About

Artspace Aotearoa is a non-profit contemporary art gallery located in the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Founded in 1987 by artists, it centres the ways in which art contributes to our understanding and reimagining of the world in which we live. We work within a specific city context, and spiral out into national and international conversations that promote practices that present emancipatory world views. With a specific focus on developing an intergenerational kaupapa, we seek to present established, emergent and under-recognised positions.

  1. Tūī is a descendent of Ohomairangi and Mākuratawhiti of the Ngāti Ohomairangi people. Her grandparents hail from the vessels: Te Arawa, Hōkioi, Tainui, Honoiti, Uruao, Hohou-te rongo, Kaiwhare, Mataatua, Nukutere, Nukutaimemeha, Paikea, Ārai-te-uru, Uruao, Tākitimu, Manuka, Maahunui, Ko Wai Ka Tohu, Kurahaupō.

    A highly skilled Māori performing artist, Tūī is an expert in Mau rākau a Matarua (Weaponry Māori). She is a specialist in patu (short clubs) and teaches this artform to people of Aotearoa, Australia, Hawaii and London. Tūī is the senior wahine karanga for her many pā/marae throughout Te Arawa, mai Maketu ki Tongariro. Tūī performs karanga me te poroporoākī no matter what pā or environ and surrounds she enters throughout Aotearoa’s landscape, near and far.

    Tūī is a kapa haka guru, traditional, marae/pā and contemporary creator, composer, singer, choreographer, mentor, performing artist, tutor and first female tutor and leader of Te Matarae-i-Ōrehu 1994 - 1997 (top National Kapa Haka), and over the last 40+ years has been a judge for Māori performing art forms from primary through to tertiary level, including senior regional levels, and for Te Matatini. She has stood with the crème de la crème groups in Aotearoa from the age of 16 years. She has judged various ahurei and ahurea throughout Aotearoa, Hawai’i and Australia, including traditional and contemporary contexts/festivals and competitions.

    “Te Arawa māngai nui ūpoko tūtakitahi e kore e nuku, hei hā!”
    “Ngā puna he rau a Atuamatua!”

    tuilah1@yahoo.co.nz

Staff

  1. Ruth Buchanan is an artist of Pākehā, Taranaki and Te Atiawa descent who will be joining Artspace Aotearoa after a decade of working in Berlin.

    ruth@artspace.org.nz

  2. Diane has a life-long involvement in the Arts and Heritage sector. She has a passion for the arts, people and sailing. Previous roles include Executive Director McCahon House and Public Programme Manager at Auckland Museum, Te Papa and Corban Estate Arts Centre.

    diane@artspace.org.nz

Tiaki

The Board is guided by a Tiaki model with three core focus areas:


  1. Tikanga; Kawa; Sector Growth; and Strategic Networking

  2. Leadership and staff Well-being; Artist Relationships; Art-space and Art-place (Identity)

  3. Audit and Risk, Benefactors, Business Innovation and Funding Partnerships

Tiaki - Trustees

  1. Iwi: Rongomaiwahine, Kahungunu, Pāhauwera. Hapū: Ngāi Tahu Matawhaiti. M. Sci Comm (Otago University 2018); Adv. Cert, Te Ara Reo (Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, 2004); B.Design (Unitec 1997).

    Current Communications Advisor Māori, for Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge and an Ambassador for Landscape Foundation NZ, Desna actively involved in indigenous discourse, stakeholder engagement and Kaupapa Māori leadership, strategy, research, design and communications. She has worked with, promoted, elevated, and connected Māori and indigenous professionals and communities continuously throughout her career. Governance roles include; Chair, Ngā Aho Māori Design Professionals; Trustee, Arts Foundation NZ; Governance Board Member, Auckland Urban Design Panel. Governance Committee Treasurer, Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery (2015-18).

    desna@artspace.org.nz

  2. Hamish joined the Artspace Aotearoa board in 2019. He is an Auckland based art advisor, writer and curator. From 2007 to 2018 he was the founding managing director of the auction house Art+Object. In 2021 he was the project manager for the Artspace Aotearoa fundraising event When the Dust Settles - which featured the support of over 35 Artspace Aotearoa alumni artists. Hamish also provides valuation advice and consultancy to many of New Zealand’s public galleries and bodies including Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland Museum, The Kingitanga, The University of Auckland, Auckland Council, The Auckland Art Gallery, The Canterbury Museum and Waikato Museum. As an arts writer, he was the winner of the Qantas Media awards arts columnist of the year in 2009 and he currently contributes a monthly column for Newsroom (2017 - present). In 2022 he was guest curator at the Adam Art Gallery for the exhibition Tēnei Ao Tūroa. A graduate in Art History from the University of Auckland he has a particular interest in benefactor engagement and corporate patronage.

    hamish@artspace.org.nz

  3. Dr Diana Albarrán González is a Native Latin American design researcher from Mexico. She is a lecturer and researcher in the Design programme at Elam Te Waka Tūhura in the Creative Arts and Industry faculty at the University of Auckland. She graduated from the Māori and Indigenous faculty, Te Ara Poutama, at Auckland University of Technology where her PhD research focused on the decolonisation of design in collaboration with Mayan weavers from Chiapas, Mexico, her birthplace. She proposes a Buen Vivir-Centric Design model towards a fair-dignified life, based on collective well-being, textiles, crafts-design-arts, embodiment and creativity. Diana has more than 18 years of international experience in places like New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Spain and Mexico applying, re-learning, researching and teaching design. This has given her the ability to address challenges in a variety of contexts, and the opportunity to develop a meaningful sense of culture and diversity awareness and sensitivity. She is a craftivist, a mother and an active member of the Latin American community seeking to contribute to women's and families' well-being through connections to our own cultural roots.

    diana@artspace.org.nz

  4. With a strong background in public management and public policy, Guillermo has worked as a senior public officer, columnist, lecturer and academic researcher in Latin America, Europe and New Zealand. His academic work revolves around diversity, equity and inclusion. He is also a People and Culture specialist with over 30 years of experience in diversity, organisational development and change. Guillermo believes in a world where art is inclusive of all groups shaping the rich tapestries of societies. He has worked as Research Fellow at AUT, Head of Research and Innovation at Diversity Works New Zealand and he currently works as Associate Director of Staff Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland.

    guillermo@artspace.org.nz

  5. Janine Randerson is an artist and writer from Aotearoa New Zealand. Her moving image installation works are exhibited in the Asia-Moana region and internationally. She often practices in collaboration with community groups, mana whenua, and environmental scientists from urban meteorologists to glaciologists. Janine’s book Weather as Medium: Toward a Meteorological Art (MIT Press, 2018) focuses on modern and contemporary artworks that engage with our present and future weathers. She has curated programmes with CIRCUIT: Artist Film and Video Aotearoa New Zealand and she is currently working on a curatorial project with Te Tuhi gallery and Artangel (London). In addition, she is a LASER talk chair (Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous) and an Associate Professor in Art and Design at AUT University, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.

    Janine@artspace.org.nz

  6. Roberta most recently was the Finance Director / Business Manager for Whitecliffe College of Arts & Design for 10 years. She has an MA in Arts Administration from City University, London. She is also currently the co-owner of a local backpackers, Brown Kiwi. Previous experience has included owning small businesses, managing the Sky City Theatre, Bay of Islands Arts Festival, and projects at the Shakespeare's Globe, London, Brighton Arts Festival. She has always been interested in contemporary New Zealand art.

    roberta@artspace.org.nz

  7. Emily Parr (Ngāi Te Rangi, Moana, Pākehā) is an artist living in Tāmaki Makaurau. Her moving-image practice weaves through time and space, exploring systems of relation emerging from Te Moananui-a-Kiwa. Emily is a PhD candidate and part of the Vā Moana research cluster at AUT. Her doctoral research considers the responsibilities she has inherited through her ancestral legacies and, in particular, to her family’s collection of taonga and measina held by museums. Emily has recently exhibited with City Gallery Wellington, CIRCUIT, The Physics Room, and Te Uru, St Paul Street, and Gus Fisher galleries. She has presented her research internationally with the Pacific Basin Institute, the Native American & Indigenous Studies Association, and the Global Asia/Pacific Art Exchange. Emily holds a BFA (Hons) from Elam and an MVA from AUT. She was the recipient of the 2019 Iris Fisher Scholarship and a 2021 Auckland Museum Institute Postgraduate Scholarship.

Former Directors

Remco de Blaaij (2017-2022)
Misal Adnan Yıldız (2015-2017)
Caterina Riva (2012-2015)
Emma Bugden (2008-2011)
Brian Butler (2005 – 2008)
Tobias Berger (2003 – 2005)
Hanna Scott (2002-2003)
Robert Leonard (1997-2001)
Lara Bowen (1993-1996)
Priscilla Pitts (1989-1993)
Mary-Louise Browne (1987-1989)

Former Staff

Georgina Bret (Production Manager, 2018-2022)
Aliyah Winter (Front of House and Communications Assistant, 2021-2022)
Meijing He (Manahautu General Manager, 2019-2022)
Daniel John Corbett Sanders (Kaiāwhina Whakaaturanga Assistant Curator, 2021-2022)
Geneva Alexander-Marsters (Marketing, Media, and Communications Assistant -2021
)
Tyson Campbell (Assistant Curator, 2020-2021)
Lachlan Taylor (Assistant Curator, 2019-2020)
Jaimee Stockman-Young (Gallery Administrator, 2017)
Leah Mulgrew (Communications Coordinator, 2011-2017)
Bridget Riggir-Cuddy (Curatorial Assistant, 2017)
Cameron Ah Loo-Matamua (Education Intern, 2017)
Anna Gardner (Gallery Administrator, 2010-2016)
Henry Davidson (Curatorial Assistant, 2015)
Louisa Afoa (Education Intern, 2015)
Amelia Hitchcock (Curatorial Assistant, 2013/2014)
Ahilapalapa Rands (Education Intern, 2014)
Alex Davidson (Curatorial Assistant, 2012/2013)
Ioana Gordon-Smith (Education Intern, 2013)
Arron Santry (Curatorial Intern, 2011)
Annie Bradley (Communications Manager, 2010)
Lena Kovac (Administrator, 2010)
Roman Mitch (Curatorial Intern, 2010)
Vera Mey (Education and Media Intern, 2010)
Robyn Maree Pickens (Curatorial Intern, 2009)
Victoria Henderson (Resource Manager, 2009)
Kate Brettkelly-Chalmers (Curatorial Intern, 2008)
Ida Moberg (Communications Manager, 2007)
Ariane Craig-Smith (Curatorial Intern, 2007 and Project Manager 2019)
Laura Preston (Curatorial Intern, 2006)
Tessa Giblin (Assistant Curator, 2005)
Sonya Korohina (Administrator, 2001)
Constance McArdle (Projects Manager, 1998)
Kelly Carmichael (Administrator, 1998)

Te Tiriti o Waitangi

Artspace Aotearoa acknowledges Te Tiriti o Waitangi / The Treaty of Waitangi as Aotearoa New Zealand’s founding document. Artspace Aotearoa prioritizes the analysis, development and maintenance of practices which nurture the evolving relationship of the dual constitutional heritage of Te Tiriti.

Creative Commons

All texts written by Artspace Aotearoa are under the Creative Commons License. Texts by external authors or sources usually are not, except where noted otherwise.

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