Join us for the launch of Questions for Venice, a publication edited by Christina Barton and Hanahiva Rose with Lachlan Taylor. Questions for Venice gathers reflections from the Learning from Venice programme led by Barton and Rose at the 2026 Venice Biennale, where eight early career Aotearoa artists, writers, and curators were immersed in the Biennale, gaining new insights into and developing fresh thinking about this long-established institution.

Workshop participants Lachlan Taylor and Sally McMath will be joined in discussion by Ioana Gordon-Smith and Karl Chitham, who have both had curatorial involvement in projects at Venice, to consider Venice as a context for contemporary art practice and how Aotearoa is represented within it.

Refreshments provided.

Karl Chitham (Te Uriroroi, Ngā Puhi) ONZM is Head of Arts & Culture for Hutt City Council and director of The Dowse Art Museum. He was the curator of Paerangi: Venice, a series of site-responsive activations during the 61st Venice Biennale, developed as a partnership between Te Tuhi and CREA Cantieri del Contemporaneo, on Venice's Giudecca Island.


Ioana Gordon-Smith is Lead Curator at Pātaka Art + Museum. Ioana was the Assistant Curator of Yuki Kihara, Aotearoa New Zealand at the 59th Venice Biennale 2022 and co-curator of the international Indigenous triennial, Naadohbii: To Draw Water in Canada.


Sally McMath is a gallerist and researcher from Te Waiharakeke Blenheim. She is the founder and studio manager of 40 Anzac Studios and co-director of Treadler. Sally prioritises working closely with artists in research, archive administration, and exhibition development as well as funding and project management.


Lachlan Taylor is an art historian and writer based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland where he is completing a PhD in Art History at the University of Texas in Austin. Lachlan’s doctoral research approaches the idea of the “global artist” as an art historical figure that emerges in the late twentieth century. In 2026 he launched @localartscolumn, a new review platform.


In partnership with The Chartwell Trust and Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa. Hanahiva Rose's travel was supported by the Te Papa Foundation.