Love art? Check out these exhibitions in Auckland this weekend

Intermission (seini_transmit) is an experimental performance art piece by Sydney-based Brian Fuata being held on Saturday at Sumer. Photo / Nick de Lorenzo
Wondering what to do this weekend?
Tāmaki Makaurau has never been more abundant with art than this mid-winter weekend. Here’s a roundup of our top picks for entertainment this Saturday and Sunday – plus a couple to book in for next week – and it’s fair to say, if art inspires you, your cup runneth over. For everyone else, fear not, good times are to be had with Auckland Restaurant Month, the General Collective Lifestyle and Design Market, Disney on Ice and a one-off musical collaboration not to be missed.
If you’re going to eat out at all this month, do it in the city where some of our best restaurants are celebrating the 14th annual Auckland Restaurant Month. You don’t have to break the bank, there are more than 100 special menus on offer that fall into one of three price categories: $30, $45 or $55+ per person. There are also some special events like Restaurant Roulette: A night in Asia where your restaurant destination is a mystery; a Chef’s Table event at Advieh in the Intercontinental; walking food tours and much more. Getting out of the house on a cold winter night can be tough but there’s no better way to boost your spirits, shake off that S.A.D., than breaking bread with your favourite humans. Plus, the hard-working hospitality industry is doing it tough and would love nothing more than to share their culinary talents with you. Treat yourself and eat out this August.
When: Throughout August.
Where: Various venues in Auckland Central.
Price: Visit heartofthecity.co.nz/restaurant-month for more information.
If you only go to one market this winter, we’d suggest making it the General Collective Lifestyle & Design Market at the Auckland Showgrounds on Sunday. You will not find another market in Tāmaki Makaurau with more local designers, creators and makers of all kinds. There are over 100 stalls, carefully curated by the General Collective, which include everything from jewellery to fashion to homewares to art and much more. Aside from the obvious environmental benefits of buying locally and handmade products direct from the makers, it feels great to connect face to face with these talented creative entrepreneurs and support small New Zealand businesses. Bring the kids, there are craft stations for them and lots of tasty food options as well. If you need to buy anyone a present this weekend, including yourself or your home, this market is the place to do it.
When: Sunday August 11, 9am-3pm.
Where: Auckland Showgrounds, 217 Green Lane West, Epsom, Auckland.
Price: Tickets $5, free for under 12s, from iticket.co.nz or on the door.
Fill your creative cup this weekend by checking out the brand new exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Modern Women: Flight of Time. The show opens Saturday and shines a light on the women who have played a significant role in developing modern art in Aotearoa. Focusing on 1920 to 1970, the exhibition provides a much needed history of New Zealand women in art. Along with the greats like Rita Angus, Frances Hodgkins, and A Lois White, Modern Women: Flight of Time features some lesser known but equally important contributors like June Black, Flora Scales, and Pauline Yearbury. There are over 80 pieces including paintings, prints, sculptures and textiles and there’s an accompanying book that provides more context for the exhibition and would make an excellent gift for the budding visual artist or art enthusiast in your world. Visit the gallery then take advantage of an Auckland Restaurant Month menu deal and you’ve got a stellar inner city excursion on your hands.
When: Saturday, August 10-February 23.
Where: Auckland Art Gallery, cnr Kitchener and Wellesley Streets, Auckland Central.
Price: Free.
Each one of the many art exhibitions taking place across Tāmaki Makaurau this weekend offers us new ways of looking at the world and understanding our pasts, presents and futures. This Is The House that Jack Built, at Artspace Aotearoa, is the gallery’s annual group exhibition, which brings together works from local and international artists across a fifty year time span. This year’s overarching question for the exhibition is: Do I need territory? And each of the artists’ work responds to that concept differently. Among the featured artists is collaborative duo X&Y, whose work includes a video piece filmed on the streets of Manhattan in 1977, in which people were asked the questions: What do you think of rich people? What do you think of poor people? Also featured is Afro-Cuban filmmaker Sara Gomez, Australian-based multimedia artist Andy Butler and local artists Kerry Deane, Ming Ranginui and Ashleigh Taupaki. It’s a politically charged, thought-provoking collection of works that are worth the trip to K Rd for.
When: July 27-October 5 (Tuesdays-Saturdays).
Where: Artspace Aotearoa, 292 Karangahape Rd, Auckland Central.
Price: Free.
On your weekend of art-hopping make time to venture out of the inner city art scene and visit Corban Estate Arts Centre, where two new exhibitions were opened on Friday: Kāinga by Briana Duffy and group show Kia Ora Whaea. Duffy’s work uses tivaivai (Polynesian quilting) to deepen her connection with her cultural heritage both in the Cook Islands and Aotearoa and explore the true meaning of kāinga (home). Kia Ora Whaea features works from Alix Ashworth, Caitlin Rose Donnelly, Emma Kitson, Jenn Rendall, Kate Stevens West, Piupiu Maya Turei, Turumeke Harrington and Vicki Marie Lenihan that explore the vital role mothers play in the hauora or wellbeing of each of us as well as looking at maternal mental health through a Māori lens. The Kia Ora Whaea artists will be on site for a kōrero about their work on Saturday at 11am and anyone with children in tow should hang around for the whānau drop in session at 1pm, where printmaker Emma Kitson will teach you all to make squidgy moth monoprints.
When: August 10-September 28.
Where: Homestead Galleries, Corban Estate Arts Centre, 2 Mt Lebanon Lane, Henderson, Auckland.
Price: Free.
If you want to be a cool parent, aunty, uncle, grandparent or friend, then grabbing last-minute seats at Disney on Ice is your ticket to that title. It opened Thursday but there are still some tickets available for the six shows taking place over Saturday and Sunday. This show is called Road Trip Adventures and takes audiences on a journey through some of Disney’s most iconic locations like the rooftops of London with Mary Poppins, the island of Motonui with Moana, the pridelands with Simba and the streets of Agrabah with Jasmine and Aladdin. There is some seriously impressive ice skating on display in these shows that little people will probably want to attempt so if you take them to the closing weekend of the Aotea Ice Rink afterwards, do so at your own risk.
When: August 10 and 11, 10am, 2pm and 6pm.
Where: Spark Arena, 42/80 Mahuhu Crescent, Parnell, Auckland.
Price: Tickets start at $47.70 + booking fees from ticketmaster.co.nz
For art that’s unfolding live before your eyes, head down to Sumer gallery this Saturday evening where Sydney-based Samoan artist Brian Fuata will be performing his work Intermission (seini_transmit). Fuata is well known for his experimental performance art and, over the past two decades, he has presented pieces all over the world. On Friday an open rehearsal was staged in preparation for Saturday’s performance that may incorporate any number of his most commonly used modalities including “spoken word, concrete poetry, authentic movement (dance), correspondence, clowning, glossolalia (speaking-in-tongues), and sound art”. The beauty of performance art is that it is ephemeral – a one-off experience – there will never be another Intermission (seini_transmit) like the one happening this Saturday so go now or never.
When: Saturday, August 10, 6.30pm.
Where: Sumer, 27 Beach Rd, Auckland Central.
Price: Free entry but RSVP essential at sumer.nz
Nothing makes us more excited about cinema than those moments waiting for the flamingo curtains to rise at the Civic where the New Zealand International Film Festival opened on Wednesday night with Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu’s film We Were Dangerous. As per usual, we’d need two weeks of annual leave to be able to see all the films on our wish list. Among those that have piqued our interest this year is documentary Marimari, the story of Evelyn Kunda, a woman from Papua New Guinea who’s fighting for those who’ve been accused of sorcery violence in PNG. Other heavy hitters include feminist body horror The Substance which stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid and won best screenplay at Cannes; Halfdan Ullmann Tondel’s debut feature Armand, featuring a standout performance from Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World) and, in the “Treasures” category, Wim Wenders’ classic 1984 film Paris, Texas, which is begging to be seen on the big screen. Pore over the programme at your earliest convenience and you’re bound to find a film or few to see.
When: August 7-18.
Where: Various cinemas in Tāmaki Makaurau.
Price: Visit nziff.co.nz for the full programme and tickets.
If you could do with a weekend joy injection then get tickets for the Jubilation Choir in collaboration with local reggae legend Tigilau Ness next Sunday. It’s the first in a new series of collaborations for Ponsonby’s gospel choir, which founding member Jackie Clarke calls a musical “Who are the People in Your Neighbourhood.” Former Polynesian Panther, father of Che Fu and founding member of Unity Pacific, Tigi, is joining the choir for a programme of songs of freedom, resistance, redemption and joy. Drummer Chris O’Connore, known for his wide-ranging work with the likes of Don McGlashan, the Phoenix Foundation and Auckland Chamber Orchestra, is also joining Tigi and the choir for this one-off performance. They’re going to raise the roof off the Western Springs Garden Community Hall and there’s no higher note to end a weekend on than that.
When: August 18, 6pm.
Where: Western Springs Garden Community Hall, 956 Great North Rd, Western Springs.
Price: Tickets $10-$30 + booking fees from eventfinda.co.nz or 0800 BUY TIX (289 849).
Classical music fans have plenty of opportunities to bask in the brilliance of the NZSO next weekend with their three-day winter festival. Kicking off on Friday night with the concert Mozart: The Great, outstanding Australian pianist Andrea Lam makes her NZSO debut performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 ‘Elvira Madigan’. The evening is conducted by returning German conductor Andre de Ridder and also includes Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550 and Ligeti’s Concert Romanesc. On Saturday, August 17, the NZSO is hosting Open Doors, a free event in which there will be a tāmariki time concert, relaxed concert for neurodivergent audiences, an orchestra jam session and some masterclasses, before Lam and de Ridder return for Boléro on Saturday night. On Sunday, there’s a whānau-friendly matinee concert Fairytales & Broomsticks featuring John Williams’ music from the Harry Potter films as well as Claire Cowan’s Hansel and Gretel along with the original by Englebert Humperdink. Young, old or somewhere in between, the NZSO winter festival probably has something you’d enjoy next weekend.
When: August 16-18.
Where: Auckland Town Hall, Auckland Central.
Price: Visit nzso.co.nz for more information and tickets.