Jane Jin Kaisen, Peter Robinson, Shannon Te Ao
Hundreds upon thousands of moments glitter in unison
23 April - 31 May 2025

“I don't know if this is what happens right before you die. Everything I have ever experienced is made crystalline. Nothing hurts any more. Hundreds upon thousands of moments glitter in unison, like snowflakes whose elaborate shapes are in full view... My every pain and joy, all my deep-rooted sorrows and loves, shine, not as an amalgam but as a whole comprised of distinct singularities, glowing together as one giant nebula.” (Han Kang, We do not part, 2021)

Coastal Signs is pleased to present Hundreds upon thousands of moments glitter in unison, a group show that brings together three major works by Jane Jin Kaisen, Shannon Te Ao, and Peter Robinson.

Peter Robinson’s If you were to work here is an installation of felt poles, commissioned for the 5th Auckland Triennial in 2013 and installed at The Auckland War Memorial Museum and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Casually stacked along the wall of the gallery, the poles feel totemic or ceremonial while their formation is war-like; an armory of weapons, a palisade, or fortification. The colours relate to the four humours – phlegm, haima (blood), melanchole (black bile), and chole (bile) – that were believed to influence temperament and health.

Jane Jin Kaisen’s Wreckage deftly combines archival propaganda film produced by the US Army in October 1945 –that depicts Korean soldiers loading massive piles of weapons and artillery left by the Japanese onto a large ship and dumping them into the ocean– with underwater footage of a shaman’s ritual and lament. The lament is for the unknown numbers of civilians who were killed and thrown into the sea during the Jeju Massacre, unraveled in 1948 under the authority of the United States Army Military Government in Korea.

The New Zealand Wars is a suite of five photographic portraits of Shannon Te Ao’s youngest daughter Gracie George Te Pōtiki Te Ao who was five years old at the time. Commissioned by Te Uru and Auckland War Memorial Museum in 2024, this work evolved from the artist's unsettling experience in the museum. Confronted in particular by an exhibition called The New Zealand Wars, Te Ao was prompted to reflect on the very nature of generation in places of cultural significance, that is, how information is generated and what function this serves, particularly for future generations.

Jane Jin Kaisen (b. 1980, Korea) is a visual artist and filmmaker who currently lives in Denmark. Kaisen holds a PhD in artistic research from the University of Copenhagen, Department of Art and Cultural Studies, an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studio Art from the University of California Los Angeles, an MA in Art Theory and Media Art from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and participated in the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. Since 2020, she has been Professor of the School of Media Arts, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Kaisen's work has been exhibited in major solo and group exhibitions at prominent international venues including: the Hawai’i Triennial, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Korea, Vienna Secession, the Gwangju Biennale, Performa, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Tate Modern, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, and Kunsthal Charlottenborg. She represented Korea at the 58th Venice Biennale.

Peter Robinson (b. 1966, Hakatere, Ngāi Tahu / Kāi Tahu) lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Peter is an associate professor at the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland. His work has been exhibited in major solo and group exhibitions at prominent national and international venues including: 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, the Jakarta Biennial, the 5th Auckland Triennial, 13th Istanbul Biennale, 11th and 18th Biennale of Sydney. In 2008 Peter was awarded The Walters Prize, and in 2001 he was Aotearoa New Zealand’s representative at the 49th Venice Biennale.

Shannon Te Ao (b. 1978, Sydney, Ngāti Tūwharetoa / Ngāti Wairangi / Ngāti Te Rangiita / Te Pāpaka-a-Maui) lives and work in Te Whanaganui-a-Tara Wellington. Shannon holds a BFA from University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts and an MFA from the College of Creative Arts at Massey University Wellington. Te Ao's work has been exhibited in major solo and group exhibitions at prominent national and international venues including: the Hawai’i Triennial, REMAI Modern; Oakville Galleries, The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10), and the 13th Gwangju Biennale. In 2016 Shannon was awarded The Walters Prize.