Gus Fisher Gallery

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Gus Fisher Gallery

Gus Fisher Gallery is a centre for contemporary art with a focus on socially engaged exhibitions. The gallery is free to visit.

Housed in a 1934 heritage building in central Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Gus Fisher Gallery is The University of Auckland's flagship art gallery. The gallery's extensive programme of events runs alongside its exhibitions, including performances, film screenings, workshops, panel discussions and family activities.

27/05/2026

Tonight's the night ✨️⁠
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Join us at Gus Fisher Gallery from 5.30pm as we celebrate the launch of two new exhibitions: Studies for a Keepsake and Phone Tree.⁠
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Studies for a Keepsake: Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore is the first Aotearoa exhibition of these visionary artists and activists. Associated with the French Surrealist movement, their creative output spanned writing, photography, collage, performance and sculpture, and is considered to have been decades ahead of its time.⁠
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In The Changing Room, Lucy Meyle presents Phone Tree, an exploration of moth traps through drawing, casting and intricate lacework. Working in sculpture and publication, Meyle often draws together the archival, the observed and the absurd into material relation. ⁠
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Studies for a Keepsake is supported by Aalto Paint, with the public programme brought to you by The Gerrard and Marti Friedlander Charitable Trust. With thanks to Jersey Heritage Collections and Auckland Festival of Photography. ⁠
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The Changing Room is proudly supported by The Chartwell Trust. ⁠
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⁠Doors open from 5.30pm, speeches at 6pm. See you there!⁠
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⁠Image: Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, Untitled (Cahun with quilt), 1928. Courtesy of Jersey Heritage Collections.

07/05/2026

Save the date ✉️⁠
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You are warmly invited to the launch of our winter exhibitions programme at Gus Fisher Gallery, opening on Thursday 28 May, from 5.30-7.30pm. ⁠
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Studies for a Keepsake marks the first Aotearoa presentation of pioneering French artists Claude Cahun (1894-1954) and Marcel Moore (1892-1972). The exhibition showcases over seventy prints, including Surrealist portraits of Cahun, created together with Moore during the 1920s and 1930s. Never exhibited during their lifetimes, these photographs have become some of the most enduringly recognisable and defining of the 20th century. ⁠
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Running concurrently in The Changing Room is a new body of work by Tāmaki Makaurau based artist Lucy Meyle. Through drawing, casting and intricate lacework, Phone Tree centres around moth traps that lure 'pest' species with pseudo-pheromones and catch them in nets or on sticky paper. ⁠
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Studies for a Keepsake is supported by Aalto Paint, with the public programme brought to you by The Gerrard and Marti Friedlander Charitable Trust. With thanks to Jersey Heritage Collections and Auckland Festival of Photography.⁠
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The Changing Room 2026 is proudly supported by The Chartwell Trust.⁠
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All are welcome, we look forward to welcoming you back into the gallery.⁠
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Image: Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore, Untitled [Cahun with mirror image], 1928. Courtesy of the Jersey Heritage Collections.

03/05/2026

Our exhibitions Dreaming from afar and Tell us if something changes have ended, and Gus Fisher Gallery is now closed for changeover. ⁠
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Ngā mihi maioha to our participating artists – brunelle dias primbs, Gian Manik, Tyrone Te Waa, and Rangi White for sharing their work with us. Thank you to our exhibition partners, including Aalto Paint, The Chartwell Trust, Auckland Arts Festival and Auckland Pride for their support. A special thank you extends to our technicians, volunteers, public programme collaborators, and to everyone who took the time to visit these exhibitions.⁠
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Gus Fisher Gallery will reopen on Friday 29 May with the exhibitions Studies for a Keepsake: Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore and Phone Tree by Lucy Meyle in The Changing Room. Keep an eye out for upcoming details on the exhibition and public programme. ⁠
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Image: (1) Tyrone Te Waa, (L-R) A Nan Plays Whangaipeke, 2026. Free hangi over Te Rohe Pōtae, 2026. Moko’s, Moko’s, Mokomoko, 2026. W/Whakapakoko, 2026. Installation view. Courtesy of the artist and Anna Miles Gallery. Photography by Sam Hartnett. (2) Rangi White, Tell us if something changes, 2026. Installation view. Courtesy of the artist. Photography by Sam Hartnett.

29/04/2026

There are just a few days left to view our current suite of exhibitions – Dreaming from afar and Tell us if something changes. Featuring new works by brunelle dias primbs (India, Aotearoa), Gian Manik (Australia), Tyrone Te Waa (Ngāti Tūwharetoa) and Rangi White (Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Rakaipaaka). ⁠
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"He turns his moustached face towards me, or he is shown half-facing me, moustached. He smiles a coy smile, as if he knows something I do not—some secret, some private joke. Or perhaps it is exactly the opposite. There is no secret at all between him and me. I know what he and his fellow are up to. If there was ever a secret about them, it was badly kept, the sort of secret you only miss if you do not wish to see it. Hiding in plain sight. Wood masquerading as trees. The space they occupy is mysterious. Outside or inside? Real or fake?" – Francis McWhannell. ⁠
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Read Francis' insightful essay entitled 'Dreaming form near' on our website and be sure to visit before 4pm this Saturday 2nd May to experience the exhibition for yourself ✨️⁠
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Gus Fisher Gallery is open Tuesday to Friday from 10am-5pm, and Saturday from 10am-4pm at 74 Shortland Street, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Central. Both exhibitions are free to visit.⁠
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Image: Gian Manik, Camouflage, 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Sutton Gallery. Photography by Sam Hartnett.

17/04/2026

Featuring the works of Gian Manik, brunelle dias primbs, and Tyrone Te Waa, Dreaming from afar considers the complexities of history and nostalgia through a painterly environment that blends the physical with the imaginary. ⁠
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Concurrently on display in The Changing Room, Rangi White's Tell us if something changes investigates bureaucracy as both a lived structure and a symbolic system.⁠
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See what visitors have said about the exhibitions so far: ⁠
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"Gorgeous, thoughtful works." ⁠
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"Beautiful, striking, affirming, and fun!"⁠
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"Incredible work. Movement and feelings are shown extremely well. Great!" ⁠
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There are only two weeks left to view our current exhibitions before they close on Saturday 2 May. Don't miss out on your last chance to see them.⁠
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16/04/2026

Coming up in The Changing Room 💫⁠
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Phone Tree⁠
Lucy Meyle (Aotearoa)⁠
29 May – 22 August⁠
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Gus Fisher Gallery is proud to present the next commission for The Changing Room 2026, generously supported by The Chartwell Trust. Through drawing, casting and intricate lacework, Lucy Meyle’s Phone Tree centres around moth traps that lure 'pest' species with pseudo-pheromones and catch them in nets or on sticky paper. ⁠
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Through this project, Meyle adapts these surveillance and control devices for humorously different ends, reframing them as narrative holders which are interfered with by the moths themselves. Rather than destructive tools for determining the presence of a pest, in Meyle’s work the moth traps serve as inadvertent collectors of moth memory, drama, and dreaming. ⁠
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Image: Lucy Meyle. Work in progress (detail), 2026. Courtesy of the artist.

02/04/2026

Please note the following changes to our opening hours for the Easter holidays 🐇⁠
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Good Friday 3 April: Closed⁠
Saturday 4 April: Open 10am-4pm⁠
Sunday 5 April to Tuesday 7 April: Closed⁠
Wednesday 8 April: 10am-5pm (normal hours resume)⁠
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Currently on display, brunelle dias primbs' painting but only say the word portrays a Semana Santa procession she witnessed in Seville, Spain. Semana Santa is a week-long religious parade that commemorates the Passion of the Christ, observed during the final week of Lent and culminating on Easter Sunday. ⁠For Dreaming from afar, dias primbs expands her focus to include vistas encountered during recent travels in Europe, poised alongside the familiar scenes of home. ⁠
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Visit us on Saturday if you're around Tāmaki Makaurau for the long weekend. If you have any questions about our opening hours, check our website or get in touch.⁠
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Image: brunelle dias primbs, but only say the word, 2025-2026. Installation view. Courtesy of the artist.

01/04/2026

Gus Fisher Gallery is proud to present 'Studies for a Keepsake' – an unprecedented exhibition of pioneering artists Claude Cahun (1894-1954) and Marcel Moore (1892-1972) set to take place in Aotearoa New Zealand. ⁠
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Visionary artists and activists associated with the French Surrealist movement, Cahun and Moore were lifelong partners and collaborators whose fearlessness in art was reflected wholeheartedly in life. ⁠
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As gender non-conforming artists who defied the social norms of the time, they used their art as a form of resistance. Spanning writing, photography, collage, performance and sculpture, their creative output is considered to have been decades ahead of its time.⁠
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Through a rare focus on historic portraiture by two q***r photographers, the exhibition features over seventy works and celebrates the enduring legacy of this collaborative duo who created some of the most defining portraits of the 20th century. ⁠
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'Studies for a Keepsake' runs from 29 May to 22 August at Gus Fisher Gallery and coincides with the 40th anniversary of The Homosexual Law Reform Act in Aotearoa in 2026. ⁠
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A dynamic public programme of events will accompany the exhibition, supported by The Gerrard and Marti Friedlander Charitable Trust. With thanks to our gallery supporters Aalto Paint and to Jersey Heritage Collections for their cooperation on this special kaupapa.⁠
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Image: Claude Cahun & Marcel Moore, Untitled [I am in training, don’t kiss me], 1927. Courtesy of Jersey Heritage Collections.

19/03/2026

"Framed and presented here as art, [Rangi] White strips the [Official Information Act] documents of their content, rendering them mere signifiers of transparency. These symbols are at home in the aesthetic of the WINZ office, which, like the OIA, is self-effacing, lathered in dull colours that ward off accusations of bias. Set-dressed with furniture that is ergonomic but also somehow stiff. White’s reconstruction is contrasted against images of the ideal WINZ office depicted in the OIA documents, examples to which all WINZ offices should aspire." – Ardit Hoxha⁠
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In his essay 'From cradle to grave', Ardit Hoxha responds to Rangi White's exhibition Tell us if something changes, examining the aesthetics of a Work and Income Office and Aotearoa's neoliberal reform. Pick up a free hard copy from the gallery, or read online.

The Changing Room 2026 is proudly supported by The Chartwell Trust.⁠
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Image: Rangi White, Tell us if something changes, 2026. Detail. Courtesy of the artist. Photography by Sam Hartnett.

13/02/2026

Our latest exhibitions are now open at Gus Fisher Gallery.⁠
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Dreaming from afar ⁠brings together major new works by brunelle dias primbs, Gian Manik and Tyrone Te Waa, each considering the complexities of history and nostalgia through a painterly environment that blends the physical with the imaginary.⁠
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Rangi White's Tell us if something changes⁠ for The Changing Room draws on the aesthetics of a Work and Income office. The development of this project was driven primarily by the artist’s Official Information Act requests, which were then used to source the furniture and fittings as specified by the Ministry of Social Development. Proudly supported by The Chartwell Trust.⁠
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Don't miss out on the opening day celebrations today, which include Pillow Painting from 10.30am to 1.30pm, and an artist talk with our Dreaming from afar artists in the gallery at 2pm.⁠
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Image: Tyrone Te Waa, W/Whakapakoko, 2026. Detail. Courtesy of the artist and Anna Miles Gallery.

Address

The Kenneth Myers Centre, 74 Shortland Street
Auckland
1010

Telephone

+6499236646

Website

http://www.gusfishergallery.auckland.ac.nz/

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