Events
reflect, return
reflect, return is a video installation work by Gabby O’Connor, housed at Wellington Railway Station in the site previously occupied by the New World Metro supermarket. Visible to commuters and passers-by, it is a sensory reminder of the historic geography of the site.
Roseneath School workshop at the Collab-Lab
Gabby O’Connor draws art and science together in ways that are beautiful, playful, serious and completely immersive for young folk. Gabby hosted a workshop of students from Roseneath School that had everyone responding to the ocean in multiple ways. We had a wonderful guest from NIWA - Dr Craig Stevens, who shared some utterly fascinating facts about our harbour, and about the ways that layers in the ocean can change and impact the kind of sea life found there. We made lightbox ocean scenes, looked into a tank of saline and fresh water to see the layers combining and separating, and wrote our thoughts about why the ocean is important to us. Every student was fully engaged and went away with incredible insights into the life of an ocean-scientist, and into ways that artmaking can respond to the world and, essentially, convey ideas about beauty, risk, mystery and abundant life.
Emerging Artist Portfolio Reviews
A selection of emerging artists from Pōneke took advantage of the opportunity to have a session with Rubén Díaz in a portfolio review conducted at Te Whare Hēra gallery space. Rubén met with each artist for an in-depth discussion about their practice, and to generate thoughts and ideas for steps going forward.
Dawn Wilce, a recent graduate of the Master of Fine Arts at Toi Rauwhārangi Massey University was happy for us to capture some of this session, which she said was insightful, and gave her an opportunity to discuss her practice and consider future potential modes of making.
Panel Discussion and Performance: Tōwai: Between Forest, Mountains and Ocean
Horomona Horo and Rubén Darío Díaz Chávez during the panel discussion
Rubén Díaz, joined by collaborators Horomona Horo, Regan Balzer, Kura Puke, Israel Randell and Matt Tini gave a panel discussion and performance as part of Tōwai: Between Forest, Mountains and Ocean exhibition at The Engine Room Gallery. Thanks to Martin Patrick for facilitating this exhibition, and thanks to Samuel Scully for documenting this event.
Exhibition Opening : Tōwai : Between Forest, Mountains and Ocean
Tōwai : Between Forest, Mountains and Ocean
An opening for this exhibition, featuring artists Rubén Darío Díaz Chávez, Regan Balzer, Hormona Horo, Israel Randell, Kura Puke, Matt Tini, Stu Foster, and Kurt Smith-Komene.
The Engine Room Gallery
Massey University School of Art
Thursday 14 May, 5:00pm - 7:30pm
Please congregate in Block 12 foyer, where we will be led into the exhibition by Kurt Komene-Smith.
A performance of music and painting by Horomona Horo with Taonga Puoro, and Regan Balzer painting.
Refreshments in The Whare Pūkaka following the performance and speeches.
Tōwai : Between Forest, Mountains and Ocean
Bringing together Māori artists and the Sapara nation (from the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon).
“Knowledge does not remain fixed in objects, it circulates through the room as vibration, as rhythm, as fiber, animating the space as a living presence. The installation breathes as territory, where voices, memories and relations unfold and remain active.“ Rubén Diaz
Artists exhibiting:
Rubén Diaz
Kura Puke
Kurt Smith-Komene
Stuart Foster
Horomona Horo
Israel Randal
Regan Balzer
Artist Talk with Camille Bleu-Valentin
Still from Polynesiaphonia - Chant 1 - The Engine Room, Massey University
Please watch Camille Bleu-Valentin give an artist talk, recorded after the live event had to be cancelled because of wild weather in Wellington.
Polynesiaphonia
Polynesiaphonia is an exhibition presented by Te Whare Hēra / Villa Antipode French artist Camille Bleu-Valentin, at The Engine Room, Massey University.
Material Diplomacy
This exhibition is arranged through a series of altars, tableaux, and market displays. Each has been given a title, and contextualisation. Highlighted artists from the tableaux are listed with artworks.
Material Diplomacy: From Abya Yala to Aotearoa
Material Dilpomacy: From Abya Yala to Aotearoa exhibition curated by Armando Perla.
Rather than culminating in a conventional exhibition format, our current Te Whare Hēra residency concludes with a short-term, market-informed gesture: a temporary presentation structured through Indigenous market methodologies. Drawing on Perla’s own lineage of market women, this approach understands display as a form of circulation, encounter, and exchange, where knowledge is activated through proximity, movement and storytelling rather than fixed institutional hierarchies.
Featuring works by a selection of artists from Abya Yala and Aotearoa.
30 January - 8 February
Open daily 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
Closed for Waitangi Day
Or open by appointment, please email armandomuseos@outlook.com
In Conversation with Armando Perla: Market Knowledge, Circulation, and Indigenous Adornment
The chachal is a Guatemalan Maya necklace whose K’iche’ name echoes the sound it makes in motion. Composed of layered strands of beads, coral, silver, and coins, chachales carry social and ceremonial meaning, often passed down as inherited family wealth through mothers and grandmothers. This contemporary chachal with crocheted red Swarovski crystals is by K’iche’ Maya designer and artist José Luis Fernando Morales (Chichicastenango), who works in relationship with carvers, silversmiths, and elders across Guatemala to reimagine the form through intergenerational craft knowledge, including crochet techniques and new materials, affirming the chachal as a living technology of presence. Worn here with a black, reversible leather fringe poncho by Mexican brand Silo, a gender-free line of leatherwork made by Mexican artisans. Image Credit: Amber-Jayne Bain
In Conversation with Armando Perla: Market Knowledge, Circulation, and Indigenous Adornment
Venue: Te Papa Tongarewa, National Museum of New Zealand
Reading Room, Level 4
Date: Thursday 22 January
Time: 4:00–5:30 pm
Free event
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, in collaboration with Te Whare Hēra, warmly invites you to a public conversation with curator and scholar Armando Perla, presented as part of their residency at Te Whare Hēra.
This talk brings together Perla’s long-term curatorial and research practice with a close examination of a living collection of Indigenous textiles, adornment, and sculptural works from Abya Yala (a Kuna term used by many Indigenous nations to refer to the Americas). Built over the past two decades through markets, powwows, studio visits, and sustained relationships across Canada, the United Sates, Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador the collection foregrounds materials, techniques, and forms of knowledge that move across territories, waters, and generations.
Focusing on Cemanahuac (the Nahua word used to refer to Mesoamerica) in particular, Perla will reflect on works in their collection that engage weaving, carving, jade, ceramics, and bodily adornment, tracing resonances between Indigenous material practices in Abya Yala and those of Māori and Pacific artists encountered during the residency in Aotearoa. Rather than presenting the collection as a static archive, the conversation centers on the stories, relations, and responsibilities embedded in these works, and on collecting as a relational obligation, land-attuned practice shaped by movement, trade, and reciprocity.
Rather than culminating in a conventional exhibition format, this residency concludes with a provisional, market-informed curatorial gesture: a temporary presentation structured through Indigenous market women methodologies. Drawing on Perla’s own lineage of market women, this approach understands display as a form of circulation, encounter, and exchange, where knowledge is activated through proximity, movement, and storytelling rather than fixed institutional hierarchies.
The talk also marks a moment of convergence at the conclusion of Perla’s residency, bringing together their doctoral research, writing, studio visits, and curatorial dialogue. It offers insight into this market-based mode of presentation developed during the residency, while opening space for conversation between Indigenous artists and curators from across the Pacific, with attention to shared concerns around material knowledge, ecology, and Indigenous continuity.
The conversation will be moderated by Isaac Te Awa, Curator Mātauranga Māori at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
