The Engine Room

It was a privilege to host Melbourne-based photographer and publisher Matthew Dunne in the gallery last week to open his show Ten Eighty. On view through 21st August, M-F 12-4 PM. For more on Matt's exhibition, see our website https://www.engineroomgallery.org.nz/

Steph Arrowsmith, Sandy Gibbs, and A.J Manaaki Hope are three of the artists featured in our current exhibition ‘Walking through every door available: 25 Years of the BFA’ curated by Bena Jackson and Max Fleury on view through Friday July 31st, M-F 12-4 PM. Curatorial text available on our website: www.engineroomgallery.org.nz

Thanks so much to everyone who came to the opening of ‘Walking through every door available: 25 Years of the BFA’ last Friday. We hosted nearly 200 visitors! What a wonderful celebration to mark this occasion. Come see the show, open M-F, 12-4 through 31st July.

Bena Jackson and Max Fleury the curators of our current Engine Room exhibition “Walking through every door available,” featuring 10 Massey BFA artist-alumni, met and became fast friends in their first year ‘Art Lab’ course, taught by artists Simon Cummings and Mike Heynes. As the curators recently recalled, “Exercises included exploring the sonic possibilities of a roll of tape or a hunk of scrap metal, interpreting scores invented by our classmates, soundtracking Len Lye videos, devising group performances, and worshipping at the altar of John Cage.” Check out their exhibition, opening Friday 17th July and running through the 31st.

The Engine Room Gallery warmly invites you to the opening of "Walking through every door available: 25 years of the BFA," curated by Bena Jackson and Max Fleury at 5.00 pm on Friday 17th July 2026.

We are celebrating 25 years since the first students ventured into Massey University’s new Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Since the first semester, with little more than chairs and a slide projector, the programme has grown to occupy its own space within the contemporary art scene in Aotearoa.

The 10 artists in this show reflect some of the diverse practices that Massey has helped to form. Their works are indicative of the interdisciplinary and experimental direction that emerged in 2001 and has remained central to the programme.

Featuring artists Liz Allan, Sandy Gibbs, Mike Ting, Elisabeth Pointon, Emerita Baik, Emiko Sheehan, Steph Arrowsmith, A.J Manaaki Hope, Miles Greville, and Siobhan Wooding.

Gallery Hours: M-F 12-4 PM, July 20th-31st.

He Kanohi Kitea - Exposure Exhibition: 4 MFA exhibitions in The Engine Room. Artists: Diana Adams, Fiona Campbell, Cerys Wiles, and Rosa Wilson. Open from Sat 27th June to Sun 12th July, 10-4 PM daily. All welcome!

Performing Punctuation

Julieanna Preston and Anna Brown

Book Launch event Wednesday 17th of June 2026 at 5 PM, in association with Intellect Books (UK/US)

Exhibition on view Thurs-Fri 18th-19th June 10-3 PM

This book invites readers and performers to reimagine and transform the rules that shape language and identity. Performing Punctuation challenges the colonial legacy embedded in the English language’s use of punctuation.

Join us to celebrate the contributors, among them artists, performers, musicians, poets, designers, dancers, educators, literary scholars, architects, film makers, sound philosophers, and computer programmers who play humorously and tenaciously with the small but powerful marks that regulate, discipline, and structure how we write and speak.

Over the last 17 years, The Engine Room gallery has had the privilege of hosting over 130 exhibitions. Here are some examples of the projects from our website archive: www.engineroomgallery.org.nz
Ngā mihi nui to the supportive community of artists who have contributed to our efforts along the way!

TONIGHT! 5 PM in the gallery, please join us!

Kia ora tātou,

The Engine Room warmly invites you to our fourth exhibition of 2026, “Tōwai: Between Forest, Mountains and Ocean”. Bringing together Māori artists and the Sapara nation (from the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon).

Featuring Te Whare Hēra Visiting Artist Rubén Diaz (Ecuador), Kura Puke, Kurt Smith-Komene, Stuart Foster, Horomona Horo, Israel Randell, and Regan Balzer. Curated by Rubén Diaz & Regan Balzer.

Opening Thursday 7th May at 5 PM. All welcome! Please meet in the foyer of Te Ara Hihiko / Block 12, just nearby the gallery.

Show will be open through 19th May, M-F 12-4 PM.

Ngā mihi,
Martin Patrick, Curatorial Director