Gus Fisher Gallery

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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.

15/10/2026

In AS LOYAL KIWIS WE CANNOT DESIRE, artist Frances Libeau has compiled and recomposed digital archival material which includes radio discussions, footage of the CCC petition being delivered to Parliament and a rally taking place at Auckland Town Hall in 1985. ⁠
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Also included is footage of a self-defence class for gay men established at the time to help deal with an increase in violence towards them. Moving between critical and reparative readings of the archive, Libeau attends to the violence of historical rhetoric and the unexpected possibilities generated by juxtaposing these materials together. ⁠
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AS LOYAL KIWIS WE CANNOT DESIRE is currently on view and free to visit, proudly supported by The Chartwell Trust as part of The Changing Room 2026.⁠
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Image: Frances Libeau, AS LOYAL KIWIS WE CANNOT DESIRE, 2026. Installation view. Courtesy of the artist. Photography by Sam Hartnett.

11/10/2026

Our public programme for touchsprings has started strong with back-to-back events! ⁠
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On the opening day weekend, we hosted an artist talk with Miranda Bellamy, Amanda Fauteux and Colleen Coco Collins, whose poetry is featured in the moving image works Radicant and Unboxing Vid, currently on view. ⁠The following Saturday, Colleen returned for an afternoon of poetry readings, joined by Tāmaki Makaurau-based poets Sinag Fernandez, Arihia Hall and Mahalia Salesa. ⁠
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Ngā mihi nui to all who have attended our public programme so far. A special thank you to Miranda, Amanda, and Colleen for discussing the fruition of the works in touchsprings. Thank you also to Arihia, Mahalia, and Sinag, for sharing your artistry with us alongside Colleen.⁠
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Head to our events page to learn more about our upcoming events – link in bio 🌱⁠
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08/10/2026

This is a warm reminder that tomorrow on Saturday 10 October, our working bee with Kawe Mahara Q***r Archives Aotearoa is on, where you can digitise and transcribe submissions from the 1985-86 Homosexual Law Reform Campaign. Drop in between 10am and 2pm and find more details at the link in bio 🗂️⁠
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In our current exhibition AS LOYAL KIWIS WE CANNOT DESIRE, Frances Libeau examines the fierce opposition the Homosexual Law Reform Act faced before its enactment, notably a petition organised by the conservative Christian group Coalition of Concerned Citizens (CCC). ⁠
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Spearheaded by businessmen Keith Hay and Bill Subritzky, CCC claimed to have collected over 800,000 signatures protesting the reform. The petition was later exposed as containing hundreds of falsified entries, and thousands more people signed under circumstances that some later considered coercive, prompting many to write to Parliament requesting their signatures be redacted. ⁠⁠
AS LOYAL KIWIS WE CANNOT DESIRE is now on view, and proudly supported by The Chartwell Trust as part of The Changing Room 2026.⁠ ⁠
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Image: Frances Libeau, Untitled (REDACTED), 2026. Detail. Courtesy of the artist. Photography by Sam Hartnett.

07/10/2026

Responding to Miranda Bellamy & Amanda Fauteux's touchsprings, David Large's newly published short story Root / Stock explores connections between materiality and making through the imagined perspective of a wood carver.⁠ ⁠
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Read the full text in the gallery by picking up a free exhibition leaflet, or online at the link in bio 🪵⁠
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touchsprings is currently on display at Gus Fisher Gallery, with documentation now available to view on our website.⁠
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Image: Miranda Bellamy and Amanda Fauteux, Pavilion, 2025-2026. Installation view. Courtesy of the artists. Photography by Sam Hartnett.

04/10/2026

Newly commissioned for the exhibition touchsprings, The Hollow Stem furthers Miranda Bellamy and Amanda Fauteux’s interest in redirecting industrial materials into sculptural forms. The tyre lacing method, normally used for space-efficient transportation and storage, is repurposed here as an artistic gesture, weaving end-of-life tyres into a fleeting monument to the enduring impacts of the fossil fuel industry. ⁠
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The tyres in this installation were supplied by Tyrewise, a tyre stewardship scheme that promotes the recycling of used tyres in Aotearoa. The tyres will be returned to Tyrewise for recycling at the conclusion of the exhibition.⁠
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Modern tyres are made from a combination of natural rubber, tapped from living Hevea brasiliensis (rubber tree), and synthetic rubber derived from petroleum. While these components form across vastly different timescales, their shared organic origins underscore a material continuity between plant, human and geological histories.⁠
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The artists would like to thank Tyrewise for their support in realising this project. touchsprings is now on display at Gus Fisher Gallery. ⁠
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Image: Miranda Bellamy and Amanda Fauteux, The Hollow Stem, 2026. Courtesy of the artists.

02/10/2026

Jesse McLean's film Light Needs is an experimental documentary about houseplants who cohabitate with people and the surprisingly intimate and complex relationships that can develop between them. ⁠
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Join us for a screening of Light Needs (2023) on Saturday 17 October, from 2-3.30pm. A screening of Sophie Koko’s animation short Peace Tree (2026) will precede the film, courtesy of the Folly Tree Arboretum.⁠
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Light Needs contains footage collected from many different domestic and professional spaces over several years. Yet, this film is ardently not a document of houseplants but rather a consideration of the benefits and losses accrued through the social contracts between plant and animal. By directly attending to the relationships humans have with nonhumans, Light Needs looks to shine a light on the responsibility for care towards other living beings.⁠
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This film screening is free to attend, register your place on our website 🪴⁠
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Images: Jesse McLean, Light Needs, 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Verità Films.

01/10/2026

We are delighted to announce Katie Gordon and Lucy Siufan Wong as our newest Gus Fisher Gallery Interns for 2026.⁠
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Katie is currently a Masters of Art History student at Waipapa Taumata Rau The University of Auckland, researching representations of women’s pain in the work of Baroque artist Elisabetta Sirani. She has previously worked at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and Depot Te Whare Toi. Katie is interested in intersectional feminist approaches to art, and exploring that which has been hidden or excluded from the mainstream art history canon.⁠
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Lucy is in her Honours year of a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Te Waka Tūhura Elam School of Fine Arts and Design. Lucy is an artist and writer working primarily in sculpture and moving image. She is particularly interested in language, the politics of representation, and de-/postcolonial feminist theory.⁠
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Both interns will be working across the gallery's operations until December, please join us in welcoming them to the tīma 👏⁠
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29/09/2026

Last Friday night, we were thrilled to launch our spring exhibitions programme, marking our final exhibitions of 2026 🌿⁠
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We'd like to extend our gratitude to the team that helped realise these shows, from our skilled technicians to our ongoing partners Aalto Paint and The Chartwell Trust, and to Parrotdog B**r for providing refreshments at the opening reception. ⁠Thank you to all of the individuals and organisations who have supported the artists with their respective presentations. ⁠
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A special thank you to our exhibiting artists Miranda Bellamy, Amanda Fauteux and Frances Libeau for their dedication and care across all aspects of their mahi.⁠ Lastly, ngā mihi maioha to everyone who attended the opening celebrations.⁠
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touchsprings and AS LOYAL KIWIS WE CANNOT DESIRE are now open for viewing. ⁠Visit Gus Fisher Gallery from Tuesday to Friday 10am-5pm, and Saturdays 10am-4pm at 74 Shortland Street, Tāmaki Makaurau.⁠
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27/09/2026

On Saturday 10 October, join us at Gus Fisher Gallery for a working bee organised by Kawe Mahara Q***r Archives Aotearoa, building on Frances Libeau’s archival research in the exhibition AS LOYAL KIWIS WE CANNOT DESIRE.⁠
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Volunteers are invited to contribute towards digitising copies of the 989 submissions made to Parliament during the 1985-86 Homosexual Law Reform Campaign. You can help by transcribing the handwritten submissions, by correcting the text of typewritten submissions, or by simply reviewing and checking the work of others.⁠
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This is a drop-in event from 10am-2pm, with light refreshments provided. Bring your own laptop or enquire with Kawe Mahara to use a spare device.⁠ Visit the link in our bio to register and find out more information.⁠
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Frances Libeau's presentation is proudly supported by The Chartwell Trust as part of The Changing Room 2026.⁠
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Image: Peter Nowland, used by permission, ca. 1986.

24/09/2026

Opening this evening ✨️⁠
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Join us tonight at Gus Fisher Gallery as we celebrate the launch of two new exhibitions: touchsprings and AS LOYAL KIWIS WE CANNOT DESIRE.⁠
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touchsprings is an exhibition by Ōtepoti Dunedin and Canada-based artists Miranda Bellamy and Amanda Fauteux. Through their research-based, interdisciplinary, and site-responsive approach, Bellamy and Fauteux consider interdependent relationships within living systems.⁠
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In The Changing Room, Frances Libeau presents AS LOYAL KIWIS WE CANNOT DESIRE, a new multimedia installation by Frances Libeau that explores the passing of the Homosexual Law Reform Act in 1986.⁠
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Don't forget to join Miranda and Amanda this weekend on Saturday 26 September at 2pm for an artist talk in conversation with Colleen Coco Collins. All are welcome.⁠
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⁠Doors open from 5.30pm, speeches at 6pm.⁠ Ngā mihi nui to for the manaakitanga in providing refreshments for tonight's launch, and to the many who helped make these shows possible.⁠
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⁠Image: Miranda Bellamy and Amanda Fauteux with Colleen Coco Collins, Radicant [film still, Dionaea muscipula], 2026. Detail. Courtesy of the artists.

Address

The Kenneth Myers Centre, 74 Shortland Street
Auckland
1010

Telephone

+6499236646

Website

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

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