Annual contemporary art exhibition sparks conversation on cultural exchange in Hawai‘i

Bringing art exhibitions and free public programming to a wider audience this past spring, Contact Zone is the fifth installment of Contact, an annual exhibition of contemporary art produced by Hawai‘i artists. Launched in 2014 at the Honolulu Museum of Art School, Contact expanded its reach in 2018 to include additional exhibition venues in
Waikiki, Kaka‘ako and Kalihi throughout the month of April.

The artwork featured in the exhibition explores the notion of “contact zones,” or spaces where cultures meet, clash and grapple with one another. Over the years, the partially juried show has supported numerous local artists and offered a platform for them to share their perspectives on the topic of cultural exchange in Hawai‘i.

“Contact Zone offers a comprehensive survey of contemporary art in Hawai‘i, with a critical focus on what it means to live, coexist and be from and transplant to Hawai‘i,” says exhibition manager Josh Tengan. Curated and juried by Fitted Hawai‘i designer Keola Naka‘ahiki Rapozo and Michael Rooks, Wieland Family curator of modern and contemporary art at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, Contact Zone included a suite of talks, screenings and other public programs to expand the conversation on cultural exchange beyond the medium of visual art.

Joining the lineup this year were a number of site-specific art installations in Waikiki, which is itself a notable contact zone on O‘ahu. Installations included a sand sculpture in the lobby of the Sheraton Waikiki by artists Jill Harris and Thomas Koet, artwork by Jan Becket and the art collective Paradise Cove both in store and in the window display at Saks Fifth Avenue, and a new photography series by Taiji Terasaki at T Galleria by DFS.