The blog is where we'll post news, updates, information about objects in our collection, #betterworkstories, profiles of staff members and visitors, pictures and videos, and really anything we think you'd find interesting. We hope you enjoy.
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First Private Viewing for Dunedin's Wantok Community
On Saturday 2nd September 2023, this perception changed for Dunedin’s Wantok Community who were given, for the first time, a private viewing of Melanesian artefacts and an opportunity to share food and tok stori (‘share stories and converse’) at Tūhura Otago Museum.
Inaugural Niue Science Festival
*Inaugural Niue Science Festival* *12 June 2023* Tūhura Otago Museum is preparing to deliver Niue’s first ever Science Festival over 13 – 17 June 2023. Four staff from the Museum’s Science Outreach team, together with two members of the University of Otago’s Physics Department, will be aiming to engage every student in Niue and much of the wider public over the five-day celebration of science. One of the highlights of the festival is likely to be the Museum’s StarLab, a mobile planetarium that can take audiences from under the ice in Antarctica to a virtual flight through space. There will also be a...
Price Increase at Science Centre
Tūhura Otago Museum announced a price increase at the Science Centre and planetarium, effective from 3 April...
Media Release: Astronaut lands in Bluff
In what is thought to be a first, on Monday 31 October, an astronaut will be touching down in Bluff.
Science comes alive on the Chathams
From 16 August, 2022, Tūhura Otago Museum’s science engagement team will be spending a week on the Chatham Islands/Rēkohu/Wharekauri for the Chatham Islands Festival of Science, to help bring cutting-edge science and hands-on engagement to some of Aotearoa’s most remote communities.
Mighty Small, Mighty Bright Exhibition Announced
*Media release – 22/06/2022* *Today’s Science, Tomorrow’s Technology* Lasers, rainbows, and magnetic nanoparticles… they’re just some of the extraordinary science at your fingertips in the Mighty Small Mighty Bright exhibition opening at Tūhura Otago Museum on Saturday 2 July. The exhibition was created in partnership with New Zealand’s leading scientific research institutes, the MacDiarmid Institute and the Dodd-Walls Centre, alongside Otago Museum and MOTAT. “The aim was to demystify the fascinating world of photonics, advanced materials, and nanotechnology”, said Marketing Coordinator, Charlie Buchan, “and it really does that, in a way that is fun and interactive for children and families”. The exhibition has 12 interactive...
New Gaming Exhibition – Code Breakers: Women in Games
*Media release* *New Gaming Exhibition – Code Breakers: Women in Games * Otago Museum has announced an exhibition for Otago’s gamers, digital natives, and technophiles, Code Breakers: Women in Games, set to open on Saturday 2 July. This free exhibition is made by ACMI and transforms the Museum into an immersive and interactive game zone. Visitors can get hands-on with an array of playable games – from indie through to commercial hits and new releases – all made by New Zealand and Australian women working in different capacities: as directors, programmers, developers, digital artists, writers, producers, and designers. “We are really excited to bring this...
Never-before-recorded auroral activity observed in Dunedin
* GRL COVER 520 425 Nov0621 newimgs A3 * *Never-before-recorded auroral activity observed in Dunedin could lead to new understanding of Earth’s geomagnetic environment* *Dunedin, 2 June 2022* – Research co-authored by an international team of scientists from Boston University, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and including critical observations from Otago Museum director and citizen scientist Dr Ian Griffin, has been published in the renowned scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters. It is the first-ever direct observation of rare auroral activity (an auroral-like arc transformation) that may cast new light on the complex magnetic interactions in the near-Earth space environment. “Because this kind of transformation...
Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Exhibition Announced
*Media release * *Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Exhibition Announced* Tūhura Otago Museum is opening a new exhibition of the finalists of the Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award in the Museum’s Tāngata Whenua gallery. “We are really excited about having the artworks here, particularly in this very special space. The works provide colour and light and compliment the dark and moody narrative of the gallery”, said Tūhura Otago Museum Assistant Curator Māori, Lana Arun, who helped to facilitate the exhibition at the Museum. Featuring paintings, whakairo (carving), raranga (weaving), photography, and ceramics, all the works are portraits of the artists’ tūpuna (ancestors). “The works are beautiful,...
Special Puaka Matariki event planned
*Media release – 09.05.22* *Special Puaka Matariki event planned* This year, for the first public holiday to celebrate Matariki, Tūhura Otago Museum is working with the local rūnaka and the Dunedin City Council for a special community dawn ceremony that will open the festival. “The dawn reappearance of stars Puaka (Puanga) and Matariki signals the Māori new year, a time of celebration for iwi”, said Curator Māori, Gerard O’Regan. “It is also a time of reflection when we think about those whānau and friends who passed away over the previous year. That will be an important part of our dawn gathering this year...
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Our blog aims to keep you informed of the latest happenings at the Otago Museum, through posts about our collections, our people and our work.
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