Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga, Te Pūkenga executive director rohe (1), says, “The gallery demonstrates our support for the wider arts community and strengthens our relationship to external festivals and other institutions – this space will enable exhibitions to travel between sites.
“Toi o Wairaka has many roles – it is a research facility for ākonga and kaimahi, a teaching and learning space for postgraduates and undergraduates, a connection point with external art practitioners, a professional arts space where industry learning can take place, and a multi-disciplinary space for screen, moving image, craft, painting, print, photography, performance, sculpture, object, installation, design, and incorporating new technologies.
“For the people of Tāmaki Makaurau and beyond, we aspire to extend beyond the gallery walls and make the arts visible to the wider community, such as with the Te Pātaka Art Trail, the community art trail which opened at Unitec-Te Pūkenga earlier this year.”
Toi o Wairaka was officially opened this week, and simultaneously its website launched along with its first exhibition, Mid-Year: Semester One Graduands, Design & Contemporary Art, featuring the work of Alyssa Beckwith, Dhriti Bhatia, Glaszia Luwenta, Tusia Sione, and Elvira Trowbridge.
Gina Ferguson is the gallery curator
