Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery

Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi is the purpose-built gallery of Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University

The Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi is the purpose-built gallery of Victoria University of Wellington. It initiates, produces and presents a highly-regarded programme of exhibitions, events and publications; manages and develops the Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection, and provides a vital platform for critical thinking across media, disciplines, cultures and contexts. Using art and it

s presentation as a tool of analysis, it contributes to the production of new knowledge and creates opportunities for learning, for the benefit of staff, students and the wider community. To learn how we ensure our social media channels are safe places for open discussion follow this link: https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/site-info/social-media-house-rules

Last weekend to see ‘Peal the Bells’! In ‘Department Press Briefings’ pictured here, artist Mo Zareei has generated conc...
19/06/2026

Last weekend to see ‘Peal the Bells’!

In ‘Department Press Briefings’ pictured here, artist Mo Zareei has generated concrete poetry and electronic music from a series of U.S. State Department press briefings delivered by spokespeople Matthew Miller and Vedant Patel over the last sixteen months of the Biden administration.

Poetry is arguably as different from a press briefing as it is possible for two forms to be. In Zareei’s project, the poem is used as a tool to both highlight the original’s banality, and to defy its attempt to control the narrative. The artist notes, “Words hold meaning—until repetition hollows them out. Through semantic saturation, language dissolves from a vessel of communication into a mere sequence of sounds...Meaning becomes diffuse, abstract, absurd, inert.”

Generating concrete poetry and electronic music from this scripted bureaucratic speech, ‘Department Press Briefings’ enacts transformation as a form of critique.

‘Peal the Bells’ closes this weekend - catch it while you can! On now until Sunday 21 June 2026. Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery is open Tues – Sun, 11.00am – 5.00pm.

[Images caption:

Mo H. Zareei, ‘Department Press Briefings’ (detail), 2026, sixteen A0 prints, sixteen audio tracks, 56:38 mins, looped, headphones. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view ‘Peal the Bells’, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, 2026. Photo: Ted Whitaker.]

.sheehan

@_mey_day

“The land is what leads the movement,” says artist Noor Abed, speaking of the often-improvised choreography that runs th...
18/06/2026

“The land is what leads the movement,” says artist Noor Abed, speaking of the often-improvised choreography that runs through her films, built from habitual movements and familiarity with place. Abed’s film ‘A Night We Held Between’ was shot across locations in Palestine including in the village of Al-Jib, northwest of Jerusalem, a few kilometres from the artist’s home village. The pale, dusty landscape above ground is traversed by friends and family of the artist who sit, stand and move through it and in relation to one another with the assurance that comes from deep familiarity.

‘A Night We Held Between’ features an eerily layered soundscape, developed by musician and sound artist Dirar Kalash, that includes fractured mechanical sounds, creaks, groans, crowds chanting and singing, and barely audible whispers. It sounds as if the earth itself is speaking, perhaps through the mouth-like fissures and holes pictured.

The work moves between the surface and the subterranean and is often filmed from inside the hollows themselves. These become like portals between worlds, invoking the historical use of caves by resistance fighters in the first Intifada (1987–1993), as refuge from the Israeli army. No voiceover or text provides context for the landscape or the choreography that runs through it, rather song lyrics take the role of narration.

‘Peal the Bells’ is in it's last days! on now until Sunday 21 June 2026. Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery is open Tues – Sun, 11.00am – 5.00pm.

[Images caption:

Noor Abed, ‘A Night We Held Between’ (still), 2024, 16mm film with digital transfer, sound, 30:00 mins, in Arabic with English subtitles. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view ‘Peal the Bells’, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, 2026. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Noor Abed, ‘A Night We Held Between’ (still), 2024, 16mm film with digital transfer, sound, 30:00 mins, in Arabic with English subtitles. Image courtesy of the artist. ]

.sheehan

Last week to see 'Peal the Bells'!Maree Sheehan’s ‘Ōtairongo’ (2020) draws on multiple conversations between the artist ...
15/06/2026

Last week to see 'Peal the Bells'!

Maree Sheehan’s ‘Ōtairongo’ (2020) draws on multiple conversations between the artist and three wāhine Māori: Te Rita Papesch, Moana Maniapoto and Ramon Te Wake. Layered audio representations rather than portraits in the conventional sense—specifically, colonial portraiture based on reductive visual identifiers— her works may be understood as enacting a form of ‘sonic resistance’ to those colonial practices.

As Sheehan notes, “Portraiture of wāhine has remained largely confined to the concerns with pictorial imagery and as such, it has failed to draw into consideration the potentials of a rich spectrum of purely aural modes (including kōrero, karanga and oro) that are integral to Māori ways of knowing and being. This is a significant issue when we consider that identity depiction of wāhine has a long rich history in oratory, waiata and pūrākau (narrative) and taonga puoro (traditional Māori instrumentation).”

Ultimately materialised as audio portraits, Sheehan’s works weave together spoken stories with other vernacular sounds that, in the artist’s words, “carry the essence of a person’s identity: the flowing waters, the marae, the hum of the whānau kitchen, familiar music, and the resonances of taonga puoro—kōauau, pūtōrino, pūrerehua, pūkāea.”

‘Peal the Bells’ is in its last week! On now until 21 June 2026. Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery is open Tues – Sun, 11.00am – 5.00pm.

[Image captions:

Maree Sheehan, ‘Ōtairongo’, 2020, 3 audio tracks: 7:32 mins (Te Rita Papesch, front); 7:42 (Moana Maniapoto, middle); 6:31 mins (Ramon Te Wake, back), black fabric, chair, headphones. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view ‘Peal the Bells’, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, 2026. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Visitor interacting with Maree Sheehan’s ‘Ōtairongo’, 2020. Installation view ‘Peal the Bells’, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, 2026. Photo: Ted Whitaker.]
sheehan

How can a silent medium have a voice? ‘Spine, No, Happily’ is a study in gestures of refusal and rhetoric through painti...
10/06/2026

How can a silent medium have a voice? ‘Spine, No, Happily’ is a study in gestures of refusal and rhetoric through painting. The series grew out of Anoushka Akel’s focus on recent mass-circulated images of women’s speech and silence in political contexts.

Akel’s almost-abstract paintings circle around these events, halting on details, like slow counterweights to the photographic images’ accelerated distribution across media channels. They subtly turn our attention to nonverbal communication, and to architectural forms, such as the hemicycle debating chamber or the speaker’s lectern, that imagine voices raised with conviction. The artist writes, “In this research, I am trying to stretch the ear with silent works...maybe the only way I can do that is to work with physical gesture and the entire body, particularly hands. Think of clapping, shushing, or when both hands are cupped slightly to form a megaphone that surrounds the mouth on both sides—a gesture that accompanies a call of the voice.”

‘Peal the Bells’ is in its last weeks – on now until 21 June 2026 - catch it while you can! Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery is open Tues – Sun, 11.00am – 5.00pm.

[Image captions:

Installation view, Anoushka Akel, ‘Spine, No, Happily’ in ‘Peal the Bells’, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, 2026. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Anoushka Akel, ‘Silver Tongue (gum tooth)’, 2023, oil and acrylic on canvas, 1030 × 680 mm; ‘Tempered Instrument’, 2026, oil on canvas, 1000 × 750 mm; and, ‘Inside Facts’, 2026, oil on canvas, 1000 × 750 mm. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view, Spine, No, Happily in Peal the Bells, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, 2026. Photo: Ted Whitaker.]

.sheehan

Noor Abed’s film ‘A Night We Held Between’ centres around the ‘Song for The Fighters,’ which was found at the sonic arch...
04/06/2026

Noor Abed’s film ‘A Night We Held Between’ centres around the ‘Song for The Fighters,’ which was found at the sonic archive of the Popular Art Centre Palestine. The song’s lyrics establish the presence of loss and lament as routine, grief as something to be lived with, and inscribed on the body itself: “Kohl in the eyes is forbidden for me...I will dye my teeth black”. Like the imagery, these lines evoke specific losses—“Mother, oh mother, our fighters did not return”—in an oblique way rather than legibly for an external gaze or ear.

‘Peal the Bells’ on now until 21 June 2026. Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery is open Tues – Sun, 11.00am – 5.00pm.

[Images caption:

Noor Abed, ‘A Night We Held Between’ (still), 2024, 16mm film with digital transfer, sound, 30:00 mins, in Arabic with English subtitles. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view ‘Peal the Bells’, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, 2026. Photos: Ted Whitaker.]

.sheehan
@_mey_day

Two brilliant books just arrived! ‘Bodies of Sound: Becoming a Feminist Ear’ Published 2024 by Silver Press Edited and ...
27/05/2026

Two brilliant books just arrived!

‘Bodies of Sound: Becoming a Feminist Ear’
Published 2024 by Silver Press
Edited and introduced by Irene Revell and Sarah Shin

This anthology explores sound and listening in the context of the body. ‘Bodies of Sound’ began as a wide-ranging enquiry into how sonic experience is intervening in realms such as gender, memory, disability justice, anti-colonial ways of knowing, and anti-war movements. What has emerged is a collection that makes an expansive case for listening critically, with attention to shared experiences, and with a ‘feminist ear’. In the words of contributor Sara Ahmed, “we are louder not only when we are heard together, but when we hear together.” Bringing together poets, artists, writers and musicians including Anne Carson, Svetlana Alexievich, Sara Ahmed, Xenia Benivolski, Pauline Oliveros and Don Mee Choi, Bodies of Sound maps the intricate links between feminist sonic culture and radical listening.

‘The Gender of Sound’
by Anne Carson
Published 2025 by Spiral House, an imprint of Silver Press

Human history is filled with unacceptable sounds: high-pitched voices, gossip, talkativeness, hysteria, wailing and ritual shouts. Who makes them? Those deviant from or deficient in the masculine ideal of self-control: women, catamites, eunuchs and androgynes all fall into this category. From the myths of antiquity to Margaret Thatcher via Sigmund Freud and Gertrude Stein, ‘The Gender of Sound’ charts the gendering of sound in Western culture. Carson invites us to listen again, and in doing so to reimagine our conceptions of human order, virtue and selfhood.

Available in the gallery or follow the link to buy online now: https://www.adamartgallery.nz/shop/publications

Come and hear from Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington-based Iranian artist Mo H. Zareei, whose new work ‘Department Press Br...
27/05/2026

Come and hear from Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington-based Iranian artist Mo H. Zareei, whose new work ‘Department Press Briefings’ features in our current exhibition ‘Peal the Bells’:

Sound – material – identity – politics by Mo H. Zareei
Lunchtime artist talk
12noon Thursday 4 June 2026
Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery
Free, all welcome, no booking required.

In this talk, Zareei brings together the broad influences that have shaped his body of work, from growing up in a brutalist apartment complex in Tehran to collaborating with international icons of experimental music Loscil, Matmos, and Zimoun. The artist’s interdisciplinary practice is a direct outcome of his multi-disciplinary academic path: a PhD in Sonic Arts from Te Herenga Waka, a BFA in Music Technology from CalArts, and a BSc in Physics from Shahid Beheshti University of Tehran – one of the many academic targets of the ongoing American/Isr*eli war on his country. Questioning what it means to work within (or against) multiple institutional and political frameworks, Zareei will talk about his concerns around identity and authorship, as well as the material and political weight of his primary medium – sound.

Follow link for more details: https://www.adamartgallery.nz/events/upcoming/sound-material-identity-politics-by-mo-h-zareei

‘Peal the Bells’, on now until 21 June 2026. Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery is open Tues–Sun, 11.00am–5.00pm.

[Image credits:

Mo H. Zareei, ‘CLEAR [2024-07-08_MILLER] ‘from ‘Department Press Briefings’, 2026, Vinyl text, looped audio track. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view ‘Peal the Bells’, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, 2026. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Poster design Mo H. Zareei.

Mo H. Zareei, ‘Cruise Missile Intersectionality’ (still), live performance at Brisbane Powerhouse, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Mo H. Zareei, ‘Material Prosody’, bespoke physical edition, Room40, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Mo H. Zareei, ‘Proof Of Identity’, cassette tape, Important Records/Cassauna Tape Company, 2023. Photo: Ted Whitaker.]

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington Alumni New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī, Victoria University of Wellington

‘a story is not a promise / a choral monologue’ by artists Qianye 林千叶 and Qianhe Lin 林千和 is not possible to consume all ...
27/05/2026

‘a story is not a promise / a choral monologue’ by artists Qianye 林千叶 and Qianhe Lin 林千和 is not possible to consume all at once. The sound meets you first and shifts as you move through the space; the visual components of the work are presented in dis-location from each other; the subtitles are at a remove from the image, nor do they provide explanation.

The audio-visual work hinges on a fictional script, and a rhetorical question: Can there be a collective voice? Or, in the words of the script, “Will ‘we’ include you? / Or ‘you’ include others?”

‘Peal the Bells’ on now until 21 June 2026. Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery is open Tues – Sun, 11.00am – 5.00pm.

[Images captions:

Qianye and Qianhe Lin, 'a story is not a promise / a choral monologue', 2026, 2 channel digital video, 6 channel sound, 19:00 mins. Installation view 'Peal the Bells', Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, 2026. Photo: Ted Whitaker.]

.sheehan

Join us for an evening of listening: poetry, prose, and electronic performance: ‘Kī Mai’ 5.00pm, Friday 29 May 2026 Te P...
19/05/2026

Join us for an evening of listening: poetry, prose, and electronic performance:

‘Kī Mai’
5.00pm, Friday 29 May 2026
Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery
Free, all welcome, no booking required.

This event will feature readings by artist, writer and 2026 Emerging Māori Writer in Residence at Te Herenga Waka Terri Te Tau, and, writer and performer Ada Duffy, followed by a live performance of ‘Department Press Briefings’ (currently exhibited in ‘Peal the Bells’) by artist Mo H. Zareei.

The title of the event, ‘Kī Mai’, tell me, say to me, emphasises direct address and the role of the listener. From poetry to prose to sound, across these works text, voice and language are drawn on as primary material, prompting different modes of listening.

Follow link in bio for more details.

‘Peal the Bells’, on now until 21 June 2026. Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery is open Tues–Sun, 11.00am–5.00pm.

[Image credits:

Terri Te Tau. Image supplied.

Noor Abed, ‘A Night We Held Between’ (still), 2024, 16mm film with digital transfer, sound, 30:00 mins, in Arabic with English subtitles. Installation view ‘Peal the Bells’, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, 2026. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Ada Duffy. Image supplied.

Mo H Zareei. Photo: Ted Whitaker.]

@ terri_miana.ai_te_tau
.sheehan

In Maree Sheehan’s ‘Ōtairongo’ visitors are invited to listen to three audio portraits in solitude and relative darkness...
13/05/2026

In Maree Sheehan’s ‘Ōtairongo’ visitors are invited to listen to three audio portraits in solitude and relative darkness, where 360° surround sound can be heard and felt.

Featuring portraits of three wāhine Māori, Te Rita Papesch, Moana Maniapoto, and Ramon Te Wake, Sheehan’s sonic representations draw on multiple interviews into which other sources of audio are folded, constituting, in the artist’s words, “a distinctive renegotiation of how wāhine Māori might be interpreted...in so doing, they disrupt a largely visual concept of portraiture that was imported into Aotearoa New Zealand during the process of colonisation.”

Each portrait is contained in a large column of fabric, where visitors are invited to take a seat and press the button to listen to the work. The cylinders serve as a reference to the home of Hineraukatauri, the atua of sound and music. Their shape, and capacity to enclose us, cocoon-like, invites deep listening.

‘Peal the Bells’ on now until 21 June 2026.
Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery is open Tues – Sun, 11.00am – 5.00pm.

[Image captions:

Maree Sheehan, ‘Ōtairongo’, 2020, 3 audio tracks: 7:32 mins (Te Rita Papesch, front); 7:42 (Moana Maniapoto, middle); 6:31 mins (Ramon Te Wake, back), black fabric, chair, headphones. Courtesy of the artist. Installation view ‘Peal the Bells’, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, 2026. Photo: Ted Whitaker.

Visitor interacting with Maree Sheehan’s ‘Ōtairongo’, 2020. Installation view ‘Peal the Bells’, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, 2026. Photo: Ted Whitaker.]
sheehan


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