Join leading experts for presentations and discussion exploring Indigenous cultural heritage sites in Oceania, with project case studies on Samoa and Buka Island that highlight the unique ways mobility, ocean navigation, and cosmology influence the region's expansive sense of spatial and built environments. In advance of the opening of The Met’s reenvisioned Michael C. Rockefeller Wing in 2025, learn how the new galleries will foreground the unique role that the environment plays in Oceanic art.

The conversation will be moderated by Jonathan S. Bell, Vice President of Programs, WMF with guest speakers Albert Refiti, Professor, Spatial Design, Auckland University of Technology; Tuputau Lelaulu, Co-Founder and Director, MAU Studio; and Taloi Havini, artist and curator. It will kick off with an Introduction by Maia Nuku, Evelyn A. J. Hall and John A. Friede Curator for Oceanic Art, The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, The Met.

About World Monuments Fund and The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the World Monuments Fund (WMF) announced in May 2023 a collaboration to create digital resources that will be featured throughout the African Art galleries in The Met's new Michael C. Rockefeller Wing—which is currently closed for renovation—that aim to provide gallery visitors and online audiences alike with a more expansive view of the richness of artistic and architectural expression on the continent and to provide deep context to the Museum’s collection of sub-Saharan African art. 

The reenvisioning of The Met’s new African Art galleries seeks to anchor the completely new physical design to relevant regional aesthetics. In reintroducing material artifacts in the collection, this digital resource will provide a more expansive understanding of Africa’s diverse cultural landscapes and creative traditions.