Online screening

Hiraki Sawa: Dwelling (2002) & Absent (2018)

19 November – 3 December 2021

Gus Fisher Gallery presents a special online screening of Hiraki Sawa’s Dwelling (2002) and Absent (2018). Dwelling was originally shown as part of From our Beautiful Square.

Online screening

Józef Robakowski: From My Window

15 – 31 November 2021

Józef Robakowski’s 16mm film work From My Window (1978–1999) captures episodes of everyday activity that occurred within the 20-storey high-rise complex where the artist lived. From My Window was shown as part of the exhibition From our Beautiful Square.

Artist activation

An evolving sculpture by Jeremy Leatinu’u

10 & 24 July, 7 & 21 August 2021

For Building monuments and folding forts upon a slippery ocean and a moving sky (2021), artist Jeremy Leatinu’u will reconfigure the sculpture onsite.

Family activity

Story time & tissue art

14 August 2021

Bring your kids for a fun story time session inspired by the exhibition, From our Beautiful Square, followed by a tissue paper craft activity. Kindly sponsored by Unity Books.

Workshop

Painting & mark-making with Salome Tanuvasa

7 August 2021

Join artist Salome Tanuvasa for a hands-on workshop on painting and mark-making in the gallery. The workshop will include a series of exercises focusing on colour, shape, architecture and movement. Tickets are $10 per person.

Publication launch

COOKED

4 August 2021, Shadows Bar, 8 Alfred Street

Something’s cooking! As part of From our Beautiful Square, Gus Fisher Gallery presents COOKED: a publication reflecting on 2020’s lockdown through shared kitchen experiences. Conceived by Chani Balmer, Shania Pablo, Anneka Scholtz and Reah Somerville.

Workshop

Monoprinting for kids

17 & 24 July 2021

Be inspired by the works of artist Salome Tanuvasa in From our Beautiful Square and create your own original monoprints with lines, squiggles and lots of colour!

Film screening

Merata: how mum decolonised the screen

10 July 2021

Join us for a screening of Heperi Mita’s documentary film and learn more about pioneering Māori filmmaker Merata Mita. The screening will be followed by an audience Q&A with Heperi Mita. Part of Matariki Festival 2021.

Artist talk

Jeremy Leatinu’u & Salome Tanuvasa

26 June 2021

Join us for a floor talk with artists Jeremy Leatinu’u and Salome Tanuvasa, ahead of the opening celebration of From our Beautiful Square.

Event

Tarot with Te Kani: career readings

29 May 2021

Drop in on the last day of happiness is only real when shared for a free tarot reading from Samuel Te Kani inside Mark Schroder’s installation Fortune Teller.

Workshop

Crazy clay-making

22 May 2021

Be inspired by Mark Schroder’s epic installation in happiness is only real when shared and make your own objects for your desk using modelling clay.

Event

Proportunity: headshot photography sessions

13 February & 15 May 2021

Update your professional profiles with new headshots, courtesy of Vanessa Mei Crofskey & Kimmi Rindel’s Wellbeing Analysis Techniques Limited. Presented as part of Now You See Me in The Booth.

Tour

Lunchtime tour with Mark Schroder

14 May 2021

Join us for a talk and tour of Fortune Teller in happiness is only real when shared with artist Mark Schroder and curator Lisa Beauchamp.

Workshop

Satire & storytelling with Daniel Vernon

8 May 2021

Join Pōneke Wellington artist and writer Daniel Vernon (aka @yeehawtheboys) for a two hour workshop on storytelling and political satire, and create your own comic strip.

Event

Poetry night: reader response

22 April 2021

Join us for an evening of poetry responding to our exhibition, happiness is only real when shared, with a line up of speakers curated by poet, author and playwright Dominic Hoey. Speakers include Hoey, Matilda Clack, Ria Masae, Liam Jacobson and Takunda Muzondiwa. 

Workshop

Mud & mind

10 April 2021

Mud and mind is a two hour group workshop led by artist Becky Richards. Grounded in a series of slow-paced, gentle exercises in clay, this making session will explore mindfulness as a positive, political force.

Tour

Cantonese language guided tour with Wai Ching Chan

27 March 2021

Hear more about Hong Kong based artist Wong Ping and his animations in happiness is only real when shared, in a Cantonese language tour with artist Wai Ching Chan.

Event

Kete aronui book club with Sam Gaskin

20 March 2021

Art writer and editor Sam Gaskin will discuss Chinese artists’ strategies for expressing themselves under authoritarianism, drawing from the book City on Fire: The Fight for Hong Kong by Antony Dapiran. Kindly sponsored by Unity Books and Kōkako coffee.

Event

Good morning, good morning!

8-14 March 2021

Sign up to receive daily morning messages from artist JingCheng Zhao for one week, inspired by customised morning call services available on major Chinese online shopping website TaoBao. Click here to see archived messages.

Talk

The absolute state of it; journalism today in Aotearoa

28 October 2020, Lecture hall B10, University of Auckland general library basement

Fake news, bad algorithms, pay walls and polarising politicians: the state of journalism today is fraught with 21st century challenges and opportunities. Hosted by comedian Tim Batt, the panel of speakers includes Carol Hirschfeld (Stuff), Hayden Donnell (RNZ, The Spinoff), Kirsty Johnston (Stuff), and Leonie Hayden (The Spinoff). This event is part of The Medium is the Message. Watch the talk recording here.

Film screening

Bastion Point: Day 507

24 October 2020

As part of The Medium is the Message, Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision and Gus Fisher Gallery present a screening of Bastion Point: Day 507 directed by Merata Mita, Leon Narbey and Gerd Pohlmann. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the Hawke Whānau (Ngāti Whātua) and Dr Jani Wilson (AUT).

Event

Kete aronui book club: Carolee Schneemann

15 October 2020

Join curator Lisa Beauchamp for a spirited discussion on the life and work of pioneering feminist artist Carolee Schneemann, whose installation Devour (2003) features in The Medium is the Message.

Artist activation

Zheng Nuanzhi: Evening! with Jimmy Applause

13 October 2020

Open late for Artweek Auckland, Gus Fisher Gallery will be activated by artist Zheng Nuanzhi, as she invites participants to join a live talk show with drag king Jimmy Applause. Part of Artweek Auckland.

Tour

Behind the scenes of TVNZ’s former home

3 October 2020

Discover the site of the first official public television broadcast in Aotearoa in this special guided tour, as we celebrate 60 years of television in the building where it all began. Part of Auckland Heritage Festival.

Screening

Nam June Paik screening with introduction by Tobias Berger

1 August 2020

Tobias Berger, Head of Arts at Tai Kwun (Hong Kong), discusses the “father of video art” Nam June Paik. A screening of selected short films by Paik that dissect the medium of television will follow.

Workshop

An introduction to web development

27 June 2020, RainbowYOUTH, 10 Abbey Street, Auckland Central 1010

Learn the basics of web development in this free workshop led by developers Jessica Morgan and Kimmi Rindel. Generously supported by Rule Foundation. Part of Queer Algorithms.

Event

An evening of poetry with essa may ranapiri and friends

25 June 2021

Join essa may ranapiri with fellow poets Te Inuwai Nathan, Simone Kaho and Tāwhanga Nopera for an intimate poetry reading. Generously supported by Rule Foundation. Part of Queer Algorithms.

Talk

Remembering Brandon: a kōrero on trans visibility

18 June 2020

Expanding upon and coming into conflict with Brandon by Shu Lea Cheang, researcher and community health worker Max Whitehurst leads an open discussion on trans histories, dissensus and the politics of recognition.

Talk

Conversion therapy in Aotearoa: current issues

21 May 2020, Zoom webinar

Hosted by Auckland Pride Festival Director Max Tweedie, join Takatāpui creative Alesha Ahdar, Youth MP Shaneel Lal, Labour MP Marja Lubeck, and artist and LGBTQI+ activist Shannon Novak for a discussion on conversion therapy in Aotearoa and activism around banning the practice. Watch the recording here.

Event

Tarot reading with John Walter

13 March 2020

Have your fortune read by artist John Walter with his very own artist-made ad ‘queered’ tarot cards.

Performance

John Walter: m_Doomsday {Shitney (exorcism)}

12 March 2020

View film footage of a newly commissioned performance by prominent UK-based artist John Walter who recently visited Aotearoa for the first time and performed in front of his maximalist artwork as part of Queer Algorithms. Walter’s new performance narrates the history of the universe from the Big Bang through to viruses of the mind using script, song, costume and video projection.

In this epic new work you will be lured into a parallel universe of algorithms, wit and philosophy. Taking in the primordial soup of the Earth in which replicating life originated to the human brain in which replicating cultural forms have emerged Walter will draw on Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, Dawkins’ idea of the meme as a replicator of cultural information equivalent to the gene in biology and Hofstadter’s suggestion that the self is a user illusion brought about by the strange loop of the human brain.

Performing as his long-standing alter ego Shitney Cuntstone, Walter will exorcise himself of various selves including Mango Laddy, Jacinda Ardern, Greta Thunberg, Beef Caroline and John Lydon. The performance establishes a rich new repertoire of images and forms that build to a crescendo of video footage created in Virtual Reality. Part gig, part art-hack this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch Walter transform the “do-loops” of creative routine into “strange loops” of consciousness.

Watch the live performance recorded by Ian Powell here. Find music from this performance here.

Talk

Building inter-generational queer love: a panel talk

29 February 2020, Pioneer Women’s Hall, Ellen Melville Centre

Join us in conversation with members of our Queer community, as we discuss how we can strengthen inter-generational bonds through radical creative queer praxis, and continue our collective liberation through inter-generational queer love and resistance. Generously supported by Rule Foundation. Organised by Bronte Perry as part of Queer Algorithms.

Event

Art & donuts: the NZ AIDS memorial quilt special

15 February 2020

Join us for donuts and coffee while you hear from speakers discussing the New Zealand AIDS memorial quilt and ongoing issues relating to HIV in Aotearoa today. In association with the New Zealand AIDS Foundation and Ending HIV. Part of Queer Algorithms. 

Opening

Exhibition opening: Queer Algorithms

14 February 2020

Join us as we celebrate the opening of Queer Algorithms. A performance by Prairie Hatchard-McGill will begin at 6pm.

Event

Acoustic Leaks, act 2: how to listen

14 December 2019

Featuring Dr Emily Beausoleil on listening as social justice work. An event series in two acts for The Shouting Valley.

Event

Acoustic Leaks, act 1: voices unheard

16 November 2019

What kind of environment do we need to construct in order to hear each other better? Artists Hoda Afshar and Cushla Donaldson speak alongside others on the subject of incarceration and detention centres. An event series in two acts for The Shouting Valley.

Film screening

Island of the Hungry Ghosts (2018)

1 November 2019, Ellen Melville Centre

This award-winning documentary by Gabrielle Brady follows the migration of millions of land crabs on Christmas Island from jungle to sea. The same jungle hides a high-security Australian detention centre where thousands of asylum seekers have been locked away indefinitely.

Performance

Vanessa Crofskey & helpers: We were not born to be stuck

15, 17 & 18 October 2019

Join Vanessa Crofskey and helpers in a series of action-based performances devised in response to The Shouting Valley. Through an anonymous process of submission and action, you are invited to transform the names of worn locations and lovers into actions that carry invisible outcomes.

Talk

Meng Foon in conversation with Damon Salesa

10 October 2019

Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon joins Pro-Vice Chancellor (Pacific) Damon Salesa for a kōrero on migration, identity and representation in Aotearoa today. Listen to the talk recording here.

Event

Art & donuts: The Shouting Valley

28 September 2019

Join curator Lisa Beauchamp as she discusses The Shouting Valley with two of the exhibiting artists, Cushla Donaldson and Shahriar Asdollah-Zadeh. 

Workshop

The Mud Dose: ceramic hand-building workshop

24 & 31 August 2019

Led by Becky Richards, this ceramic hand-building workshop will guide participants through basic methods of forming and joining in stoneware paperclay.

Event

Kete aronui book club: Joyce Campbell

8 August 2019

Join artist Joyce Campbell as she discusses the book From the Observatory (1972) by Julio Cortazar, for the exhibition The Slipping Away.

Film screening

Godfrey Reggio: Koyaanisqatsi (1983)

28 July & 2 August 2019, Civic Theatre

Join us for a screening of cult film Koyaanisqatsi (1982). Part of The Slipping Away, in association with the New Zealand International Film Festival.

Event

Trash talk: an intro to zero waste

27 July 2019

Join Kristy Lorson, founder of Auckland-based zero waste enterprise EarthSavvy, as she shares her tips for reducing household waste. Make your own zero waste toothpaste and deodorant to take home.

Event

Nope Sisters: Call ME Fashion

18 July 2019

Nope, it’s not trash – it’s fashion! Join us for the launch of the Nope Sisters Mother Earth upcycled jackets, along with a panel discussion on sustainable fashion practices.

Talk

Jonathan Kay: Negative Mass

2 July 2019, Takutai Square, Britomart

Artist Jonathan Kay gives a talk on Negative Mass, a new site-specific project at Takutai Square. Using a 19th century cyanotype printing technique, Kay will capture the process of ice melting.

Tour

Billy Apple: $100,000 Credit Held

Self-guided/tours available on request, Lumley Centre

Take a tour up to Lumley Centre’s 20th floor to see Billy Apple’s $100,000 Credit Held displayed in his lawyer’s offices, and discover how the work connects to We’re Not Too Big to Care.

Event

Kete aronui book club: The Picture of Dorian Gray

13 June 2019

The Pipiri (June) edition of Kete Aronui looks at The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) by Oscar Wilde, chosen by Aroha Novak, whose work The right to be unequal features in We’re Not Too Big to Care.

Tour

1YA building: anniversary heritage tour

1 June 2019

The Gus Fisher Gallery was originally the premises of New Zealand’s first ever television broadcast in 1960. Join us on the anniversary of this broadcast for a special tour of the building.

Event

The feminised labour of care

29 May 2019

A consciousness-raising session with Cait Johnson and Ruby Alexander. Why do we expect women to do certain kinds of work and not men? Join Cait and Ruby for discussion on the relations between capitalism, women and wage labour.

Event

Haratau book club: Deborah Rundle on The Problem with Work by Kathi Weeks

9 May 2019

For Haratau (May) book club, artist Deborah Rundle discusses The Problem with Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics, and Postwork Imaginaries by Kathi Weeks.

Event

Art & donuts: We’re Not Too Big To Care

6 April 2019

Hear artists Aroha Novak, Emily Hartley-Skudder and Hikalu Clarke in conversation with curator Lisa Beauchamp about their works for We’re Not Too Big To Care. Coffee courtesy of Kōkako Organic Coffee Roasters.