A (very brief) outline of Artist Run Initiatives in Aotearoa
This article provides a glance into the vibrant and extensive network of artist run spaces across Aotearoa (New Zealand) and the roles these spaces have within the country's broader arts ecosystem.
Artist run spaces have played a pivotal role in the presentation of contemporary art in Aotearoa, acting as a testing ground for the experimentation of works that are free from commercial or institutional constraints. They have also played an essential role in shaping the practices of emerging artists, providing a platform where these artists’ work can be seen by the greater creative community. This work is often carried out on a voluntary basis by those involved in any particular artist run initiative (ARI). Their histories often remain unarchived, with little documentation available online, while some work has been done to record these stories, such as Assay: Essay by Gabrille Amadeo and the writings of Emma Bugden.
Aotearoa, a geographically isolated country with limited state funding and significant wealth inequality, nonetheless has a thriving non-commercial art sector, and ARIs form the backbone of this ecology. For this article, I will be speaking briefly to artist run spaces across Aotearoa’s recent history from across New Zealand, in three of our four major centres.
Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland, New Zealand
RM and Parasite
Founded in 1997 as rm3, RM Gallery and Project Space has undergone several name changes; rm212 (2000), rm401 (2001), rm103 (2003), before settling on RM in 2008. Since 2009 with the kindness of their landlord Derek Gehring (co-director of 23A Gallery Liverpool Street Auckland 1994-99), volunteer labour of their board, and financial backing of Creative New Zealand, RM has been based out the back of Samoa House on Karangahape Road.
RM (and its previous iterations) has consistently raised the profiles of emerging artists, as well as being a platform where more established practitioners can test new ideas. RM is governed by a board of volunteer artists and curators, with funding going almost exclusively towards providing artists with Arts Makers Aotearoa Standard fees when possible.
RM also hosts a writer’s residency, enabling writers to use their archive room (hosting almost 30 years of art documentation and ephemera) as their studio, to complete a text piece on whatever they choose. RM is dedicated to showcasing experimental practice, and has long been seen as the “goal” ARI for artists to present at across Tāmaki and the country at large. While their programme is predominantly aimed at New Zealand based practitioners, they have also hosted exhibitions of international artists. RM commissions writer’s responses for their exhibitions, which are archived on their website.
1. Deliciously Authentic, Li-Ming Hu, installation view at RM Gallery and Project Space. Photo © Antje Barke
Parasite was an artist run initiative by Daniel John Sanders Corbett from 2020 till 2021 devoted exclusively to platforming the work of Queer artists. Hosted in the artists stairwell leading to their flat (also on K road), director Dan provided LGBTQIA+ artists with a platform to present work free from commercial and institutional restraints.
Pōneke/ Wellington, New Zealand
Enjoy Contemporary Art Space and COMMODE
Daniel John Sanders Corbett in 2022 moved to Aotearoa’s capital Pōneke to take up the role of Director at Enjoy Contemporary Art Space. They have made great work over their tenure the past three years to open the space up in terms of fostering community connections, as well as bringing the institutions inner workings into public view (the Director and Curator’s pay rates are equal, and made available to view on their website). Dan has turned the back gallery into a screening room, hosting video works and films from across the globe.
Enjoy Contemporary works with the Wellington City Council and the Rita Angus Trust to host the Rita Angus Summer Residency, a residency in the late artists’ Wellington cottage. Dan also operated the artist run initiative DJCS out of Anvil House which functioned in a similar way to Parasite, platforming the work of Queer artists. In August 2025, Dan established COMMODE following earlier iterations of DJCS and as the project space Parasite.
2. Ngā hau o Tāwhirimātea - Hana Pera Aoake and Taarn Scott with Riki Gooch, 2023. Photo © Cheska Brown
Ōtepoti/ Dunedin, New Zealand
Slant Art Project Space and Blue Oyster Art Project Space
Ōtepoti Dunedin has long been a host for ARI’s and also a hub for artists as (until recently) it had been an affordable place to live. The city has been the home of some of the country’s most important historical artists (Colin McCahon, Ralph Hotere, Mary McFarlane, and Jim Cooper to name a few). The city has seen a plethora of ARI’s over its recent history, centred around the suburb of Kōputai Port Chalmers and Albell Chambers, a studio complex in the central city. For example, Albell Chambers has been a host to numerous ARI’s, including Dirt, Rice and Beans, Bruce, and most recently Slant Art Project Space.
Slant Art Project Space is unique in its positioning in that it exists as a site exclusively dedicated to platforming the works of artists from or based in Ōtepoti. Slant provides studio residencies to emerging artists in Ōtepoti as well as hosting seminars in collaboration with the Dunedin School of Art (the longest running art school in Aotearoa).
3. We All Become All These Things - Megan Brady, installation view at Blue Oyster Art Project Space. Photo © Alex Lovell-Smith
Another ARI in Ōtepoti is the Blue Oyster Art Project Space. Founded in 1997 by a group of art students, the gallery has undergone structural changes which has enabled it to secure long term funding, somewhat institutionalising the space. Piupiu Maya Turei (Wairarapa Moana, Te Ātihaunui-a-Pāpārangi) has recently been appointed Director at Blue Oyster (after running ARI Tini Whetū). The board recently also employed Jordan Davey, (who directed ARI Wormhole in Whakatane) as Gallery Manager, marking a exciting change back towards an artist-led model. Blue Oyster works in partnership with Dunedin City Council and the Caselburg Trust to offer residencies to artists to come to Ōtepoti and stage an exhibition at the gallery the following year.
The fundamental work of Judy Darragh ONZM: Teststrip, Artspace Aotearoa, and Cuckoo
When discussing the history of artist run initiatives in Aotearoa, it would be remiss without mentioning the work of artist and arts advocate Judy Darragh ONZM. Fundamental in the formation of ARI’s Teststrip, Artspace Aotearoa, and Cuckoo, Darragh has been a mentor, teacher, and advocate for artists for almost four decades. Her artistic practice spans various (predominantly recycled) materials, her earlier work in the 90’s with plastics earning her the title the “Queen of Kitsch”.
Since then, she has helped mentor generations of artists through teaching and mentoring, as well as being a vocal public advocate for the sector, including her work for Arts Makers Aotearoa (AMA). AMA has set a basic standard for fair fees for artists and writers (a New Zealand first) and has produced the small scale publication The Artist’s Handbook. Cuckoo ran on a particularly interesting model - similar to the behaviours of the Pipiwharauroa Shining Cuckoo, a bird which lays its eggs in other birds nests, Cuckoo hosted short term artist projects in other gallery spaces (sometimes commercial, some institutions, including Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery); laying their eggs in other galleries nests and enlisting gallery “foster parents” for their artists’ projects.
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4. An ongoing list of artist-run initiative in Aotearoa 2018-2024 - Hana Pera Aoake, extracted from Arts Makers Aotearoa Artist Handbook (available to view on AMA website). Photo © Hana Pera Aoake and Arts Makers Aotearoa
This idea spoke to Regina Gorge in early 2025, who created 4321 ceramic rocks which were strewn across and embedded into the floors of Art Attic Gallery (an ARI based in Waihōpai Invercargill), across the surrounding streets, and sent to ARI’s across the country with a note reading “YOU’VE BEEN PEBBLED”. Combining the action of “pebbling”, a behaviour of Adélie penguins (who give pebbles to potential mates) and the idea of these rocks being “eggs”, placed in ARI’s nests.
Aotearoa is currently experiencing somewhat of a dearth of ARI’s (exacerbated by an extreme cost of living crisis), and documenting their histories therefore feels more urgent than ever. ARIs are not only incubators of experimental practice but also repositories of collective memory.
Cover image: An ongoing list of artist-run initiative in Aotearoa 2018-2024 - Hana Pera Aoake, extracted from Arts Makers Aotearoa Artist Handbook (available to view on AMA website). Photo © Hana Pera Aoake and Arts Makers Aotearoa.
About the Author
Wesley John Fourie (b.1995, aManzimtoti) is a multi-award winning artist and curator based in Kōputai Port Chalmers. Their work has been exhibited in artist run spaces, commercial galleries, and public institutions across Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Asia, and Europe.