Learning from Venice - Public Programme and Publication: 'Questions for Venice'

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 curator at the Adam Art Gallery, Hanahiva Rose (supported by the Te Papa Foundation in her former role as Te Papa's Curator Contemporary Art). 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 committed to sharing their thinking with the wider public in Aotearoa through the development of a book in response to their experience, and a programme of three public events.

Book

Questions for Venice | Offerings from the 2026 Learning from Venice Workshop

A collaborative book titled Questions for Venice | Offerings from the 2026 Learning from Venice Workshop, edited by Christina Barton, Hanahiva Rose and Lachlan Taylor, and designed by Luke Shaw, will be launched in November 2026 and will be available at the Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington and Ōtautahi Christchurch events below. It will also be available for sale through OCAA - to reserve a copy, please email hello@ocaa.nz.

Questions for Venice gathers reflections from the Learning from Venice programme led by Barton and Rose at the 2026 Venice Biennale, where eight early career Aotearoa artists, writers, and curators were immersed in the Biennale, gaining new insights into and developing fresh thinking about this long-established institution. Questions for Venice, reflects on their workshop experience and doubles as a vital resource on New Zealand’s history of engagement with the Biennale.

Questions for Venice will be available to purchase for NZ$30 at the following events, and by emailing hello@ocaa.nz.

Public events

Questions for Venice Book Launch and Panel Discussion
5.30pm Thursday 26 November, at Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery
Free - everyone welcome, no booking required

Join us for the Wellington launch of Questions for Venice, a publication edited by Christina Barton and Hanahiva Rose with Lachlan Taylor, and designed by Luke Shaw.

Workshop participants Lachlan Taylor and Sally McMath will be joined in discussion by Ioana Gordon-Smith and Karl Chitham, who have both had curatorial involvement in projects at Venice, to consider Venice as a context for contemporary art practice and how Aotearoa is represented within it.

Refreshments provided.

This event is presented by Adam Art Gallery in partnership with The Chartwell Trust and OCAA. Hanahiva Rose's travel to Venice was supported by Te Papa Tongarewa and the Te Papa Foundation.

Karl Chitham (Te Uriroroi, Ngā Puhi) ONZM is Head of Arts & Culture for Hutt City Council and director of The Dowse Art Museum. He was the curator of Paerangi: Venice, a series of site-responsive activations during the 61st Venice Biennale, developed as a partnership between Te Tuhi and CREA Cantieri del Contemporaneo, on Venice's Giudecca Island.

Ioana Gordon-Smith is Lead Curator at Pātaka Art + Museum. Ioana was the Assistant Curator of Yuki Kihara, Aotearoa New Zealand at the 59th Venice Biennale 2022 and co-curator of the international Indigenous triennial, Naadohbii: To Draw Water in Canada.

Sally McMath is a gallerist and researcher from Te Waiharakeke Blenheim. She is the founder and studio manager of 40 Anzac Studios and co-director of Treadler. Sally prioritises working closely with artists in research, archive administration, and exhibition development as well as funding and project management.

Lachlan Taylor is an art historian and writer based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland where he is completing a PhD in Art History at the University of Texas in Austin. Lachlan’s doctoral research approaches the idea of the “global artist” as an art historical figure that emerges in the late twentieth century. In 2026 he launched @localartscolumn, a new review platform.

Learning from Venice | Book Launch and Discussion
11.00am Sunday 29 November, at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
Free - everyone welcome, no booking required

Join Christina Barton, Luke Shaw and Lachlan Taylor in conversation with the Gallery’s newly appointed curator Simon Gennard, as they discuss the value of arts writing and publishing in bringing Aotearoa New Zealand art into conversation with the wider world and launch Questions from Venice in Christchurch.

This event is presented by Christchurch Art Gallery in partnership with The Chartwell Trust, Ilam School of Fine Art, Te Kura Kōwaiwai University of Canterbury and OCAA.

Christina Barton is a respected art historian, writer, curator, editor and educator based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington.

Luke Shaw is an artist and musician based in Ōtautahi Christchurch. He is a current doctoral candidate at Ilam School of Fine Arts, where he also lectures in Graphic Design. Luke has designed the book, Questions for Venice.

Lachlan Taylor is an art historian and writer based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland where he is completing a PhD in Art History at the University of Texas in Austin. Lachlan’s doctoral research approaches the idea of the “global artist” as an art historical figure that emerges in the late twentieth century. In 2026 he launched @localartscolumn, a new review platform.

Simon Gennard joined Christchurch Art Gallery as curator in October 2026. His ongoing research interests include queer art, life and inquiry in Aotearoa, and the political capabilities and responsibilities of art under capitalism. He has previously worked for the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre, in Ngāmotu New Plymouth, and Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. Previous projects at Govett-Brewster included Economies of Deferral (2026); Sorawit Songsataya and Maata Wharehoka: Fibrous Soul (2024); and Cao Xun, Gary Cocker and Christine Hellyar: Set Dressing (2024).

Talk | Why Go? Thoughts and Reflections from the Learning from Venice Workshop
This talk took place on Wednesday 7 October, at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

The first of the Learning from Venice public events was  hosted at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, where et al.’s the fundamental practice is currently on view until 17 January 2027, 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 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?

Guests were invited to join participants from the 2026 Learning from Venice Workshop - p.Walters, Anto Yeldezian, Jingcheng Zhao, Lachlan Taylor and Sally McMath - alongside co-leaders Christina Barton and Hanahiva Rose, for a forum at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Having travelled to Venice in May, where they studied Biennale projects, gained new insights into and developed fresh thinking about this long-established institution, they shared what they saw and learned, and consider Aotearoa’s evolving relationship with the Venice Biennale. The conversation  also asked bigger questions about whether Aotearoa should be represented at the Biennale and how that representation might take shape.

This public event was presented by the Auckland Art Gallery in partnership with OCAA, The Chartwell Trust, and Elam Fine Arts, Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland.

‍