NEW PLYMOUTH.- Toiaa Taiao: Whiria ko te iwi tuna
February 28–July 19, 2026
Artists: Tihikura Hohaia, Alex Monteith and Maree Sheehan
Initiated by Dr. Zara Stanhope, curated by Simon Gennard
Whiria ko te iwi tuna is a major newly commissioned project by artist collective Toiaa Taiao: Tihikura Hohaia, Alex Monteith and Maree Sheehan.
Through immersive visual and sonic storytelling, the project gives form to the underwater lifeworlds of Te Whanganui—a manga in the rohe of Ngaati Moeahu, which meets Te Moana-Taapokopoko-a-Taawhaki near the western-most point of Taranaki.
Focussing on the ngutuawa—the last 100-meters of the manga before it meets the sea— the project foregrounds the impact of continuing legislative failures, which enable capitalist exploitation of land and waters, and undermine hapuu authority in enacting kaitiakitanga.
The project is accompanied by a newly commissioned text by Rachel Buchanan (Taranaki iwi, Te Ātiawa, Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika) which locates the project within “a whakapapa of care and protest” within Taranaki. Whiria ko te iwi tuna
Pause, act, void, event: Works from the Govett-Brewster collection
February 28–July 19, 2026
Artists: Billy Apple, Debra Bustin, d harding, Ralph Hotere, Corita Kent, Tom Kreisler, Ziggy Lever & Lucy Meyle, Peter Peryer, Pauline Rhodes
Curators: Simon Gennard and Taarati Taiaroa
Presenting beloved works and recent acquisitions from the Govett-Brewster collection, Pause, act, void, event considers the “life” of an artwork. Here, “life” takes on many meanings. It could gesture to the unstable nature of materials; or the ways artists transform earthly matter to come to terms with the world; or the aspirations artists hold for artworks to act in service of transformation.
Central to this exhibition is the presentation and reimagining of an installation by Debra Bustin which was first realised in 1982. Extended far beyond its original form, the work is a key example of Bustin’s complex, joyous, room-spanning environments. Alongside, a newly commissioned work by Ziggy Lever & Lucy Meyle considers the agency of animals, plants and technology in the production of images and meaning. Pause, act, void, event
Touring: He Kete Iti
April 18, 2026–July 20, 2026
Whanganui Regional Museum
More venues and dates to be announced
Curators: Maureen Lander and Taarati Taiaroa
Artists: Ana Heremaia, Annitta Cleal, Aroha Ranginui, Audra Potaka, Bethany Matai Edmunds, Dude Beaton, Huhana Jahnke, Iris-Mōrehu Ronald, Janie Randerson, Kaeo Waata-Kairau, Karen Clark, Kerry Lander, Kiriana O’Connell, Kristy Hill, Lynette Gundersen, Makareta Jahnke, Mako Jones, Mandy Sunlight, Matthew McIntyre Wilson, Maureen Lander, Nadia Tamihana, Ngahina Hohaia, Ngahina Wharehoka, Ngawhakamoemiti Hita, Purewa Hodge, Raewyn Ireland, Rāwinia Wright, Rebecca Toki, Sailor Bartleet, Sally Hikaka, Taarati Taiaroa, Tara-lee Manu.
Developed and toured by Govett-Brewster Art Gallery Len Lye Centre.
Project Partners: Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, Te Aho Mutunga Kore, Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture & Heritage, Whanganui Regional Museum, Puke Ariki Museum
He Kete Iti is an installation conceived by Dr. Maureen Lander MNZM (Ngāpuhi, Te Hikutū) and made with 31 weavers (both novice and experienced) through processes of relational and intergenerational knowledge transmission and regeneration. In 2024 Lander brought together groups of weavers to study kete iti (small baskets) in museum collections, and to inspire them to engage with and revive the intriguing mix of innovation and tradition found in these forms made by generations past. The results of their research and creative exploration is showcased in a dynamic installation of 101 new kete. First shown in 2025 as part of He Tukutuku Auahatanga: Maureen Lander with Community at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, and now as a touring exhibition He Kete Iti reunites the new kete with those that inspired them from Museum collections and is expanded with interpretive displays that offer insights into materials, making processes and the methodology of the project.
