A Time of Waiting
A Time of Waiting is an expansive exhibition that headlines the 2025 programme at AUT’s Te Wai Ngutu Kākā Gallery.
Running from 4 April - 23 May 2025, the group show explores the theme of waiting, and features work by artists Layne Waerea, John Vea, Kalisolaite 'Uhila, Jeremy Leatinu’u, Ena Kosovac, Chris Braddock, Shannon Te Ao, Olivia Webb, Luke Shaw and Madison Kelly, along with two artist-collectives, The Observatory Project and Public Share.
Curated by participating artists Chris Braddock and John Vea, and the Gallery’s curator and manager Stephen Cleland, the idea came about in 2024 as a major publication Resetting the Coordinates: An Anthology of Performance Art in Aotearoa New Zealand approached completion.
As the book’s lead editor Chris Braddock recalls: “In surveying our unique history of performance art, we became interested in a range of artists engaging in activities of ‘killing’ or ‘wasting’ time. But what was interesting is these seemingly passive actions didn’t occur in a vacuum. Instead, they were a means to confront many issues that continue to play out in culture today; such as tenuous work and labour conditions, inequity, and increasingly pervasive bureaucratic structures.”
As Cleland notes, despite the serious nature of these themes the resulting exhibition is highly playful and has been designed to keep audiences on their toes. “For instance, The Observatory Project’s installation takes the form of a bootlegger radio station, which has ‘landed’ in the entrance of the exhibition. From here the artist duo will broadcast live throughout the show, albeit with an extremely limited bandwidth confined to the vicinity of the exhibition.”
Braddock continues: “Likewise, John Vea’s artwork sets up an ominous reception at the entrance of the gallery, which requires visitors to snake their way through roped stanchions in a way that recalls an airport check-in lobby. And Public Share takes over the gallery’s office, which staff have vacated for the duration of the show. Here they create their own hybrid workspace/ smoko-room, which seeks to provoke thought about what an ideal workplace might look like.”
While retaining a focus on live performance, the exhibition includes a range of media, including video, sound, sculpture and text-based works. And while operating at the cutting edge of contemporary art practice, as Cleland writes, it explores familiar experiences that we all relate to.
“We despise waiting. Waiting exposes our inability to change a situation — to speed up the arrival of the bus, or expedite paperwork being processed outside office hours. Waiting also implies inactivity, which is at odds with our work culture. Both industrialised labour (undertaken within set hours), and our contemporary ‘online’ work culture (which is neither confined to the office or the 9-5) require us to be continually ‘on task’. We don’t have cultural permission to presume people can wait.
“Yet viewed another way, thinkers have observed that it’s increasingly rare to experience ‘pure’ waiting. Like the aging plotlines of so many 20th Century sitcoms, common scenarios for aimless waiting now seem like a thing of the past. A friend will call if they are running late. We can check online where a bus is on route. There’s also no need to endure inert waiting — idle moments can be swiftly plugged with a world of media available at our fingertips. In this sense, philosophers now paradoxically ask, what’s lost if we no longer experience idle time?”
A Time of Waiting is accompanied by a series of talks and events, which kicks off with an opening night performance by Chris Braddock Thursday 3 April at 5.50pm.
The exhibition also includes an offsite programme of temporary installations and performances which will be staged in Ōtautahi in partnership with Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.
Te Wai Ngutu Kākā would like to acknowledge the generous funders and partners that have made this exhibition possible, including AUT’s Art and Design Research Fund, Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa, and Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.
A Time of Waiting | 4 April - 23 May 2025
Te Wai Ngutu Kākā Gallery,
40 St Paul Street,
Tamaki Makaurau
Opening Night: Thursday 3 April, 5pm to 7pm.