Conversation
Luke Willis Thompson (artist) 
Moderator: Megan Tamati-Quennell (Curator of modern and contemporary Maori and Indigenous art, and Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry co-curator)

Curator Megan Tamati-Quennell engages artist Luke Willis Thompson in a discussion about his latest moving image work Whakamoemoeā (2025). Described as political sci-fi, the work was filmed in front of Te Whare Rūnanga, a famous carved meeting house built from timber and other natural materials at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in Aotearoa New Zealand, where the founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand was signed. Set in 2040, the work assumes the form of a state broadcast delivered in Te Reo Māori announcing Aotearoa’s transition from a colonial Westminster-style of governance to an Indigenous, plurinational state. Whakamoemoeā draws on ‘Matike Mai Aotearoa,’ the last project worked on by Maori philosopher and lawyer Moana Jackson.