Live Project with Fitzwilliam Museum #1

Tima Tahi – Team 1: I was VERY excited by the prospect of this project – particularly the spiritual angle and particularly please to be working with students from all three years of the BA (Hons) Digital Media Production Course. I was in Team One – which I named Tima Tahi (Maori for Team One) when creating a WhatsApp group (see logo below). The team comprises me, Ivanusa and Tony from year 1, Adetola from year 2 and Oriana and Savina from year 3.

https://fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/plan-your-visit/exhibitions/journeys-with-mai

Tau O Mai: Reimagining the Museum Experience

Together we visited Fitzwilliam Museum for a briefing on Thursday 27th November 2025 where Lucy explained to us the “Tau O Mai | Journeys with Mai” exhibition which has been on display since October 2025 and will remain in place until February 2026.

The centrepiece of the exhibition is the portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds of Mai which is currently on loan from the National Portrait Gallery after being brought into public ownership in 2023. The portrait was renamed ‘Portrait of Mai’ as it is thought that the subject’s name was Mai rather that ‘Omai’ as he was called at the time of his visit to UK near the end of the 18th Century when he was the first Polynesian person to make the trip.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/apr/25/joshua-reynolds-portrait-of-omai-jointly-acquired-by-the-national-portrait-gallery-and-getty

Far from a traditional display, this exhibition is anchored in the Polynesian concept of Vā—the sacred connection between people, objects, and place. By pairing Reynolds’ famous Portrait of Mai with works from the SaVĀge Kʻlub collective, the project critiques colonial stereotypes. A key component is Tima Tahi’s “live brief” challenging the six of us to design a digital experience for 16–24-year-olds. The brief calls us to do so by “Using ambitious tech like AR or interactive audio, the goal is to transform the museum into an Activated Sanctuary.”

This initiative prioritises Pacific voices and themes of migration, identity, and gender fluidity (Māhū). Ultimately, the project seeks to dismantle the colonial gaze, ensuring young people feel empowered, seen, and connected within a historic space.

Outside of university, I am a Lay Minister – as well as a gay man – so thinking about the shape of our project, it struck me that the experience for young people needed a form and with the opening and closing of the VA portal, it might be a good idea to start thinking about a running order, known in the church context as a liturgy, for the event. After the first team meeting following the museum visit, I worked on that basis and upon the assumption that the ‘experience’ will be around one hour and created the following brief for the team:

I think Mai’s journey might be seen in four acts:

• Encounter
• Displacement
• Return
• Reconnection

The VĀ Navigator Liturgy: Journeys with Mai (60 Minutes)

Opening the Portal – Karakia (5 Minutes)

Goal: Establish VĀ (sacred connection) and set the intention for the journey [11, 12].

Whakataka te hau ki te uru

Whakataka te hau ki te tonga

Kia mākinakina ki uta

Kia mātaratara ki tai

E hī ake ana te atakura

He tio, he huka, he hau hū

Tīhei mauri ora!

Cease the winds from the west

Cease the winds from the south

Let the breeze blow over the land

Let the breeze blow over the ocean

Let the red-tipped dawn come with a sharpened air.

A touch of frost, a promise of a glorious day.

(Source: otago.ac.nz/maori/world/te-reo-maori/karakia-prayers)

The Invitation (Nau Mai, Haere Mai)

• Spatial Audio:Play quiet ocean sounds mixed with subtle, pulsing electronic rhythms (Cyberpunk aesthetic)
• The group stands at the entrance, recognizing the exhibition as a digital *paepae* (ceremonial threshold)
• The guide leads an opening chant/intention, such as a traditional *karakia timatanga* (to start a meeting), focusing on guidance and ancestral traditions
• Allow one’s spirit to exercise its potential / To guide us in our work…”
• The space is now activated as a sanctuary

Phase 2: Act 1: The Encounter & Departure (15 Minutes)

Goal: Understand Mai’s origins, his agency, and the ancestral connections he carried. Focus on his home island, Raʻiātea .

Mapping the Mana.

• Interactive Projection Mapping: A large-scale map of Raʻiātea (the island where Mai was born and the surrounding Society Islands is projected on the floor (since nothing can be fixed to the walls).
• Mai’s journey began on Raʻiātea, widely regarded as the “centre” of ancient Polynesia. The indigenous name for Raʻiātea, Havai’i, is sacred in Polynesian culture.
• Participants interact with touch-activated zones on the projected map, triggering immersive audio of contemporary Pacific voices (from the SaVĀge Kʻlub network) sharing facts about the island’s significance, Mai’s life as a refugee seeking revenge and the sacredness of *tāonga* (objects as living ancestors e.g. his stool).
•  

The Tapa Thread

Physical Interaction/AR:

• Participants approach a display of historic tāonga (treasures), including ancestral objects like the Toki (stone adze) or Pūpū (shell trumpet).
• An AR filter, inspired by SaVĀge K’lub’s intricate design and Lyall Hakaraia’s couture focus, overlays tapa patterns onto the visitor’s phone screen].
• The tapestry thread is introduced:Mai wears ceremonial *tapa* (bark cloth) in his portrait, which represented nobility and was used as ceremonial gifts. This cloth symbolizes the weaving of Mai’s identity, connecting his birth culture to his death (in traditional contexts).
• The digital overlay helps participants literally see how Mai used self-decoration (tattoos, dress) as spiritual expression.

Phase 3: Act 2: The Portrait & The Gaze (20 Minutes)

Goal: Engage in reciprocal dialogue with Reynolds’ Portrait of Mai, critique the colonial gaze, and explore fluidity (Māhū connection). This is the central anchor point of the experience.

Stopping at the Portrait

• Augmented Reality (AR) Critique:Standing before Reynolds’ Portrait of Mai, participants activate the “Digital Critique” AR filter.
• The filter visually highlights that Mai’s elegant pose is based on the classical Greek sculpture, the Apollo Belvedere, which epitomized Western perfection. The digital layer then shatters this idealization, replacing it with neon, energetic SaVĀge K’lub-style lines.
• Mai’s portrait is the most important in British art, granting him dignity and agency, but the pose also imposed a European ideal. The AR experience critiques the colonial gaze by allowing the digital Mai to “speak, challenging the ‘noble savage’ archetype”.

Digital Tattoos & Fluidity

• AR Filter & Shared Experience: Participants use a real-time AR filter (Lens Studio) to overlay traditional Polynesian tatau (tattoo) patterns on their hands or body.
• An immersive audio track plays Mai’s internal monologue about how his ritual tattoos were a mark of mana (spiritual power) at his coming-of-age rites, yet were seen by the British as a mark of ‘otherness’.
• This phase honours Māhū (gender fluidity as sacred) and Takatāpui (Māori LGBTQ+) identities. The guide encourages reflection on fluid identities and how young people use self-decoration (tattoos, fashion) as spiritual expression today.
• The concept is that diversity and fluidity are ancestral traditions, not trends, creating an inclusive narrative connected to the 18^th Century and a thread through to today.

Phase 4: Act 3: The Broken Vā (10 Minutes)

Goal: Reflect on Mai’s isolation upon return and the failure of reciprocal vā. Encourage *embodied presence* and honesty.

The Return Home

• Immersive Soundscape: The music shifts to sounds of conflicting voices, “You’ve forgotten your language” / “You’re too changed” representing Mai’s struggle to reintegrate into Huahine. Mai was displaced from his existing VĀ networks without being genuinely incorporated into new ones, making him a “casualty of a social experiment”. The soundscape highlights the tragedy of a severed vā.
• Digital Talanoa Station: Participants use a handheld device or small interactive screen to anonymously answer prompts like: “When have you felt between two worlds?” or “What is a connection (VĀ) you need to nurture?”. The responses (text/voice) are uploaded immediately to a collective display.
• This action facilitates **Talanoa** (shared conversation), ensuring visitors contribute something that becomes part of the installation’s legacy. This contribution acts as a digital offering, linking their personal stories to Mai’s journey, making them feel seen and connected.

Phase 5: Closing the Portal & Legacy (10 Minutes)

Goal: Achieve reconnection (teu le vā) and empower the young people to carry the concept of VĀ forward, creating positive memories.

Weaving the VĀ Network

Projection Mapping Display: The collective responses gathered in Phase 4 are visualized as a dynamic web of glowing threads, growing outward from the SaVĀge Kʻlub installation. This network actively connects Mai’s story to contemporary Pacific communities and the global diaspora. The group observes the network, understanding that the collective memory and action of the visitors restores the vā. This visually represents the tapestry of threads connecting Mai’s historical cloth (tapa) to the ongoing story of Pacific people and the community (whānau) established by the visitors.

Teu Le Vā & Farewell

• Personalized Output & Immersive Audio: Each participant receives a QR code linking to their “Vā Map”, a personalized digital artifact showing the choices they made and including Mai’s final message to them.
• The spatial audio system plays a soft, contemporary closing song or chant.
• The journey concludes with a closing chant (karakia whakamutunga), such as the grace:
• Hold fast. Secure it. Draw together! Affirm!”. The explicit task is to teu le vā (tend to the connection) in their own lives . They leave the exhibition feeling empowered to seize their own narrative and inspired to resist conformity.

Closing portal/

Karakia Whakamutunga:

Kia hora te marino

Kia whakapapa pounamu te moana

Hei huarahi mà tatou i te rangi nei

Aroha atu, aroha mai

Tătou i ia a tătou katoa

Hui e! Tāiki e!

May peace be widespread.

May the sea be like greenstone.

May it be a pathway for us all today.

Let us show love and respect for one another.

For one another.

Bind us all together!

The entire experience functions like a digital loom, where the threads of Mai’s historical journey, represented by the white tapa cloth (the most prominent garment in his portrait) are woven together with the bold, high-contrast “Cyberpunk” threads of the SaVĀge K’lub installation, creating a visible, collective fabric of understanding for the present day.. This process transforms the passive act of looking into the active, reciprocal maintenance of VĀ .

Sources:

The sources provided cover several distinct topics related to the Tau O Mai | Journeys with Mai exhibition project and the history of Mai, along with supplementary information on classical sculpture and Pacific concepts.

I used NotebookLM to collate and  interrogate these souces.

Here is a list of the sources by their titles:

Project Briefs, Strategies, and Team Documents

• Digital Experience Design for Tau O Mai
• Journeys with Mai: Creating Sacred Digital Space (Team One’s Project Brief)
• Tau O Mai Project: Team 1 Brief and Strategy (Includes Team 1 Action Plan & Agenda)
• Museum Design Brief: Strategy and Team Agenda
• Miro Board Structure for Project Assessment
• The Digital Vā: A Project Manifesto (Outlines Team 1’s project ethos)
• VĀ: Digital Sanctuary for Journeys with Mai (Team 1’s initial concepts and design principles)
• Takatāpui Strategy: Spirit, Fluidity, and Ancestral Connection (Provides strategic advice on queer/spiritual themes)

Project Concept Ideas (from Team 1)

• Pacific Echoes: Interactive Sound and Sculptural Identity (Includes soundscape table and 3D-printed tokens)
• Projection Map: Cultural Sound Engagement

Exhibition and Historical Context

• Tau o Mai | Journeys with Mai – CVC (Exhibition overview)
• The Fitzwilliam Museum – Journeys with Mai (Exhibition details and contact information)
• Key Points: Tau o Mai | Journeys with Mai Exhibition
• Text (Project brief, site visit schedule, and assessment criteria)
• Mai (Ra’iatean man) – Wikipedia
• The Polynesian ‘Prince’ Who Took 18th-Century England by Storm
• Mai (Omai), the Joshua Reynold’s Portrait Masterpiece is analysed | HENI Talks (Excerpts from video transcript)
• Text (Session summary including Mai’s story and portrait context)

Deep Dive on Polynesian Concepts and Collaborators

• Lyall Hakaraia
• Lyall Hakaraia: Art, Ancestry, and Queer Nightlife Bridge
• Lyall Hakaraia: Biography and SaVĀge K’lub Context (Includes key questions for Team 1)
• Rosanna Raymond — SaVĀge K’lub (Founder information)
• SaVĀge K’lub (National Gallery of Australia exhibition context, including Te Paepae Aora’i)
• SaVĀge K’lub (Online store text, referencing tāonga)
• Digital Paepae: Activating Pacific Mana
• Text (Analysis of SaVĀge K’lub and Vā definitions, including Samoan concepts)
• Text (Description of SaVĀge K’lub)
• Text (Analysis of Vā and Mai/Omai, focusing on severed and distorted Vā)
• Karakia – prayers, Māori ki Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka | University of Otago (Definitions and examples of traditional and Christian karakia)
• Raʻiātea – Wikipedia (Information on Mai’s home island, Taputapuatea marae, and history

Digital Concept Proposals (Detailed)

• Text (Detailed Immersive Storytelling Experience proposal: “The Space Between Worlds”)
• Text (The VĀ Navigator Proposal, focusing on Teu Le Vā)

Ancillary Historical Sources

• Apollo Belvedere – Wikipedia (Context for the pose used in Reynolds’ portrait of Mai)
• Savage Club – Wikipedia (Context for the original gentlemen’s club referenced by SaVĀge K’lub)

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Oriana’s Project Proposal

Proposal: “Islands of Connection – An Interactive Map Experience”

For the Fitzwilliam Museum: Tau o Mai | Journeys with Mai

Project Overview

Islands of Connection is an interactive digital-physical experience designed to introduce young visitors to Mai’s cultural background, the wider region of French Polynesia and the themes explored in Tau o Mai | Journeys with Mai. The project uses projection-mapped island map combined with physical interactive buttons, which trigger short audio stories and cultural facts when pressed.

The experience blends hands-on engagement with digital media skills, making learning immersive, accessible and memorable. It encourages visitors to explore Polynesian identity, belonging, navigation and the concept of VA – the sacred relational space between people, places and objects.

Concept Rationale

The exhibition highlights themes of cultural connection, migration and representation, centred around Mai, the first Polynesian visitor to Britain. Many young visitors may not be familiar with the geography or cultural diversity of Polynesia.

The use of projection mapping also aligns with the Fitzwilliam Museum’s interest in digital media creativity and inclusivity. Instead of relying on traditional printed maps, our solution uses digital light and animation to create dynamic and futuristic experience.

Visitor Experience

• The visitor approaches a large-scale projected map on a table or any flat surface.
• Each Island in French Polynesia is marked with a physical interactive button.

When the visitor presses a button:

1. A short audio plays through headphones
2. The projection highlights that island with subtle animations

The experience concludes when the visitor has interacted with all islands or chosen their favourites.

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My Response:

Hi All

I’ve taken Oriana’s proposal and merged it with ‘running order’ I suggested yesterday.

Below the proposal, I have done some work on incorporating the proposal into a narrative which we can look at on Monday. I think too, if we are going to win, we need to be ambitious which means that in the proposal stage we may only be able to create mock ups of one or two of the elements that might be present in the final exhibition. I think we should also bear in mind that we have the power and influence of Cambridge University behind this so what we come up with as an idea needs to be world class even if some of the ideas need to be pared back and the fact that there will only be a month or so of the exhibition to go when the digital experience goes live but … it is possible that what we create could follow Mai on his next journey to another destination.

Apologies for sending this via WhatsApp but I don’t know how to upload it to the Miro board – maybe someone could let me know how to do it or stick it on there if you can.

Many thanks, Nick

Nick’s Narrative based on the proposal

Islands of Connection – Narrative based on Proposal

An Interactive Map Experience for Tau o Mai | Journeys with Mai

A 60-Minute Digital-Physical Ritual Experience

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Overview: The Four Acts of Mai’s Journey

1. Encounter – Understanding origins and sacred connections
2. Displacement – The colonial gaze and imposed identities
3. Return – Isolation and severed VĀ
4. Reconnection – Teu le vā (nurturing connections forward)

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OPENING THE PORTAL – Karakia Timatanga

(5 Minutes)

Goal: Establish VĀ (sacred connection) and set intention for the journey

The Space

• Visitors gather at the exhibition entrance
• Spatial audio plays: quiet ocean sounds mixed with subtle pulsing electronic rhythms (cyberpunk aesthetic)
• Dim lighting creates sanctuary atmosphere
• The guide positions the group at the threshold
•  

The Karakia (Opening Chant)

Guide leads the group in opening karakia:

Whakataka te hau ki te uru
Whakataka te hau ki te tonga
Kia mākinakina ki uta
Kia mātaratara ki tai
E hī ake ana te atakura
He tio, he huka, he hau hū
Tīhei mauri ora!

Cease the winds from the west
Cease the winds from the south
Let the breeze blow over the land
Let the breeze blow over the ocean
Let the red-tipped dawn come with a sharpened air
A touch of frost, a promise of a glorious day

The Invitation (Nau Mai, Haere Mai)

Guide speaks:

“You stand at a digital paepae – a ceremonial threshold between worlds. This exhibition is now activated as a sanctuary. We walk in the footsteps of Mai, who crossed oceans and cultures 250 years ago. Today, we will open VĀ – the sacred space of connection – between his time and ours, between his islands and this museum, between each of us. Allow your spirit to exercise its potential. The ancestors guide us in this work. We begin.” The space is now consecrated. The journey begins.

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ACT 1: THE ENCOUNTER & DEPARTURE

Phase 2: Mapping the Mana (15 Minutes)

Goal: Understand Mai’s origins, agency, and ancestral connections through his home island of Raʻiātea

Transition to the Map

Guide leads group to the projected floor map:

“Before we meet Mai in his portrait, we must first know where he came from. The ocean connects all things. Let us enter the waters of his homeland.”

Islands of Connection – Interactive Experience

The Setup:

• 3m x 3m floor projection shows Raʻiātea and the Society Islands
• Neon lines pulse with cyberpunk aesthetic
• Ocean sounds and electronic rhythms create soundscape
• 5-8 touch-activated zones glow softly, inviting interaction

The Islands (Zones):

1. Raʻiātea (Havai’i) – Mai’s Homeland
2. Taputapuātea Marae – The Sacred Center
3. Huahine – The Island of Return
4. Tahiti – Cultural Hub
5. Bora Bora – Warriors & Navigation
6. Moorea – Spiritual Connections
7. Navigation Routes – The Web of VĀ
8. Tāonga – Living Ancestors

The Interaction (10 Minutes)

Guide invites participation: “Touch the islands. Press the zones. Listen to the voices of Mai and contemporary Pacific navigators. Watch how the islands connect – see the VĀ come alive.”

What Happens When Zones Are Activated:

• Island glows with animated neon patterns
• Audio plays through surround speakers (30-60 seconds)
• Visual connections appear as animated lines between islands
• SaVĀge K’lub-style overlays pulse across the map
• Group experiences together, building shared understanding

Sample Audio Content:

Zone 1 – Raʻiātea (Mai’s Voice):

“I am Mai, from Raʻiātea – we call it Havai’i, the sacred center. When I was young, warriors from Bora Bora came with fire and violence. My family fled. I lost my home, my standing, everything. When Captain Cook’s ships appeared on our horizon, I saw destiny. I would travel to the land of powerful strangers, gain knowledge and mana, and return to reclaim what was stolen. I am not a curiosity. I am a strategist, a survivor, a carrier of my ancestors’ wisdom.”

Zone 2 – Taputapuātea Marae (Contemporary Pacific Voice):

“Taputapuātea marae on Raʻiātea is the beating heart of Polynesia. For centuries, navigators gathered here before voyaging to distant islands. This is where VĀ was born – the understanding that nothing exists alone, that we are all connected by invisible threads of relationship. Mai carried this sacred knowledge across the world. His journey was not curiosity – it was the ancient practice of creating connection across vast distances.”

Zone 3 – Huahine (Contemporary Voice):

“This is Huahine, where Mai returned after four years in Britain. Imagine coming home changed – speaking a foreign tongue, wearing foreign clothes, carrying foreign ideas. Your people look at you differently. You are neither fully here nor fully there. This is the pain of severed VĀ, when the threads that bound you are cut and cannot be easily rewoven.”

Zone 7 – Navigation Routes (Contemporary Navigator):

“Watch these lines connecting the islands – this is how our ancestors navigated. Not with compasses or GPS, but by reading stars, wave patterns, bird flights, ocean swells. Each journey strengthened the VĀ between islands. When you understand navigation, you understand that relationship is not abstract – it is the force that holds the universe together.”

Zone 8 – Tāonga (Mai’s Voice):

“This stool was carved by my grandfather. The British call it a ‘headrest,’ but that word is too small. It is tāonga – a living ancestor. The wood remembers my grandfather’s hands. It carries his mana, his stories, his protection. When I carried it to Britain, I was not alone. My ancestors traveled with me, their presence living in these objects. They witnessed everything.”

Visual Elements Throughout:

• As zones are activated, the web of connections grows denser
• Navigation routes pulse with light
• Star paths overlay the ocean spaces
• Wave patterns animate between islands
• The map becomes alive with relationship

Guide’s Role:

• Encourages quieter visitors to touch zones
• Asks reflection questions: “What connections do you notice?” “How does VĀ become visible?”
• Ensures all major zones are activated before moving on
• Names key concepts: mana, tāonga, VĀ, tapu

The Tapa Thread Introduction (3 Minutes)

Guide gathers group near the map’s edge:

“In Mai’s portrait, which you will see soon, he wears ceremonial tapa cloth – bark cloth beaten thin, marked with sacred patterns. This cloth represents the weaving of identity, the threads that connect birth to death, person to ancestors, island to island. Throughout this journey, we follow the tapa thread – Mai’s thread – as it travels from these islands to Britain and back again.”

Visual: The projection shifts to show tapa patterns flowing from Raʻiātea across the ocean

Transition to Physical Tāonga (2 Minutes)

Guide leads group to display case with Mai’s actual objects:

“Now you will meet the ancestors who travelled with Mai. These are not artifacts behind glass – they are living presences. Approach with respect.”

Visitors gather around display featuring:

• Mai’s stool (headrest)
• Toki (stone adze)
• Pūpū (shell trumpet)
• Other tāonga from the exhibition

Optional AR Enhancement:

• Visitors can use phone AR filter to see tapa patterns overlay onto objects
• Filter shows cultural significance and ancestral connections
• Designed in SaVĀge K’lub aesthetic style

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ACT 2: THE PORTRAIT & THE GAZE

Phase 3: Displacement & Colonial Imposition (20 Minutes)

Goal: Engage in reciprocal dialogue with Reynolds’ portrait, critique the colonial gaze, explore fluidity and imposed identity

Transition to the Portrait

Guide leads group to stand before the Reynolds portrait:

“You now know where Mai came from. You have heard his voice. You have met his ancestors. Now – meet the Mai that Britain created. This portrait is the most important painting of a Pacific person in British art history. It grants Mai dignity and immortality. But look closely – whose version of dignity? Whose idea of nobility?”

Stopping at the Portrait (5 Minutes)

Guide facilitates observation:

“What do you see? What is Mai wearing? How is he standing? What does his expression tell you?”

Group observations, then guide reveals:

“Mai’s pose is copied from the Apollo Belvedere – an ancient Greek statue that represented Western ideals of masculine perfection. The artist, Joshua Reynolds, literally imposed a European body onto a Pacific person. He made Mai acceptable to British eyes by making him look like their classical heroes.”

Augmented Reality Critique (7 Minutes)

AR Filter Activation:

Visitors activate “Digital Critique” AR filter on their phones while viewing the portrait

What the AR Shows:

1. First layer: Classical Greek statue outline overlays Mai’s body
2. Second layer: The classical outline shatters
3. Third layer: Neon SaVĀge K’lub-style lines explode outward
4. Fourth layer: Digital Mai “speaks” – text bubbles appear challenging the noble savage archetype

Sample AR Text Overlays:

• “I chose this cloth. Don’t assume it was costume.”
• “My tattoos are mana, not decoration.”
• “I negotiated with Kings. I was not a curiosity.”
• “You see Apollo. I see my grandfather’s mana.”

Audio Track: Mai’s internal monologue plays about the contradictions of being honored and othered simultaneously

Digital Tattoos & Fluidity (8 Minutes)

AR Filter: Tatau Patterns

Guide introduces:

“Mai received his tatau – sacred tattoos – during his coming-of-age rituals. They marked his transition, his mana, his connection to ancestors. The British were fascinated and horrified. They saw ‘savage markings.’ They couldn’t understand that for Pacific peoples, the body is a sacred canvas for identity.”

Interactive AR Experience:

• Visitors use real-time AR filter to overlay traditional Polynesian tatau patterns on their own hands or body
• Patterns pulse and animate
• Each pattern includes audio explanation of its cultural meaning
• Photos can be taken and saved

Immersive Audio Track:

Mai’s voice discusses how his tattoos carried spiritual power (mana), marked important life transitions, and connected him to ancestral knowledge – yet were read by the British as markers of “otherness” and “savagery”

Honouring Fluidity: Māhū & Takatāpui (5 Minutes)

Guide facilitates reflection:

“Pacific cultures have long honored gender fluidity as sacred. Māhū in Hawaiian culture, Fa’afafine in Samoa, Takatāpui in Māori traditions – these identities are ancestral, not modern trends. Mai lived in a culture where the sacred could flow between categories the British tried to make rigid.”

“Today, young people use tattoos, fashion, hair, makeup as spiritual expression – as declarations of identity that resist conformity. This is not new. This is ancestral wisdom flowing forward.”

Reflection Prompt:

“How do you mark your identity on your body? How do you resist being categorized by others?”

Visual: Projection shows contemporary Pacific and Indigenous queer artists, SaVĀge K’lub fashion, traditional and modern expressions of fluid identity

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ACT 3: THE BROKEN VĀ

Phase 4: Return, Isolation & Severed Connections (10 Minutes)

Goal: Reflect on Mai’s isolation upon return and the failure of reciprocal VĀ. Create space for embodied presence and honest reflection.

Transition: The Journey Home

Guide leads group to darkened space with floor cushions/seating:

“Mai returned to the Pacific in 1776. He brought gifts, knowledge, British patronage. He expected to be welcomed as a hero, to regain his lost status. Instead…”

Immersive Soundscape: The Return (4 Minutes)

Visitors sit/stand in darkness

Audio layers build:

• Ocean sounds grow turbulent
• Conflicting voices emerge:
  • “You’ve forgotten your language”
  • “You speak like them now”
  • “You’re too changed”
  • “You don’t belong here anymore”
  • “They didn’t accept you either”
  • “You are alone”

Visual: Dim projections show the island map from Act 1, but the connecting lines begin to fray, break, dissolve

Guide’s Voice:

“Mai was displaced from his original VĀ networks without being genuinely incorporated into British society. He became a casualty of a social experiment. The threads that connected him – to his homeland, to his people, to his sense of self – were severed. This is the tragedy of colonialism: not just theft of land and objects, but the breaking of sacred relationships.”

Digital Talanoa Station (6 Minutes)

Setup:

• Small interactive screens or handheld devices distributed
• Comfortable, private spaces for individual reflection
• Dim, respectful lighting

Guide introduces:

“Talanoa is the Pacific practice of deep, honest conversation. We now invite you into talanoa – with yourself, with Mai, with each other. You will answer prompts anonymously. Your words become part of this installation’s legacy, weaving your story into Mai’s journey.”

Reflection Prompts (visitors choose 1-2):

1. “When have you felt between two worlds?”
2. “Describe a connection (VĀ) you need to nurture.”
3. “When has someone misunderstood who you are?”
4. “What ancestral knowledge are you trying to remember?”
5. “Who sees the real you?”

Response Options:

• Type text response
• Record voice message (30 seconds max)
• Draw/sketch digitally
• Select from word bank if writing feels hard

What Happens:

• Responses are uploaded immediately to a collective display
• No names attached – purely anonymous
• Text/voice/images flow across screens like water
• Group begins to see patterns: shared experiences of displacement, longing for connection, feeling unseen

Guide’s Role:

“Your honesty is a gift. Your story matters. By sharing it here, you create VĀ – you restore what colonialism tried to break. You make Mai less alone.”

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ACT 4: RECONNECTION

Phase 5: Closing the Portal & Legacy (10 Minutes)

Goal: Achieve reconnection (teu le vā), empower visitors to carry VĀ forward, create positive memory and lasting impact

Weaving the VĀ Network (5 Minutes)

Transition to final space:

Guide gathers group before large projection wall:

“You have journeyed with Mai from his islands to Britain and back. You have witnessed his displacement and felt your own. Now – we restore the VĀ. We weave the threads back together.”

Collective Visualization

Large-scale projection mapping displays:

• All responses from the Talanoa Station visualized as glowing threads
• Threads emerge from the SaVĀge K’lub installation centerpiece
• Each response becomes a luminous line
• Lines connect, weave, create a growing web of light
• The web links:
  • Mai’s historical journey (shown as white tapa cloth pattern)
  • Contemporary Pacific diaspora communities (neon cyberpunk threads)
  • The visitors’ own stories (colorful individual threads)
  • The global network of Indigenous resistance and reconnection

Visual Poetry:

• Words from responses float like stars
• Voice recordings echo softly
• Images pulse and breathe
• The web grows denser, stronger, more beautiful

Audio: Contemporary Pacific music builds – traditional instruments mixed with electronic beats

Guide narrates:

“This is teu le vā – the nurturing of connection. By sharing your stories, you have added your thread to the tapestry. Mai’s white tapa cloth, woven by his ancestors, now connects to your vibrant threads of today. The VĀ is restored. The network lives. You are part of this story now.”

Teu Le Vā & Farewell (5 Minutes)

Personalized Takeaway:

Each visitor receives a QR code (printed card or phone notification)

QR Code Links To:

• Their personalized “VĀ Map” – a digital artifact showing:
  • Which islands they explored in Act 1
  • Their talanoa response (if they gave consent)
  • Mai’s final message to them
  • Resources for learning more about Pacific culture
  • How to support contemporary Pacific artists and communities

Sample Mai’s Final Message:

“You have walked with me across oceans and centuries. You have felt displacement and recognized connection. Now I ask: What VĀ will you nurture? Which threads will you refuse to let break? Go forward and teu le vā – tend to the sacred connections in your own life. Resist being flattened into one story. Hold the complexity. Honor the between-spaces. You carry the ancestors forward now. Kia kaha – be strong.”

Closing Karakia Whakamutunga

Guide leads final chant:

Kia hora te marino
Kia whakapapa pounamu te moana
Hei huarahi mā tātou i te rangi nei
Aroha atu, aroha mai
Tātou i a tātou katoa
Hui e! Tāiki e!

May peace be widespread
May the sea be like greenstone
May it be a pathway for us all today
Let us show love and respect for one another
For one another
Bind us all together!

Final Words:

“The portal closes, but the VĀ remains open. You leave as witnesses and carriers. Seize your own narrative. Resist conformity. Tend to your connections. The exhibition ends, but the work of teu le vā continues in your life. Haere rā – farewell, but not goodbye.”

Spatial Audio: Closing song plays – soft, contemporary Pacific music with traditional elements

Visual: The web of connections slowly fades but doesn’t disappear – it remains visible at low opacity, a ghost of light reminding visitors the network endures

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POST-EXPERIENCE

Optional Extended Engagement

Visitors can:

• Return to the talanoa station to add more reflections
• Revisit the island map with deeper understanding
• Spend time with tāonga knowing their stories
• Take photos with AR filters
• Connect with provided resources about Pacific culture
• Share their VĀ Map on social media (if they choose)

Exhibition Staff Notes

Throughout the 60 minutes:

• Maintain respectful, sanctuary-like atmosphere
• Allow silence when needed
• Don’t rush emotional moments
• Be present to support visitors who are moved or triggered
• Have tissues available
• Know mental health resources if visitors need support
• Celebrate Indigenous and Pacific visitors who share cultural knowledge
• Acknowledge complexity and avoid simplification

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THE COMPLETE TAPESTRY

The entire experience functions as a digital loom where threads are woven together:

• White tapa cloth threads = Mai’s historical journey and ancestral traditions
• Neon cyberpunk threads = SaVĀge K’lub contemporary resistance and reclamation
• Visitor threads = Personal stories and commitments to teu le vā
• Navigation threads = The web of VĀ connecting islands, people, past and present

This transforms the passive act of viewing museum objects into active, reciprocal maintenance of VĀ – the sacred work of nurturing connection across time, culture, and distance.

The liturgy is complete. The journey honors Mai while empowering contemporary visitors. The VĀ lives on.

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Technical Requirements Summary

Act 1: Islands of Connection

• 3m x 3m floor projection (high-lumen projector)
• 5-8 touch-sensitive zones
• Surround sound speaker system
• Content: 5-8 audio tracks (30-60 sec each) + animated visuals

Act 2: The Portrait

• AR filter development (Lens Studio or similar)
• Smartphone compatibility
• Audio tracks for portrait critique and tatau meanings

Act 3: Talanoa Station

• 8-12 handheld devices or tablets (or mobile phones)
• Text/voice/sketch input capability
• Secure anonymous upload system
• Seating/comfortable reflection space

Act 4: VĀ Network

• Large projection wall (3m x 4m minimum)
• Real-time data visualization software
• Audio system for closing music

Throughout

• Spatial audio system
• Lighting control (dimmers, coloured gels)
• QR code generation and distribution system
• Printed materials for takeaway

Staffing

• 1-2 trained guides per session
• Technical support on standby
• Cultural advisors (Pacific consultants) for ongoing feedback

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Total Duration: 60 minutes
Capacity: 15-25 visitors per session
Sessions per day: 4-6 depending on museum hours

The VĀ Navigator awaits. The portal is ready. Mai’s journey continues through those who choose to walk with him.