Te Moana Meridian Conference is the ongoing public program counterpart to the experimental opera Te Moana Meridian, which centers around a speculative United Nations General Assembly Resolution to formally relocate the international prime meridian from the UK to Te Moananui-ā-Kiwa/the South Pacific Ocean. Te Moana Meridian Conference submits the UN policy proposal to rigorous critical debate by a diverse range of thought leaders across the fields of art, culture, science, politics, history, and advocacy. This event at PICA will be the third such convening, following an inaugural conference held in Aotearoa New Zealand in 2022 with Artspace and Vā Moana Pacific Spaces. 

As Te Moana Meridian Conference continues to bring in fresh perspectives to collectively map, consider, and network the vast political, cultural, and technological issues that transect the prime meridian, the project seeks to build the deliberative body necessary to explore the question: How can we construct a means of collectively calibrating time and space that genuinely benefits the global commons?

*Conference participants include Sam Hamilton; Cristina Lara, Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde; Dr. Lana Lopesi, Assistant Professor of Indigenous Race and Ethnic Studies, University of Oregon; Alyshia Macaysa, Executive Director, Oregon Pacific Islander Coalition; Ataahua Papa, Auckland Arts Festival; Bogosi Sekhukhuni; and Hunter Shobe, Associate Professor of Geography, Portland State University. Moderated by Jason N. Le, Curatorial Fellow, PICA.