Peal the Bells brings together five projects within which the voice is a primary element: an actor, an instrument, an archive, a way of knowing and remembering each other. Starting out as an exercise in closely observing vocal use across a series of contemporary artworks, the exhibition ultimately takes its form in relation to the building itself. We have imagined the gallery as a giant bell, within which the notes struck by each work are distinct – some emit no sound at all – and yet contribute to a resounding vibration that is felt in the body as much as in the ears.

Sonic installations by Maree Sheehan and Mo H. Zareei emphasise the act of listening as something at once political and personal. In very different ways these two works immerse us in experience of the voice, and words themselves as limited containers of meaning. A series of paintings by Anoushka Akel hinges on recent moments of speech and refusal and by women in the political arena, while Noor Abed’s film A Night We Held Between (2024) asks what it means to speak when the conditions of speech have been systematically destroyed, and the archive is diminished. Qianye and Qianhe Lin’s moving image installation not a promise / a choral monologue (2026) pivots on the collective reading of a poetic script, recorded unrehearsed. This work too is underscored by questions: what is a collective voice? How might we orient ourselves within official languages that are prevalent because of imperialism? How is one oriented or disoriented by participating in the voice of the chorus?

As a whole, the exhibition proposes that the voice offers a powerful index of our times. These works compel us to listen to, and commit to hearing each other – with criticality, with empathy and as a conscious act. Its title an imperative and an implicit exclamation, Peal the Bells [!] is also a prompt to speak with clarity and conviction in an era marked by the continuous chatter and flow of messages and media activity online. To purposefully ‘give voice’ to something is to trust that others are listening, and in turn that exchange, even change, is possible.

Qianye 林千叶 and Qianhe Lin 林千和 are siblings who work as a duo. They often work with multi-channel video installation and publication with a focus on interdisciplinary practice and collaborative processes. Both are alumni of the University of Auckland, where Qianye recently completed an MFA. Recent works include The Good You, Aotearoa Contemporary (group exhibition) at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (2024); 人参果之歌 A Very True Heart, Te Tuhi, Tāmaki Makaurau (2022); Thus the Blast Carried It, Into the World 它便随着爆破, 冲向了世界, the Physics Room, Ōtautahi christchurch (2021); and What a Thrill, WHAT A SUCCESS!!, at Papatūnga, Tāmaki Makaurau (2020). In 2025 they received the Springboard Award in visual arts by the Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi. The artists live in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Mo H. Zareei’s practice spans electronic composition, kinetic sound-sculpture, and audiovisual installation. Working across physical and digital media, he uses reduced, elemental materials to transform the conceptual underpinnings of his work into visceral, immediate experiences. As mHz, Zareei has published records via Room40 (Australia), LINE (US), Important Records (US), and leerraum (China). He holds a BSc in Physics from Shahid Beheshti University of Tehran, a BFA in Music Technology from CalArts, and a PhD in Sonic Arts from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Zareei has presented work at venues including ACMI (Melbourne), Brisbane Powerhouse, PST Art (Los Angeles), Vancouver Art Gallery, York Art Gallery, Modern Body Festival (The Hague), SETxCTM Festival (Tehran), and in Aotearoa New Zealand at Whangārei Art Museum and Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery. Zareei is based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington.

Anoushka Akel’s work in painting and print moves between abstraction and figuration, and draws on research in art history, philosophy, biology, and social science, with a particular emphasis on embodied experience. Akel received a master's degree in fine arts from the Elam School of Fine Arts in 2010. Selected recent exhibitions include Ifs, Te Uru Contemporary Gallery, Titirangi (2025); Carrying the Beast, Michael Lett, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (2024); Spring Time is Heart Break, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū (2023) (group); Wet Contact, Michael Lett, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (2022); the body and its outside, Michael Lett, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (2021); (Red Legs) Hot Head, Goya Curtain, Tokyo (2020). Akel was artist in residence at Parehuia McCahon House in 2024, Artspace Aotearoa in 2016 and Künstlerhäuser Worpswede, Bremen, Germany in 2013. Akel lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.

Noor Abed’s practice encompasses filmmaking and performance. Her works frequently draw on choreography and song, including everyday movement and staged situations where social possibilities are rehearsed and performed. Abed received a BA from the International Academy of Arts in Palestine, an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles and from 2015⁠–2016, attended the Whitney Independent Study Program in New York. She was a fellow at the Raw Material Company in Dakar in 2019, and in 2020 co-founded the School of Intrusions, an independent educational collective in Ramallah, Palestine, with Lara Khaldi. Abed was an assistant curator in documenta fifteen, Kassel 2021⁠–22, and artist in residence at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam 2022⁠–24. Abed’s work has been shown at Anthology Film Archives, New York; Gabes Cinema Fen Film Festival, Tunisia; Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival; Lagos Biennale; Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; Ujazdowski Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw; and the Eye Film Museum, Amsterdam, among others. Her book Stars at Midday was published by Occasional Papers in October 2024. Abed lives and works between Ramallah and Amsterdam.

Maree Sheehan (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato, Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Raukawa, Ngāti Tahu –Ngāti Whaoa, Clan Sheehan, Clan Marshall) is a sound artist and music composer. Sheehan’s artworks centre Indigenous sound, wāhine Māori narratives, and sound ecology, drawing on deep listening and positioning oro (sound) and ihirangaranga (vibration) as carriers of mauri and identity. Her PhD, The Sound of Identity: Interpreting the Multi-dimensionality of Wāhine Māori Through Audio Portraiture (AUT, 2020), culminated in the exhibition Ōtairongo at Artspace Aotearoa. Ōtairongo was subsequently included in Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (2021). Sheehan is based in Kirikiriroa Hamilton, where she works as Kairangahau Matua (Toi) at Te Manawahoukura Research Centre, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. Selected works include รักษ์ป่าเล Rạks̄ʹ̒ p̀ā le – Cherishing the sea forests made in collaboration with Alex Monteith and Apiwat Thongyoun, currently showing at Thailand Biennale Biennale 2025⁠–2026. Sheehan is also a member of the artist collective Toiaa Taiao, alongside Tihikura Hohaia and Alex Monteith. Their major new project Whiria ko te iwi tuna, commissioned by Govett Brewster Gallery in Ngāmotu New Plymouth, is on until 19 July 2026.

Vera Mey is an art historian and independent curator based in London, who was awarded her PhD by SOAS, University of London, in 2024. She is currently a Tutor (Research), Curating Contemporary Art at the Royal College of Art and Curatorial Research Fellow at the Manchester Metropolitan University, where she worked on the Asia Triennial Manchester 2025 and is co-editing the publication Against Imperialism: Art on the Threshold of a Post-Capitalist World, Sternberg/MIT, 2027. She was Co-Artistic Director of the 2024 Busan Biennale, Seeing in the Dark, and maintains a commitment to art in Aotearoa New Zealand through her role as International Programme Manager at Te Tuhi.