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For the Birds

For the Birds

Visual Arts 03 – 19 Mar

Gather the whānau together for an adventure in the bush, at this celebration of light, flight and birdsong from the makers of 2014 Festival hit Power Plant.

Beautiful, unexpected and alive!
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (UK)
FamilyFree
The Contact Festival Playground

The Contact Festival Playground

visual arts 27 Feb – 19 Mar

To celebrate the Festival’s 30th birthday, we’re building Wellington a fantastical family fairground perfect for anyone young at heart.
FamilyFreeNZ
Fly Me Up to Where You Are New Zealand

Fly Me Up to Where You Are New Zealand

Visual Arts 27 Feb – 19 Mar

Tiffany Singh has been working with schoolchildren from Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch since 2012, helping them turn their ideas into the many thousand flags in this award-winning installation. 
FamilyFree
Arquitectura de Feria

Arquitectura de Feria

Visual Arts 27 Feb – 19 Mar

A Catalonian fairground No. 8 wire-style, with seven fantastical hand-cranked rides put together from recycled material and scrap iron. Including a Ferris wheel where kids are propelled around on toilet bowls.
River of Fundament

River of Fundament

Film, Visual Arts 19 Mar

A nearly six-hour epic from New York-based Matthew Barney, described by The Daily Telegraph as the “visionary artist and film-maker ... behind some of the most arresting, strange and beautiful images of our time”. 
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Privacy vs Patriotic Idealism

Privacy vs Patriotic Idealism

Visual Arts 21 Feb – 15 May

The loss of privacy through online monitoring and public surveillance has created a culture of Orwellian fear and paranoia. Kelcy Taratoa’s latest series of paintings grapples with pop-culture referents to unpack these anxieties.
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Once There Was a Tree

Once There Was a Tree

Visual Arts 26 Feb – 03 Apr

Andrea Gardner explores the tension between domesticity and nature, artifice and reality, the familiar and the unexpected. She investigates how we perceive nature in a contemporary context and the ever growing presence of man-made elements in the environment. 
Free
Linie Line Linea – Contemporary Drawing

Linie Line Linea – Contemporary Drawing

Visual Arts 26 Feb – 20 Mar

Curated by Volker Adolphs at Kunstmuseum Bonn, this exhibition features 20 contemporary artists working in Germany, who explore different approaches to drawing. A New Zealand exclusive. 
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Adam Portraiture Award 2016

Adam Portraiture Award 2016

Visual Arts 25 Feb – 29 May

Showcasing the enormous range of contemporary portraiture in New Zealand, this is the country’s premier portrait competition. 
Free
Camille Henrot: Grosse Fatigue

Camille Henrot: Grosse Fatigue

Visual Arts 21 Nov – 13 Mar

French artist Camille Henrot’s encyclopaedic video Grosse Fatigue (2013) takes on the history of the universe. Henrotmashes scientific history and creation stories, the rationaland the mythic, computers and primitive mindsets.
Free
The Presidents – From JFK to Obama

The Presidents – From JFK to Obama

Visual Arts 20 Feb – 15 May

Award-winning American photojournalist David Burnett is one of the few photographers to have photographed all US Presidents since John F Kennedy.
Free
Liu Jianhua: Transfer

Liu Jianhua: Transfer

Visual Arts 20 Feb – 10 Jul

One of China’s best known contemporary artists, Liu Jianhua will present two full-gallery installations: a signature work of over 1,500 everyday objects cast in white porcelain, and a new work of glistening pools of gold-coated porcelain.
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a (very) brief history of aotearoa

a (very) brief history of aotearoa

Visual Arts 24 Feb – 20 Mar

Four aluminium pieces, in pixelated “space invaders” shapes/QR Codes, form a Māori meeting house; a mitre; a crown; and the Beehive – interact with them and find out why they represent a (very) brief history of Aotearoa.  
Family
Dreamworks Animation: The Exhibition

Dreamworks Animation: The Exhibition

Visual Arts 12 Dec – 28 Mar

From the studio that brought you Shrek, Madagascar and the awesome Kung FuPanda comes an exhibition exclusive to Te Papa: a celebration of 20 years of DreamWorks Animation.
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Ngā Toi / Arts Te Papa

Ngā Toi / Arts Te Papa

Visual Arts 06 Nov – 31 Jul

During the New Zealand Festival, Te Papa is hosting a vibrant season of Ngā Toi | Arts Te Papa — the museum’s ever-changing showcase of works drawn from the national art collection, including NewZealand Photography Collected, an exhibition that showcases hundreds of Te Papa’s rare and fascinating photographs. 
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The Attic

The Attic

Visual Arts

In this new permanent exhibition space, you can experience Ngā Hau, which combines installation art and the magic of cinema. 
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Julian Dashper & Friends

Julian Dashper & Friends

Visual Arts 05 Dec – 25 Apr

This show offers a tribute to key New Zealand artist Julian Dashper, presenting his works in conversation with works by other artists, including Colin McCahon, Rita Angus, Milan Mrkusich, Gordon Walters and Billy Apple.
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Grayson Perry / Kushana Bush

Grayson Perry / Kushana Bush

Visual Arts 20 Nov – 20 Mar

Turner Prize-winning artist, writer and broadcaster Grayson Perry CBE is a British institution. Like Perry, Dunedin artist Kushana Bush's intricate and colourful tragi-comic paintings comment on modern life but are loaded with references to arts of other times and places. 
NZ
Shapeshifter Sculpture 2016

Shapeshifter Sculpture 2016

Visual Arts 26 Feb – 20 Mar

Shapeshifter Sculpture returns to Lower Hutt's beautiful public gardens. Enjoy the experience of wandering through the gardens encountering sculptures by emerging and established New Zealand artists.
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Ata: A Third Reflection

Ata: A Third Reflection

Visual Arts 21 Feb – 15 May

Professor Robert Jahnke’s Ata explores Māori creation narratives and Christian and prophetic imagery through light and reflection.
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Featherston Camp Centenary Exhibition: 1916-2016

Featherston Camp Centenary Exhibition: 1916-2016

Visual Arts 23 Jan – 31 Jul

An estimated 60,000 men went through Featherston Military Training Camp between 1916 and 1918 – a majority of the New Zealanders who served overseas during World War I. This exhibition tells their story.
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Art From the Heart

Art From the Heart

Visual Arts 20 Feb – 16 Mar

Artists and crafts people show work that expresses who they are and their approach to making art, including work they are deeply involved with now and special pieces from their collections.
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The Burden of Dreams

The Burden of Dreams

Visual Arts 26 Feb – 03 Apr

Margriet Windhausen and Paul van den Bergh both gained their art training in the Netherlands and have a unique voice in which the human figure becomes a vehicle for dreaming.

 
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Unseen City

Unseen City

Visual Arts 21 Nov – 13 Mar

In the 1960s, as new motorways enabled suburban sprawl, Auckland’s population passed half a million. Unseen city is a snapshot of that moment, in photography, film and painting.
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Bottled Ocean 2116

Bottled Ocean 2116

Visual Arts 21 Feb – 15 May

Bottled Ocean 2116 presents an expansive translucent double-hulled waka. Floating in space, it is surrounded by imagined creatures of the deep created from recycled plastics.
Free
Matthew Barney: DRAWING RESTRAINT

Matthew Barney: DRAWING RESTRAINT

Film, Visual Arts 26 Feb – 24 Apr

The first solo presentation of Matthew Barney's artworks in New Zealand, Drawing Restraint is a carefully curated display of his visual and physical enquiries of body and its limitations.
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Art Can Change the World

Art Can Change the World

Artist Talk, Visual Arts 28 Feb

Tiffany Singh discusses the role of social practice in the changing face of the arts, and collaboration in her work including her huge flag project Fly Me Upto Where You Are New Zealand.