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.

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 where he graduated with a Master of Arts degree in archaeology.

Career

Gorbey commenced his career with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust 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, Jock Phillips, 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 Jewish Museum Berlin, where he became project director and deputy president. His vision was to create a museum that did not concentrate solely on the Holocaust, 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 The Birthday Honours 2007 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 17 June 2007, to celebrate the Queen's Birthday of 2007.Antigua & Barbuda list: The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and a ...

, Gorbey was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to museums.

Selected works

References

External links

Ken Gorbey: from Te Papa to Berlin, a lifetime of museums
Interview on

RNZ Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...

, 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