Visual arts blow for capital
Wednesday, 8 May 2024
Wellington will be left with fewer spaces for visual art over the next two years, but the boss of one cultural organisation says the void is a necessary short-term sacrifice for an improved wider arts ecosystem.
City Gallery, one of the capital’s major public art galleries, announced last week it would close for two years from July 1, as the council moves ahead with demolition of its adjacent Civic Administration Building.
The closure was brought forward from February 2025.
In addition, level five of Te Papa’s Toi Art gallery is closing this month, for at least nine months thanks to a sprinkler system that needs replacing. And exhibitions in the National Library’s main gallery have been paused due to disruption caused by construction of the new Archives NZ building.
Wellington Museum was due to close this year for an estimated two years for quake strengthening, however Experience Wellington which operates the institution has confirmed to The Post it now won’t shut until the end of 2027.
Diana Marsh, chief executive of Experience Wellington, the council controlled organisation that also operates City Gallery, said that ongoing disruptive construction work from the council in Civic Square had forced City Gallery out of its home early.
An earthquake report for the City Gallery building had recently been completed by experts, however Marsh was adamant that was not the reason it was closing seven months earlier than expected.
Richard MacLean from Wellington City Council said the seismic report was still being finalised and would not yet release a copy of it to The Post.
Marsh said if any seismic upgrades needed to happen to the City Gallery building then they could be done once staff were moved out from July.
The City Gallery building is in need of other non-quake related upgrades, including maintenance on its goods lift which transports art between its levels and its HVAC air conditioning system.
Marsh described the gallery’s closure as short-term pain for a long-term future. While the gallery is closed, it will present art exhibitions in different venues, including one at Te Papa from late July to October, and another at the Dowse in Lower Hutt from late September to January 2025.
Its current exhibition will show until June 30, which will be its last open day until 2026.
“Obviously we prefer to be in our building, but we're using this as an opportunity to reach more people throughout the city and display things in a different way,” Marsh said.
It hoped to show more satellite exhibitions at various locations in the wider Wellington region through 2025 until it reopened in 2026.
Experience Wellington said site-specific workers at City Gallery would be redeployed to other venues under its control: Space Place, Wellington Museum, the Cable Car Museum, Nairn Street Cottage or Capital E.
Staff who had offices at the City Gallery building would move to Experience Wellington’s headquarters on Boulcott St.
In 2026 the council plans to reopen Wellington Central Library which has been shut since 2019 for quake strengthening. Capital E will have its new home inside there.
But it has been a bleak few years for City Gallery and Experience Wellington, which embarked on a controversial restructure in 2021 that left staff feeling bruised and saw the departure of high profile staff.
Last year Experience Wellington announced it was permanently closing Capital E’s National Theatre for Children after 25 years.
And at the end of last year City Gallery’s opening hours were significantly reduced to accommodate the council’s construction work at Civic Square.
There is also uncertainty about the future of Nikau Cafe, which is adjoined to City Gallery and may also have to close. Owner John Fiso is in a dispute with Experience Wellington and the council but this week told The Post it would remain open for as long as it was allowed.
Marsh said while it was a challenging time at the moment, the future for City Gallery in a redeveloped Civic Square was exciting.