Pursuit of Venus [Infected]

This 32-minute panoramic audiovisual projection by Maori artist Lisa Reihana comprises two elements: a popular French Neoclassical wallpaper pattern, entitled Les sauvages de la mer Pacifique, and second, the history of 19th-century French colonialism in the South Pacific islands. Rather than presenting a harmonious meeting between polite French sailors and grateful Polynesian dignitaries set in a scientifically ordered natural landscape, Reihana darkens the story with accounts of violence and oppression drawn from the historical record.