In June this year, Creative New Zealand announced a review of Aotearoa’s official presentation at the Venice Biennale, which could affect the possibility of a New Zealand Pavilion for 2024, or even put into question our participation in future years. 

Contemporary HUM has invited New Zealanders from within the arts sector - artists, pavilion attendants, exhibition installers or designers, and visitors - to reflect on how their involvement in (or experience of) our previous national pavilions and Collateral Events in Venice has influenced their own careers, and the profile of contemporary art from Aotearoa.

Read the special feature, with a preface by Heather Galbraith, Chair of the Contemporary HUM Arts Trust and previous Curator and Commissioner of NZ pavilions in Venice, here on HUM.

There is also a companion publication in Art News New Zealand out now, featuring more comments from the arts sector including HUM’s Editor Pauline Autet and past NZ Pavilion artists Simon Denny, Judy Millar and Dane Mitchell. 

"I stood in a room painted by Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese, and spoke to people about contemporary art, and about Aotearoa. Tens of thousands came through the exhibition while I was there; Hito Steyerl brought her class back twice; the patrons of New York’s New Museum came late for a guided tour. I know I will return to Venice, to the Biennale, and I hope I will find our people and our presence there, too." — Sophie Thorn, Curator Collections, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington.