Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery


Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery is a contemporary art gallery located in Titirangi, Auckland. The gallery, which serves the West Auckland region, was originally opened within Lopdell House in 1986.

Redevelopment

The gallery closed in 2012 for a building project, with the new custom-built gallery, designed by Mitchell & Stout Architects, opening on 1 November 2014. The building project received a warm critical reception and has received awards in the 2015 Auckland Architecture Awards Public Building and Heritage categories, and the 2015 New Zealand Architecture Awards Public Building category.

Name change

The name of the gallery references the Māori phrase Te Hau a Uru, meaning the air currents the Waitakere area is known for. The name was chosen in consultation with local iwi Te Kawerau ā Maki.
Te Uru's inaugural director was Andrew Clifford, who was appointed in 2013 and is still in this role.

Exhibitions

Te Uru hosts the annual Portage Ceramic Awards, New Zealand's premier prize for ceramics. Many external curators have realised independent projects at Te Uru and Lopdell House Gallery, including Ron Brownson, Karl Chitham, Moyra Elliot, Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins, Haru Sameshima, Peter Simpson, Linda Tyler and Ian Wedde. Damian Skinner was curator of the exhibitions Hattaway, Schoon, Walters: Madness and Modernism and Steve Rumsey and the Camera Club Movement 1948-64. Major exhibitions staged since the gallery's 2014 re-opening include Seung Yul Oh's HaPoom, Janet Lilo's Janet Lilo: Status Update, and Judy Millar's site-specific installation The Model World.