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House of the Living
Te Whare o ngaa Hunga ora

120 min performance by Sonja van Kerkhoff and Sen McGlinn, 24 July 2024
Riva dei Sette Martiri, Venice, Italy
Plus the performance, "The Clean up / Te Whakamau" same location on 25 July, 7 pm
Details of the performance, The Call by Ivan Lupi

    performance by Sonja van Kerkhoff
Try out
- detail of the 95.

This performance is part of the 4 day festival.

P E R F O R M A T I C A 2024
Corpi Estranei Dapertutto (Foreign Bodies All Over)
July 24-27, 2024, all over Venice, Italy

Public performances by artists connected with the global south or whose practice reflects on notions of human displacement, gender and / or identity politics.
Organized and curated by Hector Canonge, Bolivia/USA.
Info and programme: instagram.com/inperformanceart

About our performance

House of the Living
Te Whare o ngaa Hunga ora



Sayings and proverbs are a vital part of the body of New Zealand Māori culture. There are two words: whakatuākī for sayings where the author is known and, whakataukī for proverbs where the author is no longer known. The two terms reflect the use of sayings as both new (in constant creation), as well as of tradition, hence the living part of the title of this performative work.

Māori culture also centres on the wharenui (ancestor or meeting house). This house symbolizes the body or ancestoral bodies. For example the centre post is the heart post (pou manawa), the window (the eye), or the doorway (vagina/orifice) which is the entrance to inside the body (protection) of the ancestor/s.

This performance involves laying out 42 Māori proverbs printed onto upcycled postcards bearing traces of our previous art projects. A whakataukī or whakatauākī: an expression of life from a Māori perspective is pasted on top not just in keeping with an aim for a low carbon footprint for this work, but to show that knowledge or understanding comes from layered experience.

Each stone which anchors each card serves also as a marker in itself because for the duration of the performance the public may take select and take a card away.
āWhere each proverb will be relocated will be recorded in the table below.

The intended distribution across the globe of this body of sayings seated in Maori culture, inspired by Joseph Beuys' 7000 Oaks project, extends this performative work beyond a particular place and time, so these proverbs live on with the new owners.

Stone has been used through out time as a foundation for houses because of its density and that is one of the functions of these 42 stones in this work - as the bones of this House of the Living. These come from our personal collection. Sonja has collected stones for decades from many countries, fascinated not just by the way stone has been shaped by the elements but by the knowledge that stone is unique to the spot it was created in. So during the performance the stones first act as anchors for each card and once the card has departed for another destination, the stones remain till the end of this performance.
The proverb Toitū te whenua, whakangarongaro te tangata (The land stands, remains, nurtures, people disappear, pass on, are mortal) refers to our transience in this world, however we believe these proverbs will not die, but will shape the new worlds they move into and live on.

These words that live on are the body of the living house

Body of Kupu Whakatauākī / Whakataukī (sayings) + where each went

Whakatauākī / Whakataukī
If author is known / if the author is unknown
City or town, country,
optional link to that person

Kotahi te kōhao o te ngira e kuhuna ai te miro ma, te miro pango, te miro whero. (Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, 1858)

United, through the eye of the needle pass the white thread, the black thread, and the red thread. (Te Wherowhero was the 1st Māori king)
City or town, country  

Ehara tēnei i te maunga nekeneke, he maunga tū tonu a Hikurangi.
(Te Kani-a-Takirau (Uawa - Tolaga Bay, 1850s)

This mountain does not move, Hikurangi is a mountain that stands still
City or town, country  

Tīramarama te marama whitiwhiti hei mata i te rangi o te pō.
(Toroa Pōhatu, 2009)

The moon shines as an eye for the night's sky
City or town, country  

Ake Tonu, Ka Rere Ai (George Parekōwhai, 2020)

Forever and ever, to fly! (Ideas fly out and always will)
City or town, country  

Te Pūkoro o Tāne. (George Parekōwhai, 2020)

Tāne's top pocket (refers to Tāne's baskets of knowledge)
City or town, country  

Mā te rongo ka kite. (Heeni Tane, 2023)

With the senses/perception we can see. (rongo also refers to peace and the environment)
City or town, country  

Te Hinengaro whakawātea. (Heeni Tane, 2023)

The unbounded, untamed, released, mind / spirit
City or town, country  

He whakaahua, he mea matarau. (Sonja van Kerkhoff, 2023)

Art, that 100 faced thing.
City or town, country  

He kokonga whare e kitea, he kokonga ngākau e kore e kitea.

Corners of a house can be seen, not so with the corners of a heart.
City or town, country  

Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu.

Although it is small, it is greenstone.
City or town, country  

Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.

With your food basket, with my food basket the tribe will thrive.
City or town, country  

Mā whero, mā pango ka oti ai te mahi.

With red (low-born) and black (high-born) the work will be complete.
City or town, country  

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari kē he toa takitini.

My courage was not the courage of one but the courage of many.
City or town, country  

He rau ringa e oti ai.

A hundred hands, and it's done.
City or town, country  

Toitū te whenua, whatungarongaro te tangata.

The land remains, people pass on.
City or town, country  

He iti te mokoroa, nāna i kati te kahikatea.

The tiny pūriri moth caterpillar bites (cuts through) the giant kahikatea tree.
City or town, country  

He kai kei aku ringa.

Food is at my hands.
City or town, country  

Kia mate ururoa, kei mate wheke.

Die (fight) like a white shark, not like an octopus.
City or town, country  

Ngaro atu he tētēkura, whakaeke mai he tētēkura.

When one carved figurehead (chief) disappears, another appears.
City or town, country  

He kōtuku rerenga tahi.

The white heron of a single flight. (a rare visitor)
City or town, country  

Ka pū te ruha, ka hao te rangatahi.

The worn-out fishing net lies in a heap, the (new) 20 metre fishing net catches fish.
City or town, country  

Tama tū, tama ora; tama noho, tama mate kai.

He who stands lives well, he who sits, is hungry.
City or town, country  

Te anga karaka, te anga koura, kei kitea te Marae.

The karaka berry shells and the crayfish husks, should not be visible on the Marae. (clean up and look after the common grounds)
City or town, country  

He wāhine, he whenua, ka ngaro te tangata.

Women, the land, men perish, go missing
City or town, country  

He aha te kai ō te rangatira? He Kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero.

What is food for the chief? Words, communication.
City or town, country  

Kāore te kūmara e kōrero mō tōna ake reka

The kumara (sweet potato) does speak of its own sweetness
City or town, country  

E kore te pātiki e hoki ki tōna puehu.

The flounder does not return to what it has stirred up.
City or town, country  

He manako te kōura i kore ai.

When salt-water crayfish are expected, then there are none.
City or town, country  

E koekoe te tūī, e ketekete te kākū, e kūkū te kererū.

The tūī sings, the kākā chatters, the pigeon coos. (each has their own voice)
City or town, country  

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata.

What is the most important thing in the world? People, people, people.
City or town, country  

Whāia te iti kahurangi ki te tūohu koe me he maunga teitei.

Seek the treasure you value, if you bow your head, let it be to a lofty mountain.
City or town, country  

He waka eke noa.

(we are all) on the same canoe.
City or town, country  

He tangata takahi manuhiri, he marae puehu.

A person who mistreats a guest has a dusty marae (community house / home).
City or town, country  

Tangata ako ana i te kāenga, te tūranga ki te marae, tau ana.

One who is taught at home, stands well on the marae (in the community).
City or town, country  

He tao rākau e taea te karo, he tao kī e kore e taea te karo.

A spear of wood can be overcome, not so (easily) a spear of words.
City or town, country  

He kākano i ruia mai i Rangiātea.

A seed scattered from Rangiātea (signifies nobility)
City or town, country  

Ko te amorangi ki mua, ko te hāpai ō ki muri.

The leader at the front, workers behind the scenes.
City or town, country  

He aroha whakatō, he aroha puta mai.

Love sown, love comes forth.
City or town, country  

He wā pekepeke, he wā tārewa.

A time for jumping, a time to hang (not make a decision)
City or town, country  

He hāngai pū kōrero, e kore e tau mai te patu.

Words of wisdom can never be refuted.
City or town, country  

Tōtara wāhi rua, he kai na te ahi.

Split tōtara (wood) is food for the fire.
City or town, country  

Kua hinga te tōtara i te wao nui a Tāne.

The totara has fallen in the forest of Tane (when someone of importance has died).
City or town, country  


* Te Pūkoro o Tāne. (George Parekōwhai, 2020)

Tāne's top pocket refers to the story of Tāne bringing three baskets of knowledge from the heavens for humanity. The three baskets of knowledge are usually called: te kete tuatea - the basket of light containing present knowledge or what we know now, te kete tuauri - the basket of darkness containing sacred knowledge of ritual, memory and the unknown, and te kete aronui - the basket of pursuit or the knowledge we currently seek.
What type of knowledge could Tāne have brought in his top pocket?



'The Call'

is Ivan Lupi's long durational performance in response to gender mannerisms and the perception of self-identification embedded in the structures of heteronormative society.

In the action, intended to be realised in two separate parts, the artist performs the first act in Italian territory, creating a repeated back and forth 'self-portrait walk' to/from the Venetian lagoon starting from one of the many points from which the water is firstly visible from the distance.

Each time the destination in the proximity of the lagoon is reached, the artist stops and voices 'IVAN LUPI', which stands for the personal 'chosen' gender in response to how society perceived it as experienced by Lupi for the past 50 years.

The walk is repeated for a set of improvised hours a day and for an undetermined number of days.

The audience is invited to choose their preferred level of engagement whereas by just watching the action from the distance or joining Lupi in the walk and voice their own self identification once they reach the point of destination.

If you wish to join the walk, please start from the artist's determined point and once at destination, voice your gender self-identification then walk back to the starting point. Repeat the action as many times as you feel inclined to.





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