Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington
Gate 3, Kelburn Parade
Wellington 6140
New Zealand

Things are, they do not happen

Curator talk

6.00pm 12 June 2025

Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery

In the closing week of Things are, they do not happen, curator Jess Clifford will give a talk reflecting on the development of the exhibition, drawing on works by Sam Norton and Adrienne Martyn as well as writers, poets, and film and media theorists. Key ideas in the project include the communication of political meaning through formal strategies, the role of fictioning as an artistic approach, and the complex relationship between subjectivities and subjection.

Adrienne Martyn, Otis, Dunedin, 1980, pigment print on dibond, 800 × 800 mm, [left]; and, Nick, Auckland, 1987, Pigment print on dibond, 800 × 800 mm, [right]. Installation view, Things are, they do not happen, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2025. Photo: Ted Whitaker.