The Physics Room

Hot off the press, Attention Studies no.2! Copies will be available in the gallery from tomorrow, and @samoahouselibrary @puku.room @blueoysterdunedin @enjoycontemporary next week. 🍂 This issue features contributions from Paige Walker, Sian Alexia, Jade Cavalcante, Jingcheng Zhao, Jane Wallace, Max Lowe, Millie Dunstall, Julieanna Preston, Nick Harte, Orissa Keane, Steven Junil Park, Hamish Win, Bea Gladding, Oscar Bannan, Kosta Bogoievski, Cindy Zeiher, Sophie Bannan, Tessa Boraston, Meg Doughty, Josiah Morgan, Millie Godfery, Solomona Davis and Lucy Reid, with design by Warren Olds and Anna Welham and editing by Gwynneth Porter and Jane Wallace. Thanks @copyrightlicensingnz and @coffee_supreme for supporting Attention Studies. Tune into our monthly radio show tonight @plains.media at 8pm to hear selected readings from our first issues of Attention Studies, read by the authors. Thank you Josiah, Oscar, Meg and Julieanna for your contributions to this broadcast!

NZSL Tour: B42040A1A1A This Saturday 17 May at 12pm Last week marked two decades of New Zealand Sign Language being recognised as an official language of Aotearoa. This weekend, join us in the gallery for a guided introduction to Luke Willis Thompson's exhibition B42040A1A1A. The event will begin with a short introduction to the gallery and exhibition, followed by a screening of the films. After the screening, there will be an open discussion with time for questions and conversation, supported by a NZSL interpreter. Soro (2025) envisions a future redress of the 2021 Dawn Raids Apology. Focusing entirely on a solitary NZSL interpreter, Alan Wendt, while an inferred Prime Minister delivers the speech out of frame, Thompson imagines a bold and expansive set of reparations being delivered by a future Prime Minister. Luke Willis Thompson B42040A1A1A continues at The Physics Room until 31 May. Image: Installation view of Luke Willis Thompson, Soro, 2025. Commissioned by Te Wai Ngutu Kākā Gallery, funding support from Niu Dawn Funding Initiative, Creative New Zealand. Courtesy of the artist, Coastal Signs, Tāmaki Makaurau and Galerie Nagel Draxler, Berlin.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝗸𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘂 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘶 𝘌𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 is a new programme that aims to strengthen artistic and relational exchange across Aotearoa artistic communities, particularly between Te Ika-a-Māui and Te Waipounamu. This programme considers what pre-existing connections might already occur between our islands. The ngutu parore and the tōrea emerged with their compulsions and capacities of migration. These birds move seasonally between habitats of Te Waipounamu and Te Ika-a-Māui. With them as tohu, the name Whakamanu surfaced, referring to ‘becoming a bird’. In 2026, 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘶 𝘌𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 will support 𝘁𝘄𝗼 early-career visual artists or curators with collaborative practices. One person based in Tāmaki Makaurau will travel to and be hosted in Ōtautahi, and another person based in Ōtautahi will travel to and be hosted in Tāmaki Makaurau. Both residencies will provide accommodation, flights from respective cities, a stipend and research support. For more information about the specific residencies, dates, and how to apply, please check the websites of partners or the link in bio. Applications are due by the end of Sunday 17 May. 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀: - 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘙𝘰𝘰𝘮 - 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘦 𝘛𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘬𝘪 𝘛𝘰𝘪 𝘖𝘳𝘢 - 𝘗𝘶𝘬𝘶 - 𝘚𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘢 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 - 𝘍𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘹𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘨

We're so excited to share the Boosted campaign for Māori Camera Club, a three-day wānanga for Māori photographers that will coincide with our exhibition Māori Camera Club later this year. 🔮📸🪾 There's 28 days left to support this kaupapa through the link in bio! The Māori Camera Club (MCC) is a group of Māori photo nerds who want to noho tahi, support each other's practices, and geek out about the importance of photography in te ao Māori. This fundraiser aims to support MCC by covering the cost of a three-day wānanga. The 2026 wānanga will bring MCC members together kanohi ki te kanohi, to share mahi, ideas, knowledge and resources. It will create opportunities to learn from one another and experienced practitioners in the field, building a lasting support network for individual, collective, and professional practice, while also fostering a space for general, photo-nerd whanaungatanga. MCC is facilitated by Conor Clarke and Bridget Reweti and builds on the mahi of the inaugural wānanga held in 2025.

Over the past couple months, a group of almost 40 writers have been gathering at The Physics Room for Attention Studies. From these workshops, we’ve been developing a monthly publication that responds to the current cultural climate, across art, poetry, music, performance and other areas. Copies are available for free in the gallery or as a digital pdf through our website. If you’re out of town, copies will be available @samoahouselibrary and @blueoysterdunedin Attention Studies no.1 (March 2026) features contributions from Sian Alexia, Oscar Bannan, Sophie Bannan, Kosta Bogoievski, Tessa Boraston, Meg Doughty, Millie Dunstall, Millie Godfery, M Grace-Stent, Nick Harte, Rahul Hendriksen, Orissa Keane, Max Lowe, Micheal McCabe, Josiah Morgan, Steven Junil Park, Julieanna Preston, Ella Sage, Sorawit Songsataya, James Tapsell-Kururangi, Hamish Win, Cindy Zeiher, editing by Gwynneth Porter and Jane Wallace and design by Warren Olds and Anna Welham. ⚾️🖨️🎼 Thank you to Copyright Licensing New Zealand for supporting this kaupapa with a Contestable Funds Grant and @coffee_supreme for essential supplies! Attention Studies no.2 (April 2026) will be out soon 🔜

We're happy to announce Geo Thompson-Skipworth (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu) as our new Kaimanaaki Access Coordinator! She will likely be a familiar face, previously part of The Physics Room whānau as our Weekend Gallery Supervisor. 🖤🖤 Geo is an artist living in Ōhinehou, Ōtautahi. She co-founded and runs The Green Room, an artist run initiative at Toi Auaha. She also works as a Visitor Host at Te Puna o Waiwhetū Christchurch Art Gallery. Graduating from Ara Institute of Canterbury (2024), Geo holds a Bachelor of Design in Applied Visual Arts. Her practice moves between disciplines, drawing on the symbolic and the tactile to explore ideas of whakapapa, whenua, and cultural memory. Geo will be in the gallery on Thursdays and Saturdays supporting your visit. Welcome Geo! 🖤 This role is generously supported by the Rātā Foundation.

Artist talk: Luke Willis Thompson Saturday 18 April, 11am On the opening weekend of B42040A1A1A, join us in the gallery for a conversation between artist Luke Willis Thompson and James Tapsell-Kururangi. All welcome, no RSVP needed. Image: Luke Willis Thompson, Whakamoemoeā, 2025. Commissioned by Sharjah Art Foundation and produced by Ordinary Films and Kura Productions. Courtesy of the artist, Coastal Signs, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, and Galerie Nagel Draxler, Cologne/Berlin.

Join us this Friday, the 17th of April at 5.30pm for the opening of Luke Willis Thompson | B42040A1A1A. B42040A1A1A imagines a decolonial future for Aotearoa through the visual language of political theatre. Developed in partnership with Te Wai Ngutu Kākā Gallery, this is the first presentation of Fijian New Zealand artist Luke Willis Thompson in Ōtautahi. Whakamoemoeā (2024), was commissioned by Megan Tamati-Quennell for the Sharjah Biennial 16. Set in 2040, the film envisions the exact moment constitutional transformation in Aotearoa is announced to the world. Broadcaster, journalist, and MP for Tāmaki Makaurau, Oriini Kaipara, is cast as the spokesperson who delivers an official address in te reo Māori at Te Whare Runanga, Waitangi. Kaipara announces a transition from a colonial Westminster-style of governance to an Indigenous plurinational state, fulfilling the visionary aspirations of the 2016 report Matike Mai Aotearoa, led by the late lawyer and jurisprudence philosopher Moana Jackson. The second work in the series is, similarly, set in a not-too-distant future. Soro (2025) envisions a future redress of the 2021 Dawn Raids Apology. Focusing entirely on a solitary NZSL interpreter, Alan Wendt, while an inferred Prime Minister delivers the speech out of frame, Thompson imagines a bold and expansive set of reparations being delivered by a future Prime Minister. Aotearoa takes a stand to right the wrongs of the past, which are determined to be rooted in the fundamental injustice of colonisation. Captured in black and white 35mm film, Soro presents a dream-like atmosphere where Aotearoa’s alliances to Western powers are cut and a strategic commitment to a united Oceania is made. Whakamoemoeā was commissioned by the Sharjah Art Foundation and produced by Ordinary Films and Kura Productions. Soro was commissioned by Te Wai Ngutu Kākā Gallery and received generous support from the Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s Niu Dawn Initiative, administered by @creativenz , as well as the Gow Family Foundation, and Kodak Ltd. Courtesy of the artist, @coastal_signs_ and @nageldraxler . @lukewillisthompson | See our website for further details

As part of the final week of Another School, Lee has invited @00interlude00 to share a call for submissions via the poster box: "We invite participants from Another School to exhibit in the “Window Licker” vitrine. The winning contribution will be printed in an edition of 300 as part of Interlude’s 4/4 magazine cover, protected by plastic foil and able to hold inserts up to A4 size. The issue is called The Window Licker, inspired by the French saying lèche-vitrine, and follows four wandering gazes on glass, tracing the ghosts behind the panes. The window is both mirror and mirage, a threshold between what is displayed and what is desired. Your daytime streets reflect into our night. Window dressers, remember that you work for sales, but not only for sales. The best display sells, yes, but it also establishes reputation, teases, charms, and enchants. We trust your vision and will accept your ideas with gratitude, not alarm. Decorate our empty cover and send your work to [email protected] by April 7." Image: 2 colour screenprint, printed by Lee Richardson at Another School *** Interlude is a collective based in Amsterdam and occasionally in Paris & Marseille. They curate & organise listening sessions and other event formats. 4/4 is a quarterly magazine that brings together 4 contributions from authors, writers, and designers in each issue. Like a roundtable dialog, these works subtly interact, complement, or contrast with one another, shaping a theme that lingers in the background, emerging without prior knowledge or intent. 4 corners of one sheet. 4 slices of a pie. 🥧

It's the final week of Another School 🪑Thank you for everyone who has come to learn and have a kai over the past six weeks. Our last session will take place this Saturday 28 March at 2pm, as a final wrap-up for Another School. Come for a sausage sizzle & glass of wine. 🌭🌭 Perfect end of term celebration. See you there!

The Physics Room Contemporary Art Kōrero, our monthly radio show, is on air @plains.media 96.9 this Friday 20 March at 8pm. This month we are sharing the episode of Weather Report that was played in the gallery for our Intercom Listening Session event last week as part of Another School. Weather Report is a weekly live music project by Sara Plusplus, based in Amsterdam. “With this recording, I hope to bring you a glimpse of the sonic landscape of Weather Report…Many of the recordings are jam sessions between people, first sonic encounters of different music practices.” Image: documentation of Weather Report

Tomorrow, Tuesday 17 March at 12pm, we are so lucky to be joined by Hailey Loman from Los Angeles Contemporary Archive! This is the penultimate session of Another School 🍎🍎 come along, no registration needed! Hailey Loman co-runs the Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA). Hailey has gathered material from the collection about alternative artist educational models, curriculums, and will introduce Archive Night School, a programme that addresses real-life archive problems and creative methods of organising. Hailey’s session will cover this ground and begin as all Archive Night School classes did: using gossip as a generative archiving process to better understand our conditions.