand medical scientists elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society. He has recently published Mismatch - Why our World No Longer Fits Our Bodies.

Evolution Wars: Science and Religion in Darwin's Century

Assoc. Prof. John Stenhouse Department of History, University of Otago
Late Night Wednesday 24 October

Many believe that Darwin's Origin of Species triggered all-out warfare between science and religion. By revisiting some of the key players, incidents and issues, this lecture endeavours to show what is wrong with this traditional 'science-versus-religion' interpretation, illustrating the value of the newer, contextual approaches to the history of science-and-religion by reference to the evolution debates in New Zealand. Dr Stenhouse's research focuses on the history of science, religious history, and their interconnections. He is the author of numerous publications and is currently writing a monograph on the role of Christian missionaries in making and spreading modern Western science.

Darwinian Biogeography: Has it stood the test of time?

Dr George Gibbs, Senior Research Associate School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University
Late Night Wednesday 17 October 7.30pm
Auditorium
$10 or $5 Museum members
Bookings recommended 306 7048

The burgeoning science of historical biogeography, which has taken over where Darwin left off, has lifted New Zealand into the limelight as the most challenging place in the world to explain. With the advent of plate tectonics, the Darwinian ‘dispersal’ approach lost favour but is now finding support - this lecture will draw upon New Zealand examples to illustrate how Darwinism is faring in contemporary debate. Dr George Gibbs has published numerous scientific papers and is the author of four books on New Zealand insects. Dr Gibbs was the Montana Book Awards 2007 Environment Finalist for Ghosts of Gondwana: The History of Life in New Zealand.

The Mathematics of Evolution

Prof Ian Stewart FRS, Mathematics Institute, University of Warwick, UK

Wednesday, October 10th, 7.30pm

Darwin’s theory of evolution is widely recognised as one of the key ideas in biology. It is less well known that evolution has also inspired a number of developments in mathematics, through attempts to model the evolutionary process and to understand some of its more puzzling features. The lecture focused on the problem of the evolution of new species---or, as Darwin put it, "The Origin of Species".

Click on image to view Lecture notes 

ANTARCTIC REPORT
In July this year Antarctica New Zealand and the Royal Society of New Zealand organised a conference in Wellington celebrating 50 years of New Zealand's involvement in the Antarctic. Auckland Museum Institute invited Prof Carter to speak so that Aucklanders; members and the public, might be brought up-to-date.   

 South Pole to North Cape - Antarctica's Influence on New Zealand's and the World's Oceans

Prof. Lionel Carter, FRSNZ, Marine Geology, Victoria University

Wednesday, Sept 12th, 7.30pm   

Using imagery and animations, we will explore how Antarctica shapes the world’s oceans and climate, emphasizing its influence on the New Zealand region. The talk highlights:
- the present state of Antarctica and the surrounding Southern Ocean, 50 years on from the founding of Scott Base;
- past changes in ice and ocean, drawing on new evidence from the recent and highly successful ANDRILL project, which drilled through the Ross Ice Shelf and 1287 m into the underlying seabed
- how this knowledge of the past and present allows us to visualize Antarctica’s potential behaviour in the future, together with “downstream” consequences for New Zealand and the world.
Be prepared from some surprises.
Professor Lionel Carter of Victoria University’s Antarctic Research Centre leads the Antarctica-New Zealand Interglacial Extreme Climates (ANZICE) which aims to develop new observational and numerical models to identify past and future effects of global warming on the Antarctica-Southern Ocean-New Zealand region. In July 2007 ANZICE was awarded $1.5mil over four years to further this research.

Biography Through Bookplates - Every Picture Tells a Story

Ian Thwaites, Former Auckland Museum Librarian and Author

Saturday 8th September, 2pm 

Former Auckland Museum Librarian Ian Thwaites is also a bookplate expert and ex-Libris Society member.  Ian Thwaites will give a lecture on bookplates to coincide with the Pictorial Gallery Bookplate exhibition.  Bookplates tell a story and this is their fascination for Ian Thwaites who will focus on 50 New Zealand bookplates, unraveling the stories behind the designing of each plate. All the featured bookplates in Ian’s talk can be found in the collections of either Auckland Museum or Auckland Public Libraries.

 Winter 2007

Science in Society: The Use and Misuse of Technology

Professor Lord Robert Winston, University of Auckland Hood Fellow 2007
Wednesday 22 August

Robert Winston believes that the future of any society depends on its use of scientific knowledge. Public engagement with science therefore, is vital. It is largely scientific understanding that has led to the development of modern technologies which have the potential to change the way we live in this world. These technologies are opening the way for huge improvements in our health, our food supplies and our capacity to generate wealth. Misused, however, they could change the very fabric of life by taking us past natural boundaries and leading to irreversible change.

Whale Tales of the South Pacific and the Bahamas

Nan Daeschler Hauser, President and Director of the Centre for Cetacean Research and Conservation
Principal Investigator of the Cook Islands Whale Research Project
Director of the Cook Islands Whale Education Centre
Wednesday 15 August

Nan Hauser works in Rarotonga where she has undertaken studies on the biology, behaviour, and ecology of a variety of cetaceans for the past 10 years. Her work includes documenting populations of bottlenose dolphins, spotted dolphins, sperm whales, dense-beaked whales and many other species in the Bahamas. Nan’s efforts over the past 13 seasons have revealed a novel feeding technique by bottlenose dolphins, the first underwater footage of beaked whales and underwater footage of a sperm whale with a broken jaw. She was a key player in the creation of a 2 million square kilometer whale sanctuary in the waters of the Cook Islands.

RSNZ Leonard Cockayne Lecture: Birds in Paradise 

The Role of Birds in Shaping New Zealand’s Terrestrial Biodiversity
Dr William G. Lee, Landcare Research, Dunedin
Wednesday 8 August, 7.30pm (Conservation Week)

The native birds of New Zealand are highly unusual in several respects. They have dominated terrestrial ecosystems for millions of years in the near absence of mammals, and have evolved some extraordinary life-history features.
Furthermore, the magnitude of post-settlement extinctions amongst native birds (about half of all terrestrial bird species) has drastically changed the character of the entire New Zealand biota. Dr Lee will examine the interaction between birds and the environment during the history of New Zealand.

The Lucy Cranwell Lecture for 2007: Thomas Frederick Cheeseman

Ewen K Cameron, Curator of Botany, Auckland Museum
Thursday, 2 August, 7.30
Sponsored by the Auckland Botanical Society and Auckland Museum

Ewen Cameron manages the Museum herbarium and specialises in the northern New Zealand vascular flora. Cheeseman held the posts of Secretary of the Auckland Institute and Curator of Auckland Museum for nearly 50 years (1874-1923). Ewen Cameron will discuss Cheesemans many botanical accomplishments including how he assembled his magnum opus: Manual of the New Zealand Flora (1906, 2nd ed. 1925) which was not totally superseded until 2000. He will also look at Cheeseman in the context of his era and the way in which he was strongly supported at the time by the botanists at Kew Gardens in London.

Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good

Jonathan Balcombe, Ph.D. Senior Research Scientist, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Washington, D.C.

Sunday July 29th, 2pm

In this colorful presentation, Dr Balcombe surveys the rich landscapes of pleasure to be found in the animal kingdom. Combining rigorous evidence and amusing anecdote, the author shows that creatures from birds to bats to baboons, feel good thanks to play, touch, food, anticipation, comfort, aesthetics and more. He also explains how our acknowledgment of positive feelings in other animals has important ethical ramifications for our relationship to them. This is a family lecture: suitable for ages 10 years+.

 Autumn 2007

Propaganda: Then and Now

Nicky Hager, Author

Wednesday 2nd May 2007

The WB Sutch propaganda poster exhibition Towards the Precipice is a collection of Spanish, German, British and Soviet posters from the period 1935 to 1942. To coincide with this exhibition, Nicky Hager,author of The Hollow Men: A Study in the Politics of Deception discussed the characteristics of propaganda and its origins, and provided examples of modern day propaganda that have had an effect on New Zealand society.“We can all recognise propaganda for what it is when it has pictures of Hitler or Stalin and 50 years later it can look blatant and awkward. We are less attuned to the propaganda of our own era. The Sutch posters provide a useful starting point for discussion.”  Read entire notes

Newton’s Principia

Auckland Museum Institute and NZ Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (NZIMA)
Charles R. Leedham-Green, Professor of Pure Mathematics at Queen Mary, University of London.

Wednesday April 4th, 2007

Prof. Leedham-Green’s research is into the theory of groups, and he is currently visiting Auckland to collaborate with a colleague on a long-standing research project. He is working on a new translation into English of Newton’s Principia.

"Newton’s Principia completely changed our understanding of astronomy and physics, and our appreciation of the power of mathematics to solve problems. The mathematical background that Newton assumes is very little, and the stunningly clever ideas that he uses are all quite simple. Yet the Principia remains hard to read, either in the original Latin or in the current translations into English. I hope to explain in a simple way some of Newton’s revolutionary ideas, and to give a feeling for what he achieved."

The Music of the Primes

NZ Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (NZIMA) and Auckland Museum Institute
Professor Marcus du Sautoy. University of Oxford

Thursday, March 15th, 2007

Prime numbers are the atoms of arithmetic and yet they represent one of the most tantalising enigmas in the pursuit of human knowledge. By looking at these numbers in a new way, mathematicians have discovered what they believe is the secret to the way Nature chose the primes. Professor Marcus du Sautoy is in New Zealand as a Visiting Maclaurin Fellow of the NZIMA and is author of the popular book The Music of the Primes. He has been chosen by 2004 Esquire Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people under 40 in Britain.

Can the Neurosciences explain the mind?

Royal Society of New Zealand and Auckland Museum Institute
Steven P. Rose, Ph.D. Neurobiologist and Professor and Chair of the Department of Biology; and Director of Brain and Behaviour Research Group at the Open University.

Thursday 8th March, 2007

Professor Steven Rose is one of UK’s most eminent biologists and well known for his views and knowledge on both science and social issues including the use of drugs in conditions such as ADHD, depression and Alzheimers. His studies have brought him a high profile and catalogue of awards but it is his belief in the moral dimension of human life that challenge some of the current orthodoxies of evolutionary biology and illustrate that, for him, the scientific will always be personal and political.

 Summer 2006/2007

Dna across the pacific waves

Prof David Penny, Research Director, The Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution

Wednesday 31 January, 2007

Information about Polynesian ancestors and their move into the Pacific has traditionally come from a wide range of sources, including anthropology, archaeology, language comparisons and oral history. DNA sequences are a powerful new source of information allowing quantitative comparisons independent of researcher preconceptions. Mitochondrial DNA is maternally inherited and one application has been to estimate the number of Polynesian women in the founding population of Aotearoa New Zealand. The results show good agreement with oral history, but raise interesting questions with respect to possible differences with paternally inherited Y-chromosome patterns.
Recently, the focus of interest has been on whether early Polynesian explorers crossed the Pacific to South America, and returned, leaving Polynesian chickens in South America and/or bringing back the gourd and the kumara. DNA is ideally suited to answering such questions and some very recent results will be discussed.

  Back to top

Past Members' Mondays 

Monday 30th June, 2pm
Fuli Pereira, Curator Pacific

Fuli Pereira will discuss the Pacific Jewellery Collection in an Auditorium presentation, before taking members into the Pacific Masterpieces Gallery to answer questions.

 New Acquisitions in the Maori Collection

Monday 26 May, 2pm
Chanel Clarke

Chanel Clarke, Auckland Museum Curator Maori, will give a talk in the Auditorium about new acquisitions to the Maori collection and then spend time answering questions in the Maori Court.

The Craft of Anton Seuffert

 Monday 28 April, 2pm
Brian Peet

Brian Peet, Seuffert descendant, has just published The Seuffert Legacy: New Zealand Colonial Master Craftsmen and spoke about the life, times and work of Anton Seuffert in a presentation in the Auditorium. Anton Seuffert and his sons William, Albert and Carl, operated a cabinetmaking dynasty active in Auckland from 1859 - 1943 and Auckland Museum holds several examples of this beautiful work.

 140 Years of Collection and Research - The Museum Library

Monday 31 March, 2pm
Bruce Ralston, Museum Librarian

The Museum Library has built an exceptional resource over its existence since the establishment of the Auckland Institute in 1867.  Bruce Ralston, Museum Librarian will discuss current projects in the Library, aspects of the collection and also give members access to a selection of specific items.

Louis Le Vaillant – Arts of Asia Gallery floor talk

Monday 25 February, 2pm
Arts from Asia Gallery

Applied Arts Curator, Louis Le Vaillant spent time with members in the recently opened permanent Arts of Asia gallery, explaining the selection, importance and context of the objects.

 Claudia Pond-Eyley on her Documentary 'No Nukes Is good Nukes!'

Monday 21 January, 2.30pm
Auditorium

Claudia Pond-Eyley discussed her documentary 'No Nukes Is good Nukes!' which she both directed and produced and which screened as part of the 'Nuclear Free: Protest Photography by Gil Hanly' exhibition in the Pictorial Gallery.

‘Welcome Home’ with the Collection Management Team

Monday 26 November
Spaces limited to 40 for this event.
Booking essential: 306 7048

A rare opportunity to see the Museum's collections in their new home. There was a presentation on the planning process and then a tour through the new purpose-built collection store, housing a vast array of the museum's objects.

Ancient Worlds with Nigel Prickett

Monday 29 October, 2.30pm 

Nigel Prickett, Curator Archaeology, introduced the new permanent gallery, Ancient Worlds.

Darwin exhibition and Darwin’s influence on the Work of Charles Fleming

Monday 1 October, 2.30pm

Dr Mary McEwen, ecologist and biographer and second daughter of Charles Fleming, described Darwin’s influence on Fleming.

The Rarest Pacific Book; Alexander Shaw's Books of Tapa Samples, published in London, 1787

Monday, August 27, 2pm

Members meet at 1.50pm at the South Atrium Information desk for a 2pm start

Ron Brownson, Senior Curator of New Zealand and Pacific Art, Auckland Art Gallery.

On the three Pacific voyages undertaken by James Cook, a large number of tapa samples were collected in Tonga, Hawaii and Tahiti.  As these painted textiles have been hidden from light for over two centuries they are in remarkable and pristine condition.

Whale Strandings - Pictorial Gallery

Monday 30 July 2pm

Members met Tom Trnksi, the Museum's new Marine Curator direct from his previous post at the Australian Museum, Sydney and Jan Young, photographer, and learned about Jan's Whale Stranding Photographic exhibition in the Pictorial Gallery.

Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Stage II Construction

Wednesday 25th September 2006
The group prepare to check progress on the Museum's Stage II building development.

  Back to top

Members' Saturday

Behind the Scenes - the Natural History Collections
Diversity and Variation – Understanding Evolutionary Pathways

Saturday 27 October
10.30am Registration
Session times: 11am, 12pm and 1.30pm (Lunch at 12.45pm)
The workshops are free, but if members would like to include a catered lunch the cost will be $15 per person.

What is a species? How are collections important? Using New Zealand examples and spending time with Curators in their own collection areas, the focus was evolutionary diversity and variation.

  Back to top

 Past Field Trips

 Institute Field Trip to Motutapu

Sunday 16 March 2008

Members enjoyed the opportunity to join the Motutapu volunteers and help on this far reaching conservation project. 

Past Previews

Preview Egypt: Beyond the Tomb and Bring a Friend

Wednesday 23rd May 2007

Members enjoyed a special Members’ Preview of Egypt: Beyond The Tomb on May 23rd prior to the May 25th opening. 

  Back to top

South Pole to North Cape - Antarctica's Influence on New Zealand's and the World's Oceans

 Field Trips