ST. PETERSBURG, FL.- Sam Hamilton/Sam Tam Ham (b. 1984, Auckland, New Zealand/Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa) created Te Moana Meridian as a vessel for proposing a radical new United Nations General Assembly Draft Resolution to formally relocate the prime meridian from Greenwich, London, to Te Moana-nui-ā-Kiwa/the South Pacific Ocean. Since its inception at an 1884 conference in Washington D.C., the prime meridian has functioned to implicitly serve the ambitions of the British colonial empire. Rather than serving as a "beacon of humanity," the prime meridian today more resembles a bygone imperial relic. As an original operatic performance and five-channel video installation, Te Moana Meridian proposes to elect a new "center of the world" while acknowledging that doing so has the potential to reframe the dynamics of global power.

Sam Hamilton/Sam Tam Ham (B.1984, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand) is a working class, interdisciplinary artist based in Portland, OR. They have presented their work at the Converge 45 Triennial (Portland, OR), Whitechapel Gallery (London), Portland Art Museum (OR), Issue Project Room (NYC), ARTSPACE Aotearoa (Aotearoa), Locust Projects (Miami), Transmediale (Berlin), Govett Brewster (Aotearoa), Plano B (Brazil) and more.

Te Moana Meridian is funded by the New Zealand Arts Council, Oregon Arts Commission, and The Ford Family Foundation, and supported by Activate Arts Now, Creative Capital, The N.M. Bodecker Foundation, The Speaker of the House of the New Zealand Parliament, The Portland Art Museum, The Audio Foundation, and many of Sam Hamilton/Sam Tam Ham’s incredible friends.

Te Moana Meridian at GENERATOR is curated by Christian Viveros-Fauné and organized by USF Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa. GENERATOR: USFCAM and its programs are generously supported by the USF College of Design, Art & Performance, USF St. Petersburg, the Lee and Victor Leavengood Endowment, and the Kathleen Binnicker Swann Endowment.