Join us to mark the opening weekend of et al. the fundamental practice with a lively and informal conversation about one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most significant contemporary artworks.

Exhibition curator Natasha Conland will be joined by Gregory Burke, who commissioned the work for the New Zealand Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2005. The conversation will be guided by Jonathan Bywater, Senior Lecturer in Creative Arts at Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland.

Together, they will reflect on the impact of the fundamental practice when it was first presented in 2005, its place in Aotearoa New Zealand’s art history and the questions it continues to raise about art, belief systems and the role of the artist today.

Audience members will have the opportunity to contribute to the conversation and ask questions.

Book your ticket now and join us for this special opening weekend conversation.

Book now

 

About the exhibition

Presented in Aotearoa for the first time since its 2005 debut at the Venice Biennale, this multisensory installation combines five moving ‘autonomous systems’ with computer-generated voices and sounds in a dystopian orchestra. The work forms a layered exploration of belief systems, extremism and its influence on individual freedom and collective life. 

As they move, computer-animated voices emerge from the units, espousing a range of human beliefs. Each unit carries oblique signs and numbers, as if part of an otherwise coherent group activity, factory, institution or even a new religion. 

Acquired for the Gallery’s collection in 2008, the fundamental practice remains one of the most significant and debated works in recent New Zealand art history. 

et al.

The artists et al. are one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most celebrated installation artists. The pseudonym et al., meaning ‘and others’, was formed in 2000 to account for a range of ongoing collaborators and remove the prominence of an individual subject author. 

 

Natasha Conland

Natasha has 20 years' experience developing exhibitions of contemporary art. She writes for several contemporary arts journals and catalogues in the Asia Pacific region and co-edited Reading Room, a peer-reviewed journal of contemporary art published by the Gallery’s E H McCormick Research Library. Her curatorial projects include Louise Bourgeois: In Private View (2025–26), Aotearoa Contemporary (2024), Groundswell: Avant Garde Auckland: 1971–79 (2018), Shout Whisper Wail (2017) and Necessary Distraction: A Painting Show (2016). She has diverse interests which include art in public spaces and the dissemination of the historic avant-garde.

 

Gregory Burke

Gregory Burke is an internationally respected art museum director, curator and writer with 30 years’ experience leading major cultural institutions. Most recently, he established and launched Remai Modern, Canada’s museum of modern art, guiding its vision, strategy, branding, fundraising, construction, marketing, collection and programme development. Under his leadership, the museum achieved 450,000 visits in its first year.

Known for combining strategic, curatorial, marketing and management expertise with entrepreneurial insight, Gregory has led museum building, collection and institutional development projects that have significantly raised international profiles and visitation. He has curated more than 100 exhibitions, working with leading artists and gallerists, and has published over 100 texts in major arts publications including Artforum.com, Art Asia Pacific, Border Crossings and Art & Australia.

 

Jonathan Bywater

Jon Bywater, Senior Lecturer Creative Arts, teaches at Elam, Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland, and is a member of the collective Local Time. 

His writing has appeared in journals including Afterall, art-agenda, Artforum, Art New Zealand, Contemporary HUM, Frieze and Reading Room, as well as numerous monographs and exhibition catalogues.