Programme launch 2026: Which history?

After the undercurrents
Gordon Bennett, Emily Karaka
31 January – 11 April 2026

The Blue Dome
Selina Ershadi
25 April – 4 July 2026

CRIT: Art learning since 1987
18 July – 26 September 2026

The Chartwell Trust New Commissions
10 October – 19 December 2026

Each year Artspace Aotearoa sets one question which our exhibitions and events orbit in the company of artists and audiences. Across the year, we explore what this question offers us and what artworks and their authors can weave together. In 2026, we ask “which history?”

If the Artspace Aotearoa mission is to explore contemporary life, led by artists, it feels timely in a world characterised by tumult and an ever flattening of nuance to look at how we got here and where we see ourselves tomorrow and beyond.

In 2026 we will offer an intergenerational programme of activity that includes exhibitions, events, the Chartwell Trust New Writers programme, curatorial internship, volunteers programme, symposium and international visitors. In asking this question Artspace Aotearoa casts out a hopeful call to the endless possibility for the critical and creative imagination to play an essential role in shaping what comes next.

We are delighted to continue to work in 2026 with our lead partners Creative New Zealand Toi o Aotearoa, Auckland Council, and Foundation North; our Strategic Partners The Chartwell Trust and Goethe-Institut New Zealand; as well as collaborating with Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival, Wesfarmers, McCahon House, Nottingham Contemporary, Toi o Pātaka The Adam Art Gallery, E H McCormick Library, Contemporary Art Library, Artspace Aotearoa Supporters Circles, and others to deliver our work.

Read the annual question essay by Kaitohu Director Ruth Buchanan