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20 Years at Abel Smith


  • Toi Pōneke Arts Centre 61 Abel Smith Street, Te Aro, Wellington Wellington New Zealand (map)

25 October - 20 November

Toi Pōneke Arts Centre, originally Wellington Arts Centre, first opened in July 2005 by Mayor Kerry Prendergast at 61 Abel Smith Street, Te Aro, and has been growing to better support the art of Wellington ever since. Over the last 20 years Toi Pōneke Arts Centre has seen over 200 exhibitions in the gallery.

20 years at Abel Smith looks back on the tapestry of Toi Pōneke at Abel Smith Street and invites artists, friends, family and guest on a small stroll down memory lane in hopes to build an even stronger step forward into the future. Opens Friday 5:30 24 Oct and is on in the back gallery until Friday 21 Nov 2025.

 
 

other exhibitions

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Now & next
Past
Shadow Signals
Apr 24
Shadow Signals

Daniel Beban and Tim Barlow's immersive, interactive sound installation fills the environment of Toi Pōneke gallery for the final exhibition at the Able-Smith Street space.

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Tartan meets Koru
Mar 21
Tartan meets Koru

Toi Pōneke is excited to present Koru meets Tartan by Toi Pōneke Art Centre’s 2024 Visual Arts Residency recipient Mitchell Manual, opening on Saturday 21st March 2026.

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Under, Over and Across
Feb 14
Under, Over and Across

Exploring the potential of woven structures through textile making, the exhibition by Angela Kilford  and Lisa Munnelly titled Under, Over and Across creates a dialogue between painting, raranga and hand-woven works.

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voices notations distortion
Jan 17
voices notations distortion

voices notations distortion is the debut solo show by artist and musician Gemma Thompson at Toi Pōneke Gallery 17 Jan - 6 Feb 2026. Inspired by Pauline Oliveros' Sonic Meditations, the exhibition explores her soundwalking practice through graphic scores, realised as drawings, paintings, prints, and sonic compositions. Each mark resonates with its own energy – echoing, layering, and unfolding across the surface.

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Toi Takeaway 2025
Dec 3
Toi Takeaway 2025

Toi Takeaway 2025 - Pay and Take it away!

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In Each Other's Pockets
Oct 25
In Each Other's Pockets

In Each Other’s Pockets opens Friday 24 October 2025 at Toi Pōneke Gallery, Te Aro, Wellington.

Through her playful installation, contemporary jeweller Louise Hill interrogates the politics of pockets; the private spaces that shape how we move through the world, investigating what it means for some to be equipped with the tools they need, while others are not.

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20 Years at Abel Smith
Oct 25
20 Years at Abel Smith

20 years at Abel Smith looks back on the tapestry of Toi Pōneke at Abel Smith Street and invites artists, friends, family and guest on a small stroll down memory lane in hopes to build an even stronger step forward into the future. Opens Friday 5:30 24 Oct and is on in the back gallery until Friday 21 Nov 2025.

Read more →
He Whare Mahana - A Takatāpui Exhibition
Sept 20
He Whare Mahana - A Takatāpui Exhibition

He Whare Mahana - a warm house, a full house, a cosy kainga to nurture your dreams and the infi nite queer possibilities. Tātou āhuru mōwai, nau mai, haere mai.

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Taputeranga: Above and Below
Aug 16
Taputeranga: Above and Below

Artists Katy Cottrell and Rick Allender explore the connection between land and sea through intricate works crafted from natural wood veneers.

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Azúcar / Sugar
Jul 12
Azúcar / Sugar

What is the connection between sugar, colonisation, global trade and climate change?

Azucar/Sugar is an explorative gallery experience that uses sugar sculptures, videos and digital art to trace how European and US conquest terraformed the environment from a living entity that encompassed the living spirits of the land, water, plants, animals and humans into an inert repository of resources to be harvested and harnessed for profit. Azucar/Sugar is the latest installation from With Lime, the long-standing collaboration between William Franco and Miki Seifert.

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GUEST
Jun 6
GUEST

Sonic artist Kieran Monaghan presents GUEST, an interdisciplinary exhibition of sound, image and organic matter, which offers up a sonic practice for the Anthropocene. This body of work explores a practice that places the ‘human’ not at the centre, but as an ongoing active collaborator. Working as a member of the non-human/tech/human trio, vegetable.machine.animal, Monaghan makes space where the voice of the ‘Other’ is amplified and essential to the voice of the ‘Whole’.

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The Female Gaze and How It Shapes Our World
May 8
The Female Gaze and How It Shapes Our World

This May, Toi Pōneke Gallery presents a compelling mother-son exhibition that reclaims vision and voice through the powerful mediums of painting and photography. Featuring the evocative work of Ashraf Pirnia and Pedram Pirnia, this showcase dives into deep introspection and feminist resistance, amplifying silenced voices and uncovering layers of identity, truth, and transformation.

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see other past exhibitions in the gallery archive

Earlier Event: 20 October
2025 Write Room Film/TV Producer Intern announcement
Later Event: 25 October
In Each Other's Pockets