What's On @ Otago Museum | Week of 16 September 2019

Q+A with Full Dome Producer OANA JONES

What do you love about your job?
My job lets me combine making films, sharing astronomy with the public, and coming up with new events to put on. It’s awesome seeing the public come to something I’ve made and having that direct feedback, and I love being able to do crazy out-of-the-box shows in what is a really unique space.

What’s your favourite gallery and why?
I really love the Pacific Cultures gallery. It’s amazing how the early peoples on small remote islands managed to be such brilliant navigators using the sky and the sea as their guide. I also really love seeing all the differences and similarities of culture between the different regions that show us the evidence of their travels.



Do you have an area you are particularly interested in?
I love astronomy and filmmaking – especially animation! I’m super grateful that I get to combine these two passions into such a unique career.

If you could make any collection item come to life, what would it be and why?
Probably the rat king – I have a weird, morbid fascination with it, and think it would be crazy to see how it moved when it was alive – as long as I don’t have to catch it and it doesn’t come anywhere near me.



If you were locked in the Museum overnight, what would you do?
Probably have a couple of goes on the DNA slide in Tūhura while nobody’s around to hear me scream – I’m a big baby and it’s a bit dark inside it so I’d like to do that while nobody’s around to see – then go upstairs and take a nap under the stars at the entrance to the Southern Lands Southern People gallery. I’ve heard our whale skeleton used to travel around the country and people could have dinner parties in its mouth! I think times have changed a bit though, so I might take a sandwich from the café instead.

Oana Jones
Full Dome Producer

ARTS AND CULTURE IN ŌTEPOTI – MAYORAL CANDIDATE FORUM

What do 2019’s mayoral candidates think about Dunedin’s arts and culture sector?

Find out, raise your concerns, understand their positions, and be heard. Candidates will speak, and then the floor will be open to the public for questions.

Photo: © Gravity Events

Free | 5pm for a prompt 5.30pm start, Tuesday 17 September | Hutton Theatre
More information here

THIS WEEK @ OTAGO MUSEUM

OM FRIENDS – IN FOCUS

An Association of Friends of the Otago Museum Talk

The Friends of the Otago Museum invite you to join them over complimentary tea and coffee for their September lunchtime talk.

Bring your lunch and hear from Joel Vanderburg, Otago Museum's Honorary Curator, Africa, as he shares his firsthand experience of living and working in West Africa as an archaeologist, and later as research biologist with the World Health Organisation.

Joel will focus on museums displaying objects to the public, less as curiosities, and more as elements within their cultural context. He will also share his personal experiences while collecting in the field in West Africa.

Free | 12.15pm, Tuesday 17 September | Friends' Room, Third Floor
More information here

THE OCEANS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

The ocean plays an important role in maintaining our global climate, yet the dynamics, chemistry, and biology of the oceans are altering in response to climate change.

For the past ten years, Professor Cliff Law has researched the impacts of changing ocean chemistry that are resulting from the increased uptake of carbon dioxide, and the potential threats of ocean acidification to our waters. In this talk, Cliff will discuss how warming, declining pH, and other climate-related factors may reshape marine ecosystems around New Zealand.

Free | 5.30pm, Wednesday 18 September | Barclay Theatre
More information here

CREATIVE PASIFIKA

Discover more about the Museum’s Pacific Cultures gallery and its collection of treasures from Oceania, while you celebrate Dunedin’s vibrant Polynesian community through song, dance, music, crafts, and sharing of knowledge.

Saturday, 21 September
Tivaivai Demonstration | 10.30am | Pacific Cultures Gallery
Pasifika Vibes | 1pm | Atrium Level 1

Sunday, 22 September
Weaving with the Multicultural Weavers Association | 1pm–4pm | Atrium Level 1
Book your weaving tickets here

Sunday 22 September to Sunday 6 October
Sit and Sketch | All day | Pacific Cultures and Tāngata Whenua galleries

MOANA

Disney’s Moana is on the dome screen in the Perpetual Guardian Planetarium! One of our Creative Pasifkia events, come along and enjoy this fun-filled musical film loved by all ages.

The film will be preceded by a night-sky navigation demonstration. Popcorn and drinks will be available for purchase.

PG: Some scenes may scare very young children. Run time 1h 47m

EQUINOX UNDER THE STARS

The Spring Equinox marks the point when day and night are of equal length. As we look forward to the longer days of the summer, what better way to celebrate the return of your summer wardrobe than with an evening of stargazing!

Skip the nail-biting over the weather forecast, and join us for an evening under the stars in the Perpetual Guardian Planetarium, where you’re guaranteed to have clear skies.

Following the show, we will hop on the Museum’s bus for a visit to the Beverley-Begg Observatory with the Dunedin Astronomical Society to learn about observing the night sky, taking stellar night-sky photos, and hunting an aurora.