From Tahiti to Calgary
October 3
Heather Edwards Theatre | 6 PM
Join us for an evening with Miriama Bono—Polynesian artist, curator, lecturer, and architect—for a far-reaching conversation on art, memory, and museums across the Pacific and the Prairies. Presented by the Alliance Française of Calgary, this special program—our first at Contemporary Calgary—comes in the lead-up to Nuit des Idées in Calgary, in partnership with the Institut français du Canada.
Miriama Bono will share highlights from her curatorial and artistic practice—spanning exhibitions, podcasting, and museum leadership—and reflect on how cultural institutions can better include multiple voices and lived histories. The evening includes a talk followed by audience Q&A.
The event will be conducted in English and French, and will be moderated by Daniel Doz, board member of the Alliance Française and former president of the University of the Arts, where he served for 15 years.
The conference will explore:
Decolonizing museums: new approaches with Indigenous collections and community partnerships.
Shared memories: connections between Tahiti and Calgary—how museums carry community stories and foster dialogue.
Francophone identities in minority contexts: the role of the arts in transmission and belonging.
About the Speaker
Miriama Bono
In 2017, Miriama Bono was appointed Director of the Musée de Tahiti et des Îles, where she led the museum’s renovation and coordinated international partnerships that culminated in the 2023 return of 20 significant Polynesian heritage pieces from leading European collections (British Museum, Cambridge Museum of Anthropology, and Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac). Alongside her institutional work, she has exhibited in Tahiti, Nouméa, Corsica, and Paris, and curated for the museum and for Révélations at the Grand Palais (2022/2025).
« Repenser le musée, repenser le partage de la culture. » - “Rethink the museum, rethink how we share culture.”
She also co-founded the Tahiti Podcast Label and hosts Tahitian Talk (conversations) and Parau Tama (tales and legends). A regular speaker in Tahiti, Canberra, Paris, Sydney, Hawaiʻi, Rome, and London, she is currently developing a youth fiction podcast on Mai, Tupaia, and Ahutoru—three Tahitians central to 18th-century Pacific-European encounters.
