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The art –
The Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki is New Zealand's oldest
established and largest public art gallery. Opening in February 1888,
the gallery has increasingly become a focal point of Auckland's rich and
diverse cultural fabric, and now lies at the heart of the New Zealand
art experience for both the local community and visitors alike.
The gallery holds more than 14,000 works of national and
international art dating from the 12th century to the present day –
including such figures as Goldie, Lindauer, Hodgkins, Angus and McCahon,
together with Bruegel, Reni and Fuseli. This makes it home to the
country's most extensive and highly regarded collection, particularly of
New Zealand art.
These works – all of which are published on this site – are
continuously re-interpreted through an inspiring and engaging range of
collection displays and temporary exhibitions, publications, public and
education programmes. Taken together, they make the gallery one of the
most active and highly regarded art institutions in Australasia.
Yet the gallery can only show 3-4 per cent of its collection at any
one time, and is often unable to accept large exhibitions due to
constraints in the scale and flexibility of its space. It has become
evident that more space is needed if the gallery is to do more to meet
changing community expectations and to build its international standing
for the benefit of Auckland.
The heritage building –
The main gallery is housed in one of the city's oldest civic
buildings, a New Zealand Historic Places Trust category 1 building,
much admired for its beauty and timeless architecture. Originally
designed by Melbourne-based architects Grainger and D'Ebro, the building
has undergone numerous adaptations and transformations since it opened
in 1887. Among those, major space conversions, re-fits and new additions
were undertaken in the 1950s, the 70s and the 80s.
Those developments responded to the pressing issues of their day, including
the demands of housing a rapidly expanding collection, providing for a research
library, or meeting the new requirements of air-conditioning and lighting
systems. The new work was also a response to the emergence of new art forms
requiring new presentation strategies (e.g. installation works), or to changing
perceptions of the gallery's public role.
With the passage of time, therefore, the main building has become a complex
mix of the historic and modern, now comprising six conjoined buildings including
17 separate floor plates. While at one level this creates a rich palette of
public spaces, at another it creates challenges back-of-house as the gallery
endeavours to achieve the increasingly stringent art handling and installation
standards and functionality required of a public gallery today.
In 1995, the gallery expanded to enable it meet an increasing call for it
to show more of its contemporary collections. Alan Gibbs and Jenny Gibbs acquired a
former telephone exchange that would become the New Gallery, located on adjacent
Khartoum Place. Joined by a coalition of public and private funders, they
eventually vested the refurbished building into a trust for the benefit of the
gallery and of its contemporary art programmes.
Apart from some minor refurbishment of the display spaces in the main
building in 1998/99, few changes have occurred in the building since the major
upgrade of 1984 – when the Wellesley Gallery opened – and before it, the major
extension of the Edmiston Wing in 1971 – when new exhibition spaces and a
library and administration wing were added.
However, in 2000, a building condition report revealed that some key parts of
the gallery's heritage fabric needed significant structural work to ensure that
the building met modern standards of earthquake resistance and complied with the
Building Code. Seismic strengthening, similar to that carried out on the Town
Hall, would require the gallery to close for about 18 months.
Following a series of discussions with its key stakeholders, the gallery
undertook a feasibility study in 2003/04 to identify opportunities presented by
the closure and to understand the potential for development on the current site.
As part of this investigative work, the gallery consulted users and non-users to
determine the kind of gallery that Aucklanders wanted. The vision for the
development was based on these findings.
The vision –
- to create a world-class public art gallery that values its
architectural heritage and its unique site
- to create an iconic contemporary building appropriate to house the
country's finest art collections
- to create an enjoyable visitor experience that enriches the
understanding and the meaning of art
- to create a strong connection between the gallery, Albert Park and
the wider cultural precinct
The development is part of Auckland City Council's Auckland
CBD Into the
future strategy to turn the city centre into one of the world's most
vibrant and dynamic business and cultural centres.
Click here for further information on public consultation and the
consents process
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