Essays


A monthly series featuring new independent writing on contemporary art.

Essays

Commissioned by the Aotearoa Public Gallery Directors’ Network (APGDN) and published on ArtNow.NZ with support from Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa New Zealand and member galleries of the network. For information about Essays click here.

Reality Has an Ephemeral Quality
WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Thinking Out Loud
The Vanishing Point: An Interview with Andrea Hotere
“They were fascinated by my ferocity”: Remembering Bepen Bhana
Thinking Out Loud
Art, Energy, Politics
Thinking Out Loud
On the Lure of the Sea
Thinking Out Loud
in certain lights, and not clearly then
Thinking Out Loud
The Local in this Context
The Curating of Crisis and the Crisis of Curating
Thinking Out Loud
Site specific
Thinking Out Loud
Thinking Out Loud
Re-Stage/Re-Print
Paemanu: Tauraka Toi
Thinking Out Loud
Four Letters from Somewhere Else
Thinking Out Loud
Destiny Task
Towards an Ethics of Care
Arcane Arts
Leave the Door Ajar
Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?
Mother Lode
Making Rope, Embedding Indigeneity
No hea koe? No Taamaki Makaurau au
A COMMON PREDICAMENT
And I Do Care
Slippery Dance Floors & Somatic Promiscuities
TERMS OF ART NOW
Reparative Intimacy
Through a window into a time not my own
Bedroom Diaries
ABOUT ESSAYS


Essays has been made possible through the support of Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa and members of the Aotearoa Public Gallery Directors’ Network (APGDN). APGDN is an informal consortium of publicly funded galleries from throughout Aotearoa New Zealand the directors of which meet occasionally to share knowledge and advice about their operations and find collective means to improve their organisations’ visibility, support the arts ecosystem in Aotearoa New Zealand, and foster audience engagement. The idea to establish a digital platform for good, independent art writing in partnership with ArtNow.NZ was conceived during the 2020 lockdown due to the COVID pandemic.



Participating Galleries


  • Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi, Victoria University of Wellington
  • Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art and History
  • Artspace Aotearoa
  • ArtsPost Galleries & Shop
  • Blue Oyster
  • Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
  • City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi
  • Dunedin Public Art Gallery
  • Enjoy Contemporary Art Space
  • Govett Brewster Art Gallery / Len Lye Centre
  • Gus Fisher Gallery, The University of Auckland
  • Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga – Hastings City Art Gallery
  • New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata
  • Objectspace
  • Pātaka Art + Museum
  • Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui
  • Tauranga Art Gallery Toi Tauranga
  • Tautai
  • Te Manawa
  • Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
  • Te Tuhi
  • Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery
  • Te Wai Ngutu Kākā Gallery | Auckland University of Technology
  • The Dowse Art Museum
  • The Physics Room
  • The Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū
  • Waikato Museum - Te Whare Taonga o Waikato
  • Wairau Māori Art Gallery
  • Whirinaki Whare Taonga
  • Toi Mahara