Wunderrūma: New Zealand Jewellery

Wunderrūma brings together over 200 pieces by more than 75 contemporary New Zealand jewellers and artists as well as Māori taonga and Pacific and historical European jewellery.

Wunderrūma is curated by Warwick Freeman and Karl Fritsch, two of New Zealand’s most prominent jewellers. They say, “jewellery can be found in many different places and practices. Wunderruma is not a history of New Zealand jewellery, or pronouncement on contemporary making in this country. Instead, it reflects what two artists see from their viewpoints (local and international) when they look at adornment in Aotearoa New Zealand.”

The title ‘Wunderrūma’ plays with the German word Wunderkammer (wonder room or cabinet of curiosities) and the Māori transliteration of the word ‘room’. While contemporary jewellery is the centre of the exhibition, historical, customary, fine art and industrial sources which parallel and influence this are also included.

To listen to a short podcast on this show, click here.

Wunderrūma is presented by The Dowse in partnership with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, with support from Creative New Zealand.

The exhibition was exhibited at Galerie Handwerk in Munich, Germany in February 2014 as Wunderrūma: Schmuck aus Neuseeland before returning to New Zealand for its showing at The Dowse. In 2015 the exhibition toured to Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, where it was on show from 18 July to 1 November.