Learning from Venice, is a new professional development opportunity, started in 2026, for eight early-career Aotearoa New Zealand artists, curators and writers, to take part in an intensive five-day research workshop at the Venice Biennale, between the 25th and 29th May 2026. The programme is led by respected curator, writer, editor and educator, Christina Barton, and former Curator Contemporary Art at Te Papa, Hanahiva Rose. The participants of this inaugural programme are Melanie Tangere Baldwin, Sally McMath, Te Ara Minhinnick (supported by Naveya & Sloane) Luke Shaw (supported by Ilam School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury), Lachlan Taylor, p.Walters (supported by Elam Fine Arts, Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland), Anto Yeldezian and Jingcheng Zhao.
Read more about the Learning from Venice programme and participants here.
Following the workshop in Venice, in the spirit of reciprocity, the participants have committed to sharing their thinking with the wider public in Aotearoa through the development of a publication in response to their experience, and a programme of three public events.
The publication
The publication will be launched in November 2026.
Public talks
The first of the public events is planned for Wednesday 8 October, and will be hosted at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, where et al.’s the fundamental practice is currently on view, for the first time since it was shown at the Venice Biennale 21 years ago.
Since 2005, when et al.’s the fundamental practice was first presented at the Venice Biennale, amid heated debate, there have been ongoing conversations about Aotearoa’s place at this major international contemporary art event. What do we bring to Venice? How do we represent ourselves? And what value does participation bring to Aotearoa’s artists and wider visual arts community?
Join participants from the 2026 Learning from Venice Workshop for a forum at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. This group travelled to Venice in May 2026, where they studied Biennale projects, gained new insights into and developed fresh thinking about this long-established institution.
They will share what they saw and learned, and consider Aotearoa’s evolving relationship with the Venice Biennale. The conversation will also ask bigger questions about whether Aotearoa should be represented at the Biennale and how that representation might take shape.
About the talk
The forum will be introduced by Natasha Conland, curator of the fundamental practice and the conversation will be led by Learning from Venice co-leaders Christina Barton and Hanahiva Rose.
Together with programme participants, they will reflect on, test and offer new thinking on what has become an established but contested part of New Zealand’s international strategy for the visual arts.
There will be an opportunity for audience Q&A at the end of the talk.
The talk is free, but spaces are limited. Please book to avoid disappointment. BOOK NOW
Before the talk
Feel free to come earlier and explore the fundamental practice before the Gallery closes at 5pm. Then head to the Clock Tower doors, which open from 5pm for the 5:30pm talk in the Auditorium.
This public event is presented by the Auckland Art Gallery in partnership with OCAA, The Chartwell Trust, and Elam Fine Arts, Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland.
The public programme for Learning from Venice is generously supported by the Chartwell Trust. The Learning from Venice workshop is made possible through the generous support of multiple partners, including Creative New Zealand, Te Papa and the Te Papa Foundation, Elam Fine Arts Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland, Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury, Naveya & Sloane, Barbara Blake and the Gow Family Foundation. The Chartwell Trust have generously supported the Aotearoa-based elements of the programme. The Current is supporting the project as a Media Partner.
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