All rooms tell stories - slippery, ephemeral ones that change with each rearrangement, spring clean or renovation. But every so often, we decide that the story of a room is too important to lose...

In this Ockham Residential lecture, self-described room enthusiast Sebastian Clarke will discuss some of New Zealand's most abiding interior spaces, the rooms within our historic house museums. Within the exalted context of a museum, the room gains an elevated status, but what effect does this have on its story?

This lecture will reflect on the diverse and evolving strategies these places employ for telling stories through interiors.

Sebastian will be joined by Lucinda Bennett,  Visual Arts Editor at The Pantograph Punch for a Q&A following the lecture.

Read Sebastian's essay From Dwelling to Destinations: on New Zealand House Museums for The Pantograph Punch here.

Booking is free here. Spaces are limited. 

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Sebastian Clarke is a graduate of the University of Auckland's School of Architecture and Planning, and works as a heritage policy professional. He is interested in cultural activities that seek to draw attention to the importance of our historic heritage, including preservation, curation, artistic representation and reinterpretation. He has written about house museums and architectural history for multiple publications. Sebastian is a trustee of the Thorndon Trust, which owns the Rita Angus Cottage.

Lucinda Bennett holds an MA with First Class Honours in Art History from The University of Auckland, where she has also worked as a summer research scholar, graduate teaching assistant and curator at Window Gallery. She has presented papers at local and international conferences, including Cultural Typhoon (Tokyo University for the Arts, 2016) and trans/forming feminisms: media, technology, identity (University of Otago, 2015).