Kenneth Coulton Gorbey (born 1942) is a New Zealand museum director and consultant. He has designed and created exhibitions at the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

and the

Jewish Museum Berlin The Jewish Museum Berlin (''Jüdisches Museum Berlin'') was opened in 2001 and is the largest Jewish museum in Europe. On of floor space, the museum presents the history of Jews in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present day, with new focuses ...

Early life

Gorbey was born in 1942 and grew up in

Maungatautari Maungatautari is a mountain, rural community, and ecological area near Cambridge in the Waikato region in New Zealand's central North Island. The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "mountain of the upright ...

. He studied at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

where he graduated with a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in archaeology.

Career

Gorbey commenced his career with the

New Zealand Historic Places Trust Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga (initially the National Historic Places Trust and then, from 1963 to 2014, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust) ( mi, Pouhere Taonga) is a Crown entity with a membership of around 20,000 people that advocate ...

in 1968 by conducting an archaeological survey of the

Kapuni Kapuni is an onshore natural gas-condensate field located in the Taranaki Basin, a ~100,000 km2 partially-inverted rift basin on the Taranaki Peninsula in the North Island, New Zealand. Discovered in 1959 and brought into production in 1970 ...

natural gas pipeline route. From 1971 to 1983, he was director of the

Waikato Museum Waikato Museum ( mi, Te Whare Taonga o Waikato) is a regional museum located in Hamilton, New Zealand. The museum manages ArtsPost, a shop and gallery space for New Zealand art and design. Both are managed by the Hamilton City Council. Outside ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

. From there he became Director of the Museum Project and head of exhibition planning for the new

(Te Papa) where he worked with

Cliff Whiting Clifford Hamilton Whiting (6 May 1936 – 16 July 2017) was a New Zealand artist, teacher and advocate for Māori heritage. Career In 1955, Whiting began teacher training at Wellington Teachers' College where his artistic talents were quickly ...

Jock Phillips John Oliver Crompton Phillips (born 1947) is a New Zealand historian, author and encyclopedist. He was the general editor of '' Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'', the official encyclopedia of New Zealand. Career Born and raised in Chr ...

, Cheryl Sotheran and Nigel Cox. He held that position for 15 years. In 1999, he was engaged by Mike Blumenthal to design the exhibitions for the

, where he became project director and deputy president. His vision was to create a museum that did not concentrate solely on the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

, but told Jewish history using storytelling and as "magical theatre". To this end he hired his colleague from Te Papa, writer Nigel Cox, to work with him. Since 1984, Gorbey has continued to work as a consultant on museum projects.

Honours and awards

In the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours, Gorbey was appointed a

Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for those ...

, for services to museums.

Selected works

References

External links

Ken Gorbey: from Te Papa to Berlin, a lifetime of museums
Interview on RNZ, 25 August 2020
Our Museum's History, Part Three: political decisions in 2001. Jewish Museum Berlin
Accessed 13 November 2020 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gorbey, Ken 1942 births Living people Directors of museums in New Zealand University of Auckland alumni People associated with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa People from Waikato Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit St Peter's College, Auckland faculty