Mark your calendars for a high-energy night of creativity when the Gallery comes alive after dark.
To celebrate the exhibition Forever Tomorrow: Chinese Art Now, we’re hosting an unmissable evening spotlighting local collaborators responding to the show through poetry, movement, music and more.
Be there for powerful readings from poets Jiaqiao Liu and Zephyr Zhang, offering poetic reflections on Forever Tomorrow, and experience contemporary dance artist Xin Ji and painter Tony Guo’s specially curated dance performance SPACE DRAG.
The night keeps building with live music from Ersha Island 二沙岛 and Raging Flowers, while DJ EDYONTHEBEAT sets the soundtrack while you sip a drink and feast on dumplings from much‑loved Sumthin Dumplin and steamed buns (yes, even chocolate ones!) from our friends at Lucky Mate.
Alongside the performances, dive into a full programme of making activities, artist talks, and surprises throughout the Gallery.
Keep an eye on this page for performance times and further updates.
Entry is FREE, with the exception of ticketed entry to Forever Tomorrow: Chinese Art Now.
Open Lates are proudly supported by Auckland Council and the City Centre Targeted Rate.
Te Ātea | North Atrium
Sink into the sounds and enjoy a musical journey that moves fluidly across time and place. From the layered Chinese–Aotearoa soundscapes by Ersha Island 二沙岛 to the quirky indie pop of Raging Flowers to the high‑energy, genre‑blurring sets of local crowd‑favourite EDYONTHEBEAT, these sessions invite you to listen, unwind and connect.
EDYONTHEBEAT
5:30–6pm, 6:55–7:15pm, 8:15–8:45pm, 9–9:30pm
Edy, aka EDYONTHEBEAT, is an Auckland-based music producer, mix engineer, artist manager and content creator with a genre-blending sound spanning R&B, soul, reggae, and pop. He has over 160 million global streams and nearly 500 credits across his portfolio, including work with Josh Tatofi, Myshaan and Janine. His studio livestreams have attracted interactions from Timbaland, Charlie Puth, Ty Dolla $ign, Kehlani, Jessie Reyez, and Tone Stith. Inspired by Ryan Leslie, Monte Booker and Kenny Beats.
https://www.tiktok.com/@edyonthebeat
Image credit: Christian Tjandrawinata
Te Ātea | North Atrium
Poets Zephyr Zhang and Jiaqiao Liu perform specially commissioned pieces in response to the exhibition Forever Tomorrow. Their brand-new works will get you pondering what our futures might look like.
Jiaoqiao Liu
6:45–6:55pm
Jiaoqiao Liu is a poet from Shandong, China, who grew up in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa. Their first collection Dear Alter (AUP, 2025) explores the paradoxical, intimate and ambivalent relationships between humans and machines. His work can be found in such places as The Spinoff, bad apple, and OFZOOs. He holds an MA in Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters at Te Herenga Waka.
Image credit: Trinity Thompson-Browne.
Forever Tomorrow: Chinese Art Now Level 1 exhibition spaces
Join us for insightful talks inside the exhibition with artist Liu Xi, who will discuss her practice and the ideas shaping Our God Is Great, alongside curator Hutch Wilco, who will unpack the must‑know works in the exhibition and share behind‑the‑scenes perspectives and observations you won’t hear anywhere else. Please be advised that entry to the exhibition is ticketed – tickets are available at the front desk and on Level 1.
Liu Xi 柳
7:30–7:50pm
Liu Xi is a ceramic sculptor whose practice pushes the technical and aesthetic boundaries of the medium. Since graduating from the sculpture department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, she has divided her time between Shanghai, Jingdezhen and, more recently, València, Spain.
Immaculately crafted and innately sensual, Liu’s sculptural works explore themes of sexuality and love, freedom and constraint, identity and self-discovery, and the fluid tensions between femininity and masculinity. Through innovative forms, surfaces and material experimentation, she transforms ceramics into a language that is at once intimate and conceptually rigorous.
Liu has participated in numerous exhibitions and international ceramics biennales across China, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Korea and the UK. Her work has received significant recognition, including First Prize at the VIII Biennale International de Céramique (2015) and the Silver Prize at the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale (2016).
Her works are held in major public collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney; and Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan.
Image credit: Luo Yang
Forever Tomorrow: Chinese Art Now exhibition, 7 – 7:15pm
Te Ātea | North Atrium, 8:45 – 9pm
For one night only, artist and dance practitioner, Xin Ji will perform a curated piece, SPACE DRAG, inspired by Forever Tomorrow alongside painter Tony Guo. Xin and Tony will first perform in the exhibition, then later in the evening in Te Ātea | North Atrium.
SPACE DRAG is a pop-up performance by dance artist and choreographer Xin Ji and painter Tony Guo, presented in response to Forever Tomorrow: Chinese Art Now .
The performance unfolds through an exploration of the craft languages of a dancer and a painter, body and image, gesture and surface. Developed through Xin and Tony’s fellowship collaboration, the work is part of an ongoing development, opening a shared space that centres the practitioner rather than the practice.
This work has grown out of Xin Ji’s Asian Artists’ Fund Creative Fellowship, administered by Satellites with support from Creative New Zealand, Foundation North and Auckland Council.
Xin Ji
Xin Ji is a contemporary dance artist, choreographer, performer, and educator based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. His practice moves across live performance, screen dance, physical theatre and interdisciplinary collaboration, often exploring identity, embodiment, transformation, and the relationship between personal history and the body.
Tony Guo
Tony Guo is a Tāmaki Makaurau-based artist predominantly working in oil painting. His practice investigates notions of embodied history and queer survival through the use of absurdism, creating works in which moments of whimsy mask or stretch existential anguish. Tony’s paintings often show figures involved in apparently specific situations, yet these resist conventional narrative development or psychological explanation.
Image credit: Jiaqi Tang
Forecourt
5:30–9:30pm
Hang out at our pop‑up food court. Treat yourself to local favourites from the much‑loved Tāmaki classic Sumthin Dumplin and Lucky Mate with irresistibly soft steamed buns – yes, even a chocolate one! Be sure to grab one – or two – of their bubble teas to share with a friend.
Lucky Mate
Coming from a background of 35 years in food manufacturing and distribution, Lucky Mate food truck brings together Asian food culture and the warmth of home-grown hospitality. East meets Aotearoa – a little different yet familiar at the same time.
Choose from steamed bao – our BBQ pork classic or a Belgian chocolate bao served with a scoop of ice cream – alongside har gow, siu mai, and bubble milk teas. Vegetarian options available.
Good food. Good company. Lucky you.
Te Ātea | North Atrium
5:30pm–9:15pm
Thirsty? We’ve got you covered! Choose from a luscious array of Trinity Hill wines, Stoke beers and ciders, and non-alcoholic drinks to keep you going between activities!
The bar is right beside the stage, so sip while you enjoy the music and poetry!
R18. Please drink responsibly.
Library, Mezzanine
5:30–9:30pm
Inspired by XU ZHEN®’s curious creation, “Hello”, our creative making space explores ideas around nature, architecture and place.
You’re invited to make your own architectural landscape, blending together the places that influence and make you. Then bring your landscape to the mini-stage and put on a piyingxi 皮影戏 (Chinese shadow puppetry) show by illuminating your own story of place on our screen. Share your piyingxi with friends on socials!
