Dance

Witch Water Whelm

Saturday 26 August, 2PM and 4PM

Celebrate She could lie on her back and sink with a contemporary ballet performance choreographed by Lesley Bandy. Titled Witch Water Whelm, the dance takes inspiration from Jayne Parker’s work The Whirlpool to interpret the contemporary witch.

Lesley Bandy is an established dancer and choreographer with an extensive background performing internationally, including with the Royal Opera Ballet. She currently works project-to-project with professional dancers and advanced students touring entertaining, high-quality contemporary ballet to regional communities across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Image: Jayne Parker, The Whirlpool, 1997. Courtesy of the artist and LUX, London. Installation view. Photography by Sam Hartnett.

Talk

Amy Whitehead on the history of witchcraft

Saturday 19 August, 2PM

Join Dr Amy Whitehead for a special talk discussing key moments throughout the history of witchcraft and how these relate to issues facing women today.

Amy R. Whitehead is Senior Lecturer and Anthropologist of Religion at Massey University where she teaches the course: The Anthropology of Ritual, Religion & Witchcraft. Amy gained her PhD in Religious Studies in the UK in 2011 where she did research with Goddess Pagan and Marian devotees in England and Spain. She has published widely about the performance and material cultures of religions over the years. She has an interest in magic and witchcraft, both personally and through an anthropological lens, particularly how they relate to rituals, women, social control, inequality, notions of superstition, and plants (healing and medicinal herbs).

All are welcome. This event will be recorded.

Image: Ann Shelton, i am an old phenomenon, 2022-ongoing. Courtesy of the artist and Two Rooms, Auckland; Denny Gallery, New York and Bartley and Company Art, Wellington. Installation view. Photography by Sam Hartnett.

Workshop

Ikebana flower arranging

Saturday 12 August, 1PM

Join us for a creative workshop based around Isadia’s signature ikebana inspired arrangements. We will provide a unique selection of seasonal flowers for participants to learn how to create a sculptural style arrangement using ikebana techniques. The workshop will be held at Isadia’s central-Auckland vibrant working flower studio.

This two-hour workshop is limited to 15 people and tickets are non-refundable. Pricing includes a kenzan, tack and flowers for each participant. Isadia florists will show you how to prep your vase, floral design techniques for ikebana style arrangements and the basics of flower care. 

Please bring your own unique ikebana bowl or vase to arrange in (we will also have some available to purchase on the day). Light refreshments provided.

Isadia is an Auckland-based floral design studio helmed by Isabel Johnston and Lydia Reusser. They specialise in intuitive and naturalistic floral arrangements. Working with the seasons and using locally sourced flowers, they are renowned for our artistic approach and focus on unstructured and elegant arrangements.

Image courtesy of Isadia

Film screenings

Sorcery

Saturday 5 August, 2.15PM

Gus Fisher Gallery and NZIFF present Christopher Murray’s Sorcery (2023), which follows an Indigenous girl who seeks revenge for her father’s death and finds solace in a secret cabal of witches. This enigmatic folktale of supernatural resistance provides a haunting portrayal of Chile’s colonial past.

Presented in association with Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival 2023.

Talk

Sorcery Panel Discussion

Saturday 29 July, 2PM

Join us for a special panel discussion on sorcery, witchcraft and the figure of the witch in contemporary culture. Panellists include Delilah Pārore-Southon, Mia Maramara and Hweiling Ow. Light refreshments provided. All are welcome.

Presented in association with Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival 2023.

Tour

Curator tour

with coffee + donuts

Saturday 29 July, 1PM

Head to the gallery for a tour led by our curator Lisa Beauchamp who will guide you through She could lie on her back and sink, which explores contemporary artistic responses to witchcraft.

Enjoy the talk with complimentary donuts and Kōkako coffee. All are welcome.

Image: Jayne Parker, The Whirlpool, 1997 (film still). Courtesy of the artist and LUX, London.

Workshop

Miro tī kōuka: Ropemaking with louie zalk-neale

Saturday 22 July, 1PM

Join exhibiting artist Louie Zalk-Neale (Ngāi Te Rangi, Pākehā) as they teach us a ropemaking technique for making miro tī kōuka – twisted cabbage tree fibre. In this two-hour workshop, participants will learn about the artist’s mātauranga based practice and the tikanga involved in harvesting and working with the material, to create their own taonga to take home.

Image courtesy of the artist.

Workshop

Super suncatchers

Saturday 1 July, 10.30AM

Celebrate the school holidays with a morning of whānau friendly art-making. We’ll be making nature-inspired suncatchers for you to take home and hang in your window.

Suitable for children of all ages. All materials provided.

Workshop

Pinhole photography for kids

Saturday 10 June, 10.30AM

Bring your whānau along for a fun workshop where you’ll create your own pinhole camera. Inspired by the photography in She could lie on her back and sink, you’ll learn how to make a handmade pinhole camera that you can then use during a guided exploration of the gallery.

Suitable for children of all ages with parental supervision. All materials provided.

This event is presented as part of the Auckland Festival of Photography.

Image: Ann Shelton, And as she said thanks and spoke spells (Archillia, Yarrow, Old Man’s Pepper, Devil’s Nettle, Sanguinary, Milfoil, Soldier’s Woundwort, Thousand Seal, Bad Man’s Plaything, Carpenter’s Weed, Gearwe, Hundred Leaved Grass, Knight’s Milfoil, Millefolium, Nosebleed, Herbe Militaris, Staunchweed), 2022-ongoing. Courtesy of the artist and Two Rooms, Auckland; Denny Gallery, New York.

Artist talk

Ann Shelton and Louie Zalk-Neale

Saturday 3 June, 2PM

Join us for an opening weekend talk with exhibiting artists Ann Shelton and Louie Zalk-Neale, both presenting new work as part of our current exhibition She could lie on her back and sink.

All are welcome.

This event is presented as part of the Auckland Festival of Photography.

Images courtesy of the artists.

Exhibition opening

She could lie on her back and sink

Friday 2 June, 5.30PM

Join us as we celebrate the opening of our new exhibition She could lie on her back and sink, featuring a performance by exhibiting artist Louie Zalk-Neale and their collaborator Tāwhanga Nopera beginning from 5.45pm, lasting for approximately 30 minutes.

All are welcome.

Read more about the exhibition here.

Image: Tai Shani, The Neon Hieroglyph (film still), 2021. Courtesy of the artist.⁠

Craft

Build a flower wall

Visit Gus Fisher Gallery and add to our ever-growing flower wall! Inspired by our current exhibition, The sentiment of flowers, we have transformed our corridor into a paper garden where you’re welcome to design your own flower creation for display.

Workshop

Candle-Making with Sybs

Saturday 29 April, 1-3PM

Join us for a special candle-making workshop with Sybs, a queer owned and operated small business in Tāmaki Makaurau. Sybs creates small-batch scented candles that are “queer, soy, handmade and horny”. In this two hour workshop, you’ll design and make your own scented candle that you can take home with you.

All materials provided.

Online talk and workshop

Hormone-Extraction Action with Mary MaggIC

Thursday 27 April, 7PM NZT

Join artist and researcher Mary Maggic for an evening of “fuzzy biological sabotage” as they present an online workshop via Zoom webinar as part of our current exhibition The sentiment of flowers. Hear from Mary about their practice of bio-hacking (a do-it-yourself biology) alongside short screenings and a live demonstration of their Estrofem Lab workshop hormone-extraction action.

Mary Maggic (b. 1991, Los Angeles) is a nonbinary Chinese-American artist and researcher working within the fuzzy intersections of body and gender politics and capitalist ecological alienations. Based in Vienna since 2017, Maggic frequently uses biohacking as a xeno-feminist practice of care that serves to demystify invisible lines of molecular biopower. Maggic is a recipient of the 2022 Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship, and they are a current member of the online network Hackteria: Open Source Biological Art and the Asian feminist collective Mai Ling.

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Workshop

Hapa-Zome for kids

Saturday 15 and 22 April, 10.30-11.30AM

Using the Japanese art of Hapa-Zome, meaning ‘leaf dye,’ bring your whānau to come create vibrant patterns by smashing the pigment onto fabric.

This one hour workshop is suitable for tamariki of all ages. All materials provided.

Workshop

Gen-Zine: A Do-It-Yourself Art Workshop for Rainbow Youth

Saturday 1 April, 10AM-2PM

Are you a LGBTQQIAP+ young person (aged 13 – 18) interested in art, writing, and DIY culture? In celebration of the new exhibit The sentiment of flowers, Gus Fisher Gallery invites rainbow youth and their allies to an introductory workshop on queer zine-making. Bring your friends and make some new ones, all while exploring the creative world of queer self-publishing. Together, we will learn about the history of zines in queer and other radical movements and participate in fun and easy bookmaking activities. Go home with your own personal mini-zine and help contribute to a group zine in just three hours! No experience or supplies are needed for this workshop, but feel free to bring your poetry, sketchbooks, and creative ideas with you.

Presented by Kim Snider (she/her)

Kim Snider (she/her) is a teacher and obsessive zine-collector from Toronto, Canada, where she teaches drama, creative writing, and gender studies. She recently moved to Tāmaki Makaurau to begin her PhD, which focuses on the role of the arts in supporting queer and trans youth.

Performance

Light Night 2023

Saturday 18 March, 7PM

For the Auckland Arts Festival’s Light Night 2023, the central city’s most iconic galleries are open late and playing host to a thrilling suite of exhibitions and curious delights. Gus Fisher Gallery will host a captivating performance by Dance Plant Collective as part of a series of pop performances across various galleries. Read more about Light Night 2023 here.

Gus Fisher Gallery will be open late from 4PM until 8.30PM.

No RSVP required.

Tour

Weekend Curator Tour

with coffee and donuts

Saturday 11 March, 2PM

The sentiment of flowers is an exhibition that embraces a non-binary approach to thinking about nature by encouraging us to abandon ideas of human exceptionalism in order to understand how queerness is an integral part of life for all living organisms. Join us for a tour led by Gus Fisher Gallery curator Lisa Beauchamp where she will guide you through the exhibition as it examines themes of queer ecologies.

Enjoy the tour with complimentary donuts and Kōkako coffee.

Tour

Local ecologies: Walking Tour

Saturday 4 March, 2PM

Join us for a walking tour of ecological sites of significance in Auckland’s city centre. Departing from Gus Fisher Gallery, we will explore local landscapes – their features, histories and potential for the future. We will be guided by the team from Aaiotanga Community Space, who work actively in the area promoting healthy networks, communities and ecologies for both human and non-human residents alike.

Film screening

Water makes us wet

Saturday 25 February, 4PM
Run time: 80 mins
Rating: 16+

Join us for a free film screening of Water Makes Us Wet by internationally acclaimed artists Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens, a couple and artistic duo who feature in our current exhibition The sentiment of flowers.

With a poetic blend of curiosity, humor, sensuality and concern, this film chronicles the pleasures and politics of H2O from an ecosexual perspective. Travel around California with Annie, a former sex worker, Beth, a professor, and their dog Butch, in their E.A.R.T.H. Lab mobile unit, as they explore water in the Golden State. Ecosexuality shifts the metaphor “Earth as Mother” to “Earth as Lover” to create a more reciprocal and empathetic relationship with the natural world. Along the way, Annie and Beth interact with a diverse range of folks including performance artists, biologists, water treatment plant workers, scholars and others, climaxing in a shocking event that reaffirms the power of water, life and love.

Artist talk

A R A P E T A and Laura Duffy

Saturday 11 February, 2PM

Join us for an opening weekend talk with artists a r a p e t a and Laura Duffy, both presenting new work as part of our current exhibition The sentiment of flowers. 

a r a p e t a is takatāpui artist of Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Whanaunga, Ngāti Porou and Muriwhenua descent researching the revival and preservation of Māori cloth making traditions through performance and time-based mediums. Laura Duffy is from Turanganui-a-Kiwa and has lived and worked in Te Whanganui-a-Tara for the past decade. She works between video, sculpture, and installation and is interested in exploring queer pleasure or joy derived from failure, error, and disgust.

Image left: Courtesy of Laura Duffy. Image right: Commissioned by The Art Paper, photography by Ophelia and Ryder Jones.

Exhibition opening

The sentiment of flowers

Thursday 9 February, 5.30PM

Join us as we celebrate the opening of The sentiment of flowers, an exhibition featuring work by leading Aotearoa and international artists that resonate with the theme of queer ecologies.

All are welcome.

Read more about the exhibition here.