Join us for a Young Members mini-event as a part of the Gallery's Open Late. Explore the fundamental practice by artist collective et al. with editor-in-chief of Current magazine Becky Hemus and exhibition curator Natasha Conland. 

Beginning in the exhibition space, Natasha will introduce the work before you have some time to experience the installation. We will then continue in the Members lounge over refreshments provided by Almighty, where Becky and Natasha kōrero about et al.’s the fundamental practice, the ideas and ideologies that shape the work, and its ongoing relevance today. 

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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. 

Make an evening of it

Come for the Young Members kōrero and stay for our Open Late.

As the Gallery opens after dark, explore the exhibitions in a new light or revisit the one you just saw! As a Member, access to all our current exhibitions is free (bookings required for Forever Tomorrow: Chinese Art Now). Over the evening, enjoy live music, dance, a bar, food vendors and a photobooth celebrating Qixi, Chinese Valentine’s Day.

 

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.

 

Becky Hemus

Becky Hemus holds a master's in art history from the University of Auckland and is a writer and curator based in Tāmaki Makaurau. She is the editor-in-chief of Current, a contemporary art magazine.