The Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa (OCAA) works in partnership with other organisations and individuals, both from Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally, to encourage exchange and dialogue between visual arts practitioners from New Zealand and their international counterparts and to enable and facilitate the presentation of work by New Zealand artists at major overseas exhibitions.

OCAA was formed in early 2024 and is based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland but works throughout Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas.

The Office of Contemporary Art Aotearoa Trust is registered as a charitable entity (registration number CC63678).

Projects

Artists from Aotearoa New Zealand at the 18th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, in France

Fiona Clark, Ngahina Hohaia (Taranaki Iwi, Te Atiawa, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Mutunga, Parihaka), Maureen Lander (Ngāpuhi, Te Hikutū), Yana Nafysa Dombrowsky M’Baye, Sriwhana Spong, Michael Stevenson, Ashleigh Taupaki (Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāti Kahungunu) and Luke Willis Thompson

19 September - 13 December 2026 (Preview days 16-18 September)

Across multiple venues in Lyon, France

The participation of all the artists from Aotearoa in the Lyon Biennale has been generously supported by Creative New Zealand. Sincere thanks to Gill and Paul Kendrick for their support of Ngahina Hohaia's presentation and to the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and Govett-Brewster Foundation for enabling Taarati Taiaroa, Ringahāpai Kaitakatū Ngā Toi Māori | Curator Contemporary Māori Art, to travel to Lyon to support the artists. We look forward to announcing additional supporters in the near future. The Artistic Director of the Lyon Biennale was introduced to Aotearoa New Zealand through Christopher and Charlotte Swasbrook and OCAA is grateful for their ongoing support.

Images clockwise from top left: Fiona Clark, Tikorangi self-portrait; Ngahina Hohaia, courtesy Govett-Brewster Art Gallery photo by Tania Niwa; Maureen Lander MNZM, courtesy of Creative New Zealand photo by Andrew Warner; Yana Nafysa Dombrowsky-M’Baye, photo courtesy Mathilde Brondel, Ensba Lyon; Sriwhana Spong, photo courtesy Jens Ziehe; Michael Stevenson, photo courtesy Markus Kach and Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts; Ashleigh Taupaki, photo courtesy Artspace Aotearoa; Luke Willis Thompson, photo courtesy Alex North.

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Visiting Curators Programme - a partnership between Te Uru, University of NSW Galleries and AUT School of Future Environments

Tim Riley Walsh

Wednesday 28 April - Sunday 3 May - Curatorial Catch Up Saturday 2 May

Tim Riley Walsh is Assistant Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Gadigal Country, Sydney. His recent MCA curatorial projects include Data Dreams : Art and AI (2025, co-curator), Primavera 2025: Young Australian Artists (2025, curator) and MCA Collection: Artists in Focus (2025, curatorium).

Tim Riley Walsh. Photo by Hamish McIntosh

2026 Gasworks Residency for an artist from Aotearoa New Zealand

Call for applications

30 September – 15 December 2026

Gasworks, 155 Vauxhall Street, London SE11 5RH, UK

Applications are now open for an early-career artist based in Aotearoa New Zealand to undertake an eleven-week, fully funded residency at Gasworks in London. The Gasworks residency is delivered through a partnership between Gasworks, the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust and the Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa, and is made possible by the incredibly generous support of many individuals and trusts, including the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust, Jenny and Andrew Smith, Shirley-Ann and Rick Mannering, Dame Jenny Gibbs, Bath Street Arts Trust, Rosemary and Tim Auld, the Gow Family Foundation, the British Council Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific, Anne Tattersfield, Tim Melville Gallery, Lett Thomas, Coastal Signs, Gow Langsford Gallery, Brown Bread, Samantha Male and Piupiu Maya Turei.

Abigail Aroha Jensen, Gasworks WInter Open Studios, London 2025. Photo: Peter Otto

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Learning from Venice

A Workshop for Early-Career Artists, Curators and Writers

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25-29 May 2026

Venice, Italy

Presented by the Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa, with support from Creative New Zealand, Te Papa and the Te Papa Foundation, Elam Fine Arts at the University of Auckland, Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury, Naveya and Sloane, Barbara Blake, the Gow Family Foundation, The Chartwell Trust (supporting the Aotearoa-based elements of the programme) and The Current

Giardini, Venice, Italy. Photograph courtesy of Christina Barton

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2025 Gasworks Residency for an artist from Aotearoa New Zealand

Abigail Aroha Jensen

6 October - 22 December 2025 (Open Studios Saturday 13 December)

Gasworks, 155 Vauxhall Street, London, SE11 5RH, UK

Abigail Aroha Jensen was selected by the Director and Curator of Gasworks, to be the 9th artist from Aotearoa New Zealand to undertake a residency at Gasworks in London. The Gasworks residency is delivered through a partnership between Gasworks, the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust and the Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa, and is made possible by the generous support of individuals and trusts, including the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust, Jenny and Andrew Smith, Shirley-Ann and Rick Mannering, Dame Jenny Gibbs, Bath Street Arts Trust, Tim Melville and Rosemary and Tim Auld.

Left: Abigail Aroha Jensen, photograph by Ardit Hoxha. Right: Gasworks, London, photograph by Ioana Marinescu.

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Artists from Aotearoa at the 15th Shanghai Biennale

Brett Graham (Ngāti Koroki Kahukura, Tainui), Ngahina Hohaia (Taranaki Iwi, Te Atiawa, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Mutunga, Parihaka), Shannon Te Ao (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Wairangi, Ngāti Te Rangiita, Te Pāpaka-a-Maui), and Luke Willis Thompson

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8 November 2025 – 31 March 2026

Power Station of Art, 200 Huayuan'gang Rd, 周家渡 Huang Pu Qu, Shang Hai Shi, China, 200231

Clockwise from top left : Brett Graham (photo by David White), Ngahina Hohaia (photo by Tania Niwa), Luke Willis Thompson (photo by Clara Moeschlin), Shannon Te Ao

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Visiting Curators Programme - a partnership between Te Uru, University of NSW Galleries and AUT School of Future Environments

Bruce Johnson McLean

Monday 6 October - Friday 10 October. Public talk Thursday 9 October.

Bruce Johnson McLean, member of the Wierdi people of Wribpid (Belyando River region in Central Queensland) and currently the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain First Nations Curatorial Fellow for the 2026 Biennale of Sydney, visited Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland for a research visit and to give a public talk.

Bruce Johnson McLean

Creative New Zealand Te Manu Ka Tau 2025 international visitor to Aotearoa New Zealand.

Billy Tang

End of July - Early August 2025

Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and Ōtautahi Christchurch

Congratulations to Billy Tang on his recent appointment as Artistic Director of YDP - a new London-based project space for Asian and Asian diasporic contemporary art. Billy visited Aotearoa New Zealand as part of Creative New Zealand’s Te Manu Ka Tau international visitors programme, delivered through a partnership between Artspace Aotearoa, the Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa and the Physics Room, with generous support from Creative New Zealand. Following his visit, Billy said: "I found profound hope in the inter-generational work of cultural revitalisation I saw here. This vital process is permeated through so many spaces I visited, big and small - evident in the reclamation of language, the renewal of material knowledge the act of gathering, and the sharing of ways of life outside of Western epistemologies - represents a powerful message to communities elsewhere. In many ways, the work i observed here provides a hopeful blueprint for the rest of the world. I can't wait to visit it again and thank you everyone for the warmth and generosity in hosting me throughout my visit."

Billy Tang

Research visit to Aotearoa New Zealand

18th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, Artistic Director, Isabelle Bertolotti, and Curator, Catherine Nichols

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Saturday 17 - Tuesday 20 May 2025

Ngāmotu New Plymouth and Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

The Lyon Biennale's Artistic Director, Isabelle Bertolotti, and Curator, Catherine Nichols, will visit Aotearoa New Zealand for a research trip in May 2025. Their visit has been organised by the Lyon Biennale and their itinerary is being developed in partnership with the Office of Contemporary Art Aotearoa working with Taarati Taiaroa (Ringahāpai Kaitakatū Ngā Toi Māori | Assistant Curator Contemporary Māori Art at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery), Simon Gennard (Ringahāpai Kaitakatū (Tāreitanga me ngā Kohikohinga Hōu) | Assistant Curator Contemporary Art and Collections at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery) and Ruth Buchanan (Kaitohu | Director, Artspace Aotearoa).

Isabelle Bertolotti, Artistic Director and Catherine Nichols, Curator of the 18th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art. Photo by Elyes Esserhane.

Two artists from Aotearoa New Zealand, Matthew Galloway and Quishile Charan, participated in the 2025 Summer School | Revolutionary Roads. Destination: Comradeship - in the Balkans in August.

Matthew Galloway and Quishile Charan

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24 - 31 August 2025

Ljubljana (Slovenia), Belgrade (Serbia) and Podgorica (Montenegro)

The 2025 edition of the summer school is organized jointly by the Moderna galerija (Ljubljana), the Museum of African Art (Belgrade), and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montenegro with associated partners Bunker/ Festival Mladi levi, Museum of Yugoslavia. The support for Matthew Galloway to join the 2025 summer school has been made possible through the Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa, and the support for Quishile Charan to join the 2025 summer school has been made possible by Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust through their Artists Across Borders initiative.

Left: Matthew Galloway. Right: Quishile Charan

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Research visit to Aotearoa New Zealand

Kitty Scott, Chief Curator, 15th Shanghai Biennale

Monday 10 - Friday 14 February 2025

Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

Canadian curator and writer, Kitty Scott, the first woman to be appointed to the role of Chief Curator of the Shanghai Biennale, visited Tāmaki Makaurau in February for a five-day research trip. Organised by the Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa in partnership with Gregory Burke and HU’s Art, Kitty Scott's visit was made possible through the very kind support of Kent Gardner and Ngaere Duff, Jenny Gibbs, Michael Lett, and Jenny and Andrew Smith. Kitty’s stay in Auckland was generously hosted by the Park Hyatt, Auckland’.

Kitty Scott, Chief Curator, 15th Shanghai Biennale

Creative New Zealand Te Manu Ka Tau international visitors to Aotearoa New Zealand.

Salma Tuqan and Stefan Benchoam

29 October - 8 November 2024

Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Ōtautahi Christchurch, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington

Salma Tuqan, Director of Nottingham Contemporary, UK, and Stefan Benchoam, artist and exhibition maker from Guatemala City, visited Aotearoa New Zealand as part of Creative New Zealand’s Te Manu Ka Tau international visitors programme, delivered through a partnership between Artspace Aotearoa and Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa, with generous support from Creative New Zealand, Sonja and Glenn Hawkins and Lenore West.

Left: Salma Tuqan, right: Stefan Benchoam

Aotearoa New Zealand at the 2024 Gwangju Biennale Pavilion

Shannon Te Ao, Ia rā, ia rā (rere runga, rere raro) Everday (I fly high, I fly low)

7 September – 1 December 2024

Suha Gallery, 158-4 Dongmyeong-dong, Dong-gu, Gwangju, South Korea

Presented in partnership with Te Tuhi and The Dowse Art Museum, with generous support from Jo and John Gow, Jenny and Andrew Smith, the Gwangju Biennale Foundation and Ambassador Dawn Bennet and the team at the New Zealand Embassy in Seoul.

Shannon Te Ao, Ia rā, ia rā (rere runga, rere raro) Everyday (I fly high, I fly low), three channel video with sound, installation view at the Aotearoa New Zealand Pavilion at the 15th Gwangju Biennale, 2024.

2024 Gasworks Residency for an artist from Aotearoa New Zealand

Shiraz Sadikeen

October – December 2024

Gasworks, 155 Vauxhall Street, London SE11 5RH, UK

Presented in partnership with Gasworks and the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust, with generous support from private individuals who contribute to the NZ Friends of Gasworks, leading luxury skincare brand Emma Lewisham and the British Council Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific.

Left: Shiraz Sadikeen in his studio at Gasworks Winter Open Studios, London, December 2024. Right: Installation view of Shiraz Sadikeen's studio at Gasworks Winter Open Studios, London, December 2024. All images courtesy of Gasworks.

Creative New Zealand Te Manu Ka Tau international visitor to Aotearoa New Zealand.

Tavia Nyong'o

August 2024

Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and Ngāmotu New Plymouth

Tavia Nyong’o visited Aotearoa New Zealand as part of Creative New Zealand’s Te Manu Ka Tau international visitors programme, delivered through a partnership between Artspace Aotearoa and Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa, with generous support from Creative New Zealand, Sonja and Glenn Hawkins, Lenore West and Nim Flora Chan.

Tavia Nyong'o, William Lampson Professor of American Studies at Yale

2024 Residency for a curator from Aotearoa New Zealand with Delfina Foundation and Metroland Cultures in London

Hana Pera Aoake

April - June 2024

Delfina Foundation, Victoria, London, and Metroland Cultures, Brent, London

Presented in partnership with Delfina Foundation, Metroland Cultures and Te Tuhi, with the generous support of Kent Gardner, the British Council Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific through the British Council Connections Through Culture programme, and Creative New Zealand.

Hana Pera Aoake, photo by Matthew George Richard Ward

Projects

Artists from Aotearoa New Zealand at the 18th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art, in France

Visiting Curators Programme - a partnership between Te Uru, University of NSW Galleries and AUT School of Future Environments

2026 Gasworks Residency for an artist from Aotearoa New Zealand

Learning from Venice

2025 Gasworks Residency for an artist from Aotearoa New Zealand

Artists from Aotearoa at the 15th Shanghai Biennale

Visiting Curators Programme - a partnership between Te Uru, University of NSW Galleries and AUT School of Future Environments

Creative New Zealand Te Manu Ka Tau 2025 international visitor to Aotearoa New Zealand.

Research visit to Aotearoa New Zealand

Two artists from Aotearoa New Zealand, Matthew Galloway and Quishile Charan, participated in the 2025 Summer School | Revolutionary Roads. Destination: Comradeship - in the Balkans in August.

Research visit to Aotearoa New Zealand

Creative New Zealand Te Manu Ka Tau international visitors to Aotearoa New Zealand.

Aotearoa New Zealand at the 2024 Gwangju Biennale Pavilion

2024 Gasworks Residency for an artist from Aotearoa New Zealand

Creative New Zealand Te Manu Ka Tau international visitor to Aotearoa New Zealand.

2024 Residency for a curator from Aotearoa New Zealand with Delfina Foundation and Metroland Cultures in London

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