The Ad Parnassum — Purapurawhetū Immersive Exhibition at Tūhura Otago Museum took place from April 4th to May 4th, opening in the Dunedin Arts Festival 2025 programme.
The project pays homage to Bauhaus artist Paul Klee's painting "Ad Parnassum", using digital augmentation to portray Mount Parnassus as a temple or wharenui.
Created by Daniel Belton, Donnine Harrison and the Good Company Arts team, with music from Dame Gillian Karawe Whitehead, Ad Parnassum — Purapurawhetū is both a dance spectacle and an evocative celestial voyage inspired by elements of Māori, Mediterranean, and European culture. The museum's Beautiful Science Gallery and Planetarium presented our multi-faceted exhibition, featuring bespoke VR and full dome experiences mastered by Jac Grenfell, alongside making of slides, objects, workbooks, taonga pūoro instruments, music score and more.
“In addition to the dome screenings, the gallery space featured nine original garments designed by Kate Sylvester - worn in the film - alongside a 30-minute feature version of the film, virtual reality experiences, and behind-the-scenes imagery. These elements combined to create a rich, immersive, and multi-sensory experience for visitors. The exhibition was incredibly well-received. It was evident that Daniel, Donnine, and the team have strong credibility within the community. Despite being on display for just five weeks, it drew high attendance. Our Museum Guides frequently reported that visitors were coming specifically to experience this exhibition. The exhibition featured in the Otago Daily Times, and a review of the work was also published in the Arts section” Craig Scott, Head of Exhibitions and Design Tūhura Otago Museum
“Ad Parnassum — Purapurawhetū is an extraordinarily beautiful series of choreographic vignettes. The viewer is drawn into virtual atmospheric vistas replete with recurring motifs, like the flower of life, for example. The film’s wide aspect ratio is firmly grounded by the dancers but seemingly blends into the night sky. It takes its name from a painting by Paul Klee, Ad Parnassum (1932), and architectural elements from Klee’s painting inspire compositional scaffolding and an image of Mt Parnassus in central Greece, for example. Purapurawhetū references Matariki, in the form of tukutuku patterning, the rendering of the constellation, and through the dancers themselves. The film is scored by Gillian Whitehead, and performed by the New Zealand String Quartet, with Al Fraser on taonga pūoro. All these elements coalesce into a seamless aesthetic experience that inspires a sense of cosmic consciousness, even” Otago Daily Times, April 17th 2025 (Beautiful Science Gallery, Tūhura Otago Museum for Dunedin Arts Festival)
Good Company Arts is grateful to Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa, Tūhura Otago Museum, Kate Sylvester, Dunedin Arts Festival and Zentrum Paul Klee for their support towards this much loved exhibition.
