AAANZ 2026 Conference | Haereka

University of Canterbury Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha and
Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū

Wednesday 2 – Friday 4 December 2026

Tēnā koutou,

The 2026 AAANZ Conference, Haereka, (pronounced high-reh-kah), meaning journey, honours those who have come before us, including many generations of Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe, and Ngāi Tahu peoples who have traversed and first settled the mountain ranges, plains, and coastlines of Te Waipounamu South Island. We invite proposals that engage with ideas of journeying – through time and place – as it might relate to images, artistic practice, and/or material culture, while encouraging fresh readings of politics, movement, and migration in art.

Based in Ōtautahi Christchurch, Haereka will provide opportunities to explore the city and surrounding region. The conference will take place primarily at the University of Canterbury, with some evening events located at other city venues including Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū.

FIRST NATIONS STREAM: ON COUNTRY
NOW OPEN
DEADLINE FRIDAY 4 SEPTEMBER

CALL FOR PAPERS
NOW OPEN
DEADLINE FRIDAY 24 JULY

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E aku nui, e aku rahi, tēnā koutou katoa.

First Nations Stream: On Country invites Māori, Pacific, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, historians, researchers, curators and knowledge holders to propose papers, workshops, wānaka (discussion forum), or alternative presentations about working on or with ancestral lands/country/whenua. In Te Waipounamu, the earliest marks made by the First Peoples of this island – Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe, and Kāi Tahu – continue to act as a rich source of connection, inspiration and inquiry for their descendants. In what ways are Indigenous artists around Te Waipounamu, Aotearoa, Australia and the Pacific working directly with the lands of their ancestors? What challenges and opportunities does this present? How can art histories and curatorial approaches honour the site-specificity of these practices, perhaps shifting traditional ways of recording and documenting? How are institutions being challenged by these ways of working?

If you would like to talk through your proposal before submitting, please get in touch with Chloe Cull, curator Māori at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, for an informal chat about your ideas.

Please Note: This stream is open for proposals from Māori, Pacific, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Contributors can submit proposals for the First Nations Stream, ‘On Country’ as well as any of the other sessions. Please also visit this page on our website about membership and conference attendance for Indigenous contributors and attendees.

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We have 36 panels seeking paper proposals, and a further 10 streams and panels being specially curated with speakers from across the region. 

If you would like to deliver a paper at the conference, you can now apply to join one of the panels listed on our website. 

Included are panels that speak to the conference theme Haereka, journeying – through time and place – as it might relate to images, artistic practice, and material culture, while encouraging fresh readings of politics, movement, and migration in art across Aotearoa New Zealand, the Pacific, Australia, and beyond. Other panels explore the production of art, critical rethinking of visual culture, moving towards relational understandings of methodolgies and the insitution. Our lineup of panel convenors features some of the region’s most dynamic scholars, curators, and artists.

The conference will be of interest to historians of art, design & visual culture; curators; artist-researchers; and GLAM sector professionals. We particularly welcome proposals from First Nations delegates and researchers, early-career researchers, and practice-led researchers.

For the complete list of panels, as well as instructions on how to apply, please go to CALL FOR PAPERS on the conference website.

All paper proposals will be due by Friday 24 July.

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For queries regarding the conference please contact conf@aaanz.info

Ngā manaakitanga,

The 2026 AAANZ Conference Organising Committee

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