About gus fisher Gallery

Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa

Let us keep close together, not wide apart

Whāia e koe te iti kahurangi ki te tūohu koe, me he maunga teitei

Pursue excellence – should you stumble, let it be to a lofty mountain

Gus Fisher Gallery is a centre for contemporary art in Tāmaki Makaurau and a project space for artists. As the flagship art gallery for Waipapa Taumata Rau/The University of Auckland, Gus Fisher Gallery advocates for experimental exhibition making by being a platform for new opportunities and enabling an extension of artistic practice. Gus Fisher Gallery’s programme comprises in-house initiated exhibitions and a public programme of events for creative and diverse communities. Housed in a 1934 heritage building, Gus Fisher Gallery shows a strength in artists moving image consistent with its building’s pioneering broadcasting history.

Gus Fisher Gallery has premiered work by some of the world’s most influential artists in Aotearoa. These include: Cao Fei (Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation prize 2021), Lawrence Abu Hamdan (Turner Prize 2020), Carolee Schneemann (Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, 57th Venice Biennale) and Larry Achiampong (Jarman Award, 2018, 2021). Gus Fisher Gallery commissions artists from Aotearoa to create transformative projects enabling the following to take place: Fortune Teller (2020) by Mark Schroder, Building monuments and folding forts upon a slippery ocean and a moving sky (2021) by Jeremy Leatinu’u, Untitled (2021) by Salome Tanuvasa, Roharoha (2022) by Ana Iti, and Creation Stories: A project by Simon Denny and Karamia Müller (2022).

In 2024, Gus Fisher Gallery staged the first exhibition of artist, filmmaker and gay rights activist Derek Jarman in Aotearoa. Derek Jarman: Delphinium Days was co-developed by Gus Fisher Gallery and City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi. The exhibition was co-curated by Lisa Beauchamp, Curator of Contemporary Art at Gus Fisher Gallery, Aaron Lister, Senior Curator (Toi) at City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi, and Michael Lett. 

Derek Jarman: Delphinium Days was presented at Gus Fisher Gallery, and The Dowse Art Museum in partnership with City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi.

Gus Fisher Gallery recognises Te Tiriti o Waitangi as Aotearoa’s founding document. We acknowledge Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei who are the mana whenua of central Tāmaki Makaurau and rightful custodians of the land upon which we operate.

Image credit: Jeremy Leatinu’u, Building monuments and folding forts upon a slippery ocean and a moving sky (detail, configuration 4), 2021. Installation view. Photography by Kallan MacLeod.