CoCA Exhibition Programme 2026/27

We are excited to present the eight exhibitions and artists selected from our 2025 Call for Proposals:

CHOMP: the paste-ups of Earwig Magazine curated by Claudia Long – 20.2.26 – 29.3.26

This exhibition will examine design ephemera from Aotearoa New Zealand counterculture publication Earwig (1969 to 1973). Presenting archival material from the pre-digital design and print processes of this underground magazine, audiences will be able to see examples of the construction of the magazine alongside its final printed formats.

Ka mauhara te uku (the earth remembers)  – Jess Nicholson – 11.4.26 – 17.5.26

They will continue to explore recycled, local, natural, whenua materials through laborious and intimate ceramic processes to create the work – paying particular attention to the non-linear transformation of the materials – considering this as a metaphor for the process of reconnecting, belonging, and feeling at home.

Boy, Put Your Shoulders Up – Chevron Hassett – 22.5.26 – 28.6.26

This is an exhibition of three interwoven works: the photographic series JustUs, the monument Far, Far Away, and the threshold sculpture Boy, Put Your Shoulders Up.

The exhibition traces the journeys of Māori navigating urban landscapes, systems of control, and the legacies of displacement, exploring how identity, memory, and resilience are carried through material, space, and gesture.

Browntown -10.7.26 – 16.8.26

Their kaupapa is to create accessible, empowering platforms where Māori and Pacific artist communities can see themselves reflected and celebrated through culture and creativity.

They provide opportunities for artists to bring their own cultural grounding and lived experience, and to develop their creative practice within the contemporary arts sector.

Janna van Hasslet – 05.12.26 – 17.1.27

Janna will bring an installation which represents her creative journey and sense of place as an artist and mother in Otautahi. Comprising a linear sequence of wall-dwelling ceramics winding their way around the gallery space, the pieces will ebb and flow, disconnect and reconnect, acting as a kind of lyrical and pictorial language.

Ōtautahi Creative Spaces – 13.2.27 – 21.03.27

Ōtautahi Creative Spaces is a group exhibition that invites audiences into the imaginative inner worlds of 10 artists from within our creative community who live with experiences of mental distress and trauma. Their works are rich with narrative, fiction, metaphor, and vivid, meaningful detail.

Under Our Sky – Kara Burrows, Annabel Cropper, Ina Johann, Charette van Eekelen – 27.3.27 – 02.05.27

Under our Sky is a group exhibition by four Ōtautahi Canterbury-based artists: Kara Burrowes, Annabel Cropper, Ina Johann and Charrette van Eekelen. Through diverse practices, the artists explore what unfolds on the land beneath our shared sky, examining how repeated encounters with place, perception, and one another transform experience and foster connection to something larger than ourselves.

Quishile Charan, Natasha Ratuva, Anaseini Peioneti and Matavai Taulangaū. in collaboration with Fibre Gallery – 15.5.27 – 20.6.27

This exhibition will explore the interconnected relationships of craft, kinship and whanaungatanga, between four makers with both individual and collaborative practices.

In preparation, all makers will spend time with one another in each other’s homes, exchanging and building upon their craft-based knowledge and continuing to grow their kinship and whānau together.

CoCA will collaborate with Fibre Gallery who will host an element of this exhibition.