Kate Newby, The edge of the earth, 2022. Palais de Tokyo, Paris. (Photo: Genista Jurgens).

Kia ora koutou. Welcome to a brand new corner of the internet: a monthly global digest tracking what Aotearoa artists are getting up to outside the motu, as well as the international opportunities you can’t afford to miss (think residencies, fellowships, conferences).

Having lived offshore for more than 15 years, first in Berlin and now in Southern Portugal, I’ve spent much of that time, including seven years with Contemporary HUM, finding ways to connect our ringatoi and makers with international audiences. Global Compass continues that kaupapa: it's a space to bring this global activity back home to you.

This month I’m writing from a thawing Paris, where the snow has given way to grimy pavements. At the Palais de Tokyo, Kate Newby’s permanent interventions are currently littered with chip packets and overgrown with weeds. Further along the Seine at the Fondation Cartier, the Exposition Générale includes Nikau Hindin’s Aumoana series: wall hangings and floating manu made from mulberry tree bark and native pigments. What an absolute pleasure it is to see Aotearoa artists and traditions right at home in some of Paris’ most prestigious art centres.

Using ecological matter to anchor Indigenous and colonial histories within major global centres is happening further afield too. In Brazil, the recently-closed 36th São Paulo Bienal featured Raukura Turei and Ruth Ige using native pigments (indigo, kōkōwai and Brazilian clays) to bring an ancestral presence into their works. Back again in France, Zac Langdon-Pole’s solo survey at CIAP Vassiviere mapped historical "drift" and the spiral of history in grains of sand through to celestial bodies. At the Beijing International Art Biennale, Karma Barnes explored natural resilience through a network of large-scale mud-wasp nests and sediment, and at her residency at Gasworks in London, Abigail Aroha Jensen investigated the life force (mauri) held within repetitive motifs.

Connectivity and reclaimed space have also been in focus: at the Sydney Festival, Edith Amituanai and Sione Monu reimagined the suburban garage as a site of communal ritual, celebrating domestic spaces of the Pasifika diaspora; while SaVĀge K’lub entered the final weeks of their Tau o Mai residency at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, where they continue to challenge hierarchies through a Moana-centric lens. 

Elsewhere, Henrietta Harris presented psychological portraits with Robert Fontaine Gallery at the LA Art Show, and Ilke Gers used studio dust and skin oils to turn the printing process visible, at Uq-Bar-A-Ba in Berlin. 

On this month

Australia & Pacific
Tides: Gender Beyond the Binary in Oceania | East Hawaiʻi Cultural Center, Hilo | Until 27 Feb
Featuring FAFSWAG Collective, Adriana Māhanga Lear, Dan Taulapapa McMullin and others. An exploration of non-binary identities in Oceania through portraiture, sound and film.

Richard Lewer: Steve | National Gallery of Australia, Kanberri Canberra | Until 12 July
A gentle, yet profound, look at Lewer’s own life, as he and his family navigate a dementia diagnosis.

Mike Hewson: The Key's Under the Mat | Art Gallery NSW, Gadigal Lands Sydney | Until 26 Aug 
Hewson continues his playful work in public and institutional spaces with this major long-term project.

Catherine Griffiths: Out of Line | Griffith University Art Museum, Meanjin Brisbane | Until 18 April
A major survey looking at four decades of practice that turns the structural logic of typography into three-dimensional space, focusing on the tension between language and the female voice. 

Asia
Singapore Biennale 2025: pure intention | Singapore Art Museum | Until 29 March
Featuring Fiona Amundsen, Sorawit Songsataya, Kah Bee Chow and Kate Newby. This iteration focuses on the power of intentionality in contemporary practice.

15th Shanghai Biennale: Does the flower hear the bee? | Power Station of Art | Until 31 March
Featuring Brett Graham, Luke Willis Thompson, Ngahina Hohaia, and Shannon Te Ao. A look at art's ability to sense the world’s intelligences and orient us toward an unknown future.

Sriwhana Spong: Rituals of Perception | Tanoto Art Foundation, Singapore  | Until 28 Feb
A sprawling exhibition that draws from Balinese cosmologies and medieval mysticism to investigate the concept of the "listening body" through sculptural forms and film.

The Americas
Lisa Walker: Constellations | Dallas Museum of Art, Texas | On until 3 May
A showcase of contemporary jewellery, featuring Walker’s signature subversion of material value and form. 

Fiona Amundsen: SWANS (Slow War Against the Nuclear State) | Pitzer College Art Galleries, California | Opens 7 Feb
Exploring the visual and political legacies of the atomic age through a lens of slow violence and historical accountability. 

UK & Europe
Amit Noy: Luck! | Festival Parallèle, Marseille | Until 7 Feb
An autobiographical choreography that looks at the friction between the Western colonial nation-state and the preservation of traditional dance legacies.

Opportunities beyond Aotearoa
 

Indigenous Curatorial Collective (ICCA) Aotearoa Delegation Program | International Locations | Apply by 10 Feb 2026 
Support for six Indigenous curators to attend major 2026 events, including the Venice Biennale and the Indigenous Quinquennial in Canada. Includes travel, accommodation and professional networking opportunities.

McCahon House x Bundanon Artist Exchange | Illaroo, Australia | Apply by 18 Feb 2026 
A month-long residency in August 2026 at Bundanon (NSW) for early-career visual artists. Includes a $3,000 stipend and travel costs. 

Creative New Zealand Berlin Visual Arts Residency | Berlin, Germany | Apply by 26 Feb 2026
A $45,000 stipend, studio and accommodation for an established artist to live and work at Künstlerhaus Bethanien for 12 months. 

apexart International Open Call | Global (Your Choice of Location) | Apply by 1 March 2026 

Submit a 500-word group exhibition proposal. Five winners receive a US $10,000 budget and full logistical support to realise their exhibition anywhere in the world as part of apexart’s 2026-27 season.
 

If you know about upcoming international exhibitions or events featuring Aotearoa artists (visual or otherwise), or not-to-be-missed opportunities, send me a message via Instagram.  

Genista Jurgens is a cultural producer and communications strategist living in Southern Portugal, with a deep interest in “gardening communities” and building cross-cultural connections. Following seven years with Contemporary HUM increasing the visibility of Aotearoa artists abroad, she now leads comms for AFIELD, advocating for artist-led social initiatives globally. In 2026, she launched a digital archive for Cross St Studios, an ARI she co-founded in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, to preserve the alternative narratives of the city’s DIY cultural scene.