It's a great pleasure for us to share that Hawai‘i Triennial 2025 (HT25) is curated by Wassan Al-Khudhairi, Noelle M.K.Y. Kahanu, and the one and only Binna Choi, who for many years has been involved in DAI as a core tutor and director of Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons, longstanding partner to our program. For the history of HT25 and Hawai‘i Contemporary, it will be the first non-hierarchical trio of curators consisting of women of color. The title and theme of its forthcoming exhibition: ALOHA NŌ. Curators explain that it's more than a ubiquitous Hawaiian greeting, aloha is a Hawaiian philosophy and way of life. By collapsing two, seemingly opposite, meanings—“no” in English with “nō,” an intensifier, in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language)—ALOHA NŌ reclaims aloha from a colonial-capitalist historicity and situates it as a transformative power that is collectively enacted through contemporary art. On view February 15– May 4, 2025.
HT25 is a multi-site exhibition of contemporary art from Hawai‘i, the Pacific, and beyond. After a nearly year-long process of curatorial research and collaboration, the curators arrived at the title and theme ALOHA NŌ; they shared the following remarks:
“This past year was profoundly painful for so many of us—locally, nationally, and globally,” said Kahanu, HT25 curator. “As we thought about the role of contemporary art and the Hawaiʻi Triennial, we kept returning to the notion of aloha, as a means of conversing about healing, solidarity, and shared humanity. ALOHA NŌ allows us to process grief and emerge more whole, and ready to love anew.” Another curator, Al-Khudhairi, is saying that ALOHA NŌ is a call to action, it is radical love and fierce refusal.
On view February 15–May 4, 2025, across the Hawaiian Islands of O‘ahu, Maui, and Hawai‘i Island, this fourth iteration of the Hawai‘i Triennial marks the first time the exhibition will expand beyond the island of O‘ahu. At present, collaborating sites of exhibition and/or programming include Bishop Museum; Capitol Modern; Donkey Mill Art Center; East Hawai‘i Cultural Center; Foster Botanical Garden; Hale Hō‘ike‘ike at the Bailey House; Hō‘ikeākea Gallery at Leeward Community College; Honolulu Museum of Art; Kaimana Beach Hotel; Mānoa Heritage Center; Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design; and Ward Village.
The organization is also working with the Honolulu Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts to add further sites of exhibition and/or programming.
To read a full curatorial statement on ALOHA NŌ, visit hawaiicontemporary.org.
To find out more about Binna Choi and long-term partnership of DAI and Casco Art Institute.