Product Overview

The Dunedin Public Art Gallery is one of New Zealand's four major metropolitan art galleries. Established in 1884, the Gallery was New Zealand’s first Art Gallery and is renowned today for the richness of its historic collection and its close working relationship with major New Zealand artists.

The gallery is located right in the heart of Dunedin. It is within easy walking distance from a large number of hotels and on all major public transport routes. There are disabled facilities, the award-winning Nova café, a wonderful shop, free wi-fi in the Gallery foyer.

The Gallery houses a significant collection of New Zealand artworks covering the period from 1860 to the present. The collection also contains major holdings of historical European art, Japanese prints and the decorative arts. Historical works by renowned artists such as Turner, Gainsborough, Claude, and Machiavelli feature alongside the only Monet in a New Zealand collection and master works by Derain, Tissot, Burne-Jones and internationally acclaimed Dunedin artist Frances Hodgkins.

The collection is fundamental to the Gallery’s exhibition programme, but many works of art are also sourced from other public and private collections in New Zealand and internationally.

The Gallery presents a wide-ranging events programme of interesting lectures, floor talks, film and video screenings, performances and workshops. There are regular guided tours for key exhibitions or by arrangement.

Product Description

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

He reka te Kūmara

13 November 2021 – 20 March 2022

Nāia tētahi kūmara ka noho ki te rua, me he pēpi e moe ana ki te whare takata. Ka tohua e te kūmara te mātotorutaka o te mātauraka Māori i heke noa mai i kā kāwai whakapapa. Nō mai rā anō tō mātou tūhonoka, nā te rere whakateraki o te pounamu, ki te kūmara ko tukuna ki te toka, nā kā kōrero, nā te mahi toi, nā te hākarau hoki.

He pēhea tā mātau tuku mātauraka?

Ka tahuri mātau ki kā mahi toi hai mea whakamāramarama. Ko kā rārāki, kā kano, me kā rauemi o kā mahi toi nō tēnei whakaaturaka e pū mai ai kā kōrero whakapapa mā te wā me te ātea. Ko ia o kā mahi toi nei he whatitoka ki te pitomata mutuka kore o mātauraka, he ao matatini te oraka o wānaka.

Nāia te āki ki a koutou kia ū ki te whēuriuri me te māhanahana o Papatūānuku, rokohina ana te kōmirotanga o te wā, e tuituia ana a Uki ki a Rauraki. Whāia rā kā ara whakatere o kā waiata, o kā haereka me kā kāwai heke. Kia roko mā tō wairua, mā tō tinana, mā tō mauri anō hoki.

He pēhea te reka o te kūmara?

Tīhei mauri ora!

A kūmara rests in the underground storehouse, mirroring a pēpi asleep in the whare tangata. The kūmara symbolises the fullness of mātauraka Māori across generations. From pounamu flowing northwards, to kūmara sent southwards, we have always been connected through stories, art and technology.

This exhibition was conceived by Madison Kelly (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe), Mya Morrison Middleton (Ngāi Tūāhuriri, Ngāi Tahu), Aroha Novak (Ngāi te Rangi, Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu) and Piupiu Maya Turei (Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne, Te Ātihaunui-a-Pāpārangi). Together they are cultivating a portal into the storehouse of Mātauraka Māori. Through pūrakau, waiata and toi, they explore how they can add their own branches to the rākau whai hua.

The curators wish to acknowledge Te Rūnaka o Ōtākou, Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki and Te Rūnaka o Moeraki, and thank Paemanu Ngāi Tahu Contemporary Visual Arts and the Dunedin Public Art Gallery for their support.

This exhibition is made possible by the DPAG Curatorial Internship, currently held by Piupiu Maya Turei and funded by Creative New Zealand.

CAPTION: MARILYNN WEBB left: Baby 3 1990.  right: Baby and Fire 1990. Monotypes. Collection Dunedin Public Art Gallery

Paemanu: Tauraka Toi

11 December 2021 - 25 April 2022

Ka noho a Paemanu: Tauraka Toi ki te roro matua, ā, ki kā taiwhaka whakaatu e ono ki te papa tuatahi o Te Whare Toi Tūmatawhānui o Ōtepoti.

I tīmata tā mātau, ko te Mana Whenua haereka i te whakatūraka o te kōhatu ki te roro matua. Ki te whakaaturaka ‘Hurahia ana kā Whetū’ i tūwheratia i te Māruaroa, ko Ross Hemera rāua ko Cath Brown te hāpai, nā i waere ai te ara kia tau ai a, ‘Paemanu: Tauraka Toi’.

Paemanu: Tauraka Toi - A Landing Place occupies the foyer and the six galleries on the first floor of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

Co-curated by a team of senior Kāi Tahu contemporary artists and Paemanu trustees - Areta Wilkinson, Ayesha Green, Lonnie Hutchinson, Martin Awa Clarke Langdon, Nathan Pōhio, Peter Robinson, Rachael Rakena, Rongomaiaia Te Whaiti, Ross Hemera, Simon Kaan, Kiri Jarden and Vicki Lenihan - Tauraka Toi features newly commissioned works and ushers in a new generation of artists alongside well-established practitioners.

A Dunedin Public Art Gallery Visiting Artist Project supported by Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa and project partner, Dunedin School of Art. Exhibition Partner: Craigs Investment Partners.

CAPTION: RACHAEL RAKENA Ko te wai he wai ora 2021 Film still (detail). 16 channel film. Courtesy of the artist

Hurahia ana kā Whetū

Unveiling the Stars

12 June 2021 - 30 October 2022

Ko Hurahia ana kā Whetū te hua o kā whakawhitika korero i waeka i te Whare Toi Tūmatawhānui o Ōtepoti me Paemanu, he ohu kaimahi toi Kāi Tahu. Ko rua tau hemihemi Te Whare Toi me Paemanu e mahi tahi ana, e whakawhiti mātauraka ana, e whakarenarena ana i te taukaea takata i kā āhuataka katoa o ā mātou mahi.

E whakanui ana a Hurahia ana kā Whetū i te hītori o tēnei kohikohika, he whakatūka tuatahitaka nō tēnei momo ki Aotearoa. E whakamana ana tēnei kohikohika i kā kōrero me kā whakaaro e kawea ana e kā mahi toi o tēnei whakanōhaka. Mā te mahi kātahi ka rakona ai kā reo o te iwi Māori me kā iwi taketake, ka whakakotahitia kā momo whakapaparaka rerekē, ka tirohia hokitia te onamata, e pai ai te para i kā huarahi ki te anamata.

Hurahia ana kā Whetū – Unveiling the Stars is the result of a series of ongoing conversations between the team at Dunedin Public Art Gallery and Paemanu, a group of Ngāi Tahu (Kāi Tahu) visual artists.  Over a period of more than two years, the Gallery and Paemanu have been working in partnership, sharing knowledge and developing relationships that reach across many aspects of our work.

Hurahia ana kā Whetū celebrates the history of this collection, the first of its kind to be established in Aotearoa. It upholds the stories and ideas carried by art works that reside within this institution. Through partnership, working to elevate Māori and indigenous voices, and layering multiple viewpoints, this exhibition looks to the past to create new paths forward.

Exhibition Partner: Craigs Investment Partners.

CAPTION: HURAHIA ANA Kā WHETū 2021 Installation view Dunedin Public Art Gallery. Photo: Justin Spiers