Reading Headlands

Abstract

This thesis examines Headlands thinking through New Zealand art: an exhibition which opened in Sydney, at the Museum of Contemporary Art, in March 1992. It seeks to comprehend the various cultural, theoretical and ideological frames within which Headlands operated, particularly in terms of its bid to refigure prevailing definitions of New Zealand art and identity. The two major theoretical strands concentrated on are the postmodern and the postcolonial, and the tension between the two in terms of this exhibition and its wider context. It also analyses the debate which the show prompted, and surveys its legacy. The thesis has several appendices which include installation shots of the exhibition in Sydney, and reproductions of a selection of works on paper which Richard Killeen produced in response to Headlands.