Description:

Threaded is an international design magazine. Special Ed.21: The Te Pō & Te Ao Mārama Issue draws from cultural and collaborative frameworks situated in tikanga Māori (Māori customary practices), mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and kawa (Māori protocols). Central to this project resides the role of collaboration and creative partnerships, through cultural advice by kaumātua (elders) and kuia (female elder) and through kawa (Māori protocols) and values in editorial practice.

In this edition, the multi-layered realm of Te Kore (nothingness) is represented in the Z-fold cover which metaphorically and practically bind the two pupapuka (books) and stages together: Te Pō (night realms and darkness) and Te Ao Mārama (the realm of light).

Sonic artistry and augmented reality (AR) are activated through printed motifs and incorporate hau (breath of life) into the pages. Sound design was vital to creating a connection with the end-user that when synthesised with augmentation provides a deep connection and sense of immersion. The sonic palette provides people a way of engaging and exploring mātauranga Māori that is positioned around the unseen and that which is felt aurally and visually.

Structurally, the AR pages open with a chanted karakia and end with a mihi, creating a balance that acknowledges Māori cultural protocol and dualities such as male/female, light/dark, above/below and seen/unseen.

Sound design expresses the representation of Māori creation narratives that are inspired by te taiao, traditional taonga puoro, synthesized pads and strings and the sound that we as human beings generate. ‘Te oro o te orokohanga: the sound(s) of creation’ is composed and produced for Te Pō and Te Ao Mārama pukapuka. This represents the creation of sound, the unseen which is heard and felt that are manifested in vibrations and frequencies, woven together in sonic representations within Threaded Ed.21 that connects us to mātauranga Māori and whakapapa.

From Te Kore, the potential of sound is sonically represented through the sounds of the planets. The high frequencies of the pūtorino are weaved together to acknowledge Hineraukatuari (goddess of sound and music), bringing the potential of sound into being. As with Te Pō, Te Wheiao and Te Ao Mārama, each narrative required unique sonic creations that originated through the process of meditation, listening and being open to hearing the appropriate sonic palettes that were then threaded together to support the narrative and waiata, ‘Ko te Pū’.

Sonic experiences were scanned from the printed pages and directed the audience to the Instagram platform, extending the materiality of printed matter. This approach afforded distinct modes of cognitive processing that combined the visual and the linguistic, the spatial and the temporal, sound, and virtual reality to graphically symbolize the many layers and dimensions of things unseen: the realm between being and non-being.