Ocula Report 58th Venice Biennale: May You Live In Interesting Times 24 May 2019 : Mohammad Salemy for Ocula The 58th Venice Biennale, May You Live In Interesting Times (11 May–24 November 2019), certainly benefitted from low expectations, given the lacklustre curatorial of the previous edition, when different segments of the show were conceptually framed with titles like 'Pavilion of Joys and Fears' and 'Pavilion of Colours'. Add to this the...
Ocula Conversation Zheng Bo Hong Kong-based artist Zheng Bo's social, ecological, and community-engaged art practice has, in recent years, focused on moving beyond a human-centred perspective to an all-inclusive, multi-species approach. He takes up marginalised plants and communities of people as subjects in his large-scale interventions, which reintroduce wildness into...
Ocula Report Auckland Art Fair 2019: Conversations Extended 24 May 2019 : Sherry Paik for Ocula The weather was clement for the annual Auckland Art Fair (2–5 May 2019), which was again at The Cloud on Queens Wharf. This year's edition was a get-together of 41 galleries, mostly from around Auckland and across New Zealand, with 5 spaces hailing from Sydney and the rest from Cook Islands (Bergman Gallery), Hobart (Michael Bugelli Gallery),...
Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery is West Auckland's regional gallery, operated by Lopdell House Society with core operational funding from Auckland Council through the Waitakere Ranges Local Board. We aim to present a contemporary exhibition programme that reflects and strengthens the full diversity of cultural identities, interests and potential of our community.
Since 1986, the gallery has been sited in the historic Lopdell House, located in the heart of Titirangi, gateway to the Waitakere rain forest and Auckland's west coast beaches. From 2012, during an extensive redevelopment programme, the gallery delivered exhibitions and outreach style programmes from a temporary base in nearby New Lynn. We reopened in new purpose-built facilities alongside Lopdell House on Saturday 1 November 2014.
Our name, Te Uru, makes reference to Te Hau a Uru, the wind that blows from the west, a powerful characteristic of the region and an important story for local iwi, Te Kawerau ā Maki, who have bestowed us with this new kaupapa. It shares the messages and vision of the people that live in the west, brings change, sets direction and influences Auckland City from its mountainous perch atop the Great Forest of Tiriwa. Te Uru will be a source of information and ideas that will project out into the region - a fitting framework for a contemporary gallery. The new name was launched at a special members' meeting in April 2014.
Photos: Sam Harnett
Ocula Report Art Shows to See in Auckland: The Lowdown 27 Apr 2019 : Sherry Paik for Ocula This year, the month of May kicks off with the annual Auckland Art Fair (2–5 May 2019) at The Cloud on Queens Wharf, where over 40 leading galleries from the Pacific Rim will exhibit. A carefully curated selection of talks and exhibitions will accompany the fair, including the 2019 Projects Programme organised by Francis McWhannell titled...
