Archive

Picturesque Gardens

28 September 2019 - 19 January 2020

Fashionable from the late 1700s, the picturesque style of garden was the terrain of the rich. Evocative ancient ruins, quaint caves, hidden symbolism and asymmetrical More

Bugs! Our Backyard Heroes is a family-friendly, hands-on educational experience that brings visitors face-to-face with some real live mini-monsters. The exhibition explores the secret world of bugs and the vital role they play in our lives without us even realising it! More

Blooming: An Abstract Garden of Waahine-Women’s Works

9 November 2019 - 9 February 2020

How we relate to abstraction depends on our own cultural experience and our interpretation of line, colour and shape. The absence of any obvious meaning can allow us to find our own connection to abstract art and to make up our own stories to give it meaning. More

Puhoro ō mua, Puhoro ki tua – 9th International Indigenous Artists Gathering

23 November 2019 - 23 February 2020

Puhoro ō mua, Puhoro ki tua showcases art works by nearly 100 indigenous artists from across the globe including Aotearoa New Zealand. It celebrates the diversity of contemporary indigenous art while highlighting the legacy of tradition present within contemporary practice. More

Waiclay National Ceramics Award 2019

7 December 2019 - 8 March 2020

Waiclay was established in 2001 at a national convention in the Waikato which included a national ceramic exhibition at Waikato Museum. Waiclay has continued this special relationship with Waikato Museum by holding a national exhibition at the Museum every two years. More

Kirikiriroa Non-Fictions: True visual histories from the Hamilton CBD

14 December 2019 - 16 February 2020

This exhibition is filled with examples of how art works have captured our city’s history through artists’ visions of significant locations, including scenes that have since disappeared from our built environment. These are works from our permanent collections that have been selected based on their narration of actual events and sights in Kirikiriroa CBD and suburbia over the years. More

The World is Large, Beautiful and Mostly Undiscovered: A garden of surrealism

25 January - 7 June 2020

In response to the development of Hamilton Gardens’ newest ‘fantasy’ garden, the Surrealist Garden, due to open in February 2020, Waikato Museum has curated 'The World is Large, Beautiful and Mostly Undiscovered,' an exhibition designed around the 1920s principles of surrealism. More

Home by Morning

22 February - 21 June 2020

In Home by Morning Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato showcases art from the collection that features nocturnal sojourns: a night spent on a beach, at a friend’s house, the drive through the heartland that takes you home, and the endless hills that silently change with the dawn. More

Dinosaur rEvolution: Secrets of Survival - Card Payments Only

7 March - 13 September 2020

Dinosaurs ruled the world for 169 million years and vanished 65 million years ago – but did they all go extinct? More

Waro Mutu: The End of Coal

14 March - 23 August 2020

Photographer David Cook’s relationship with the North Waikato
mining township of Rotowaro began in 1984, when Waikato Museum
commissioned him to document the impact of the coal industry. More

2020 National Contemporary Art Award – suspended until 2021

8 May 2020

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Waikato Museum regretfully announces that the 2020 National Contemporary Art Award has been cancelled due to the need to meet emergency conditions introduced by the New Zealand Government to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The 21st running of the... More

Public and Private: Photographs of People

13 June - 30 August 2020

Public and Private depicts people through historical images. The private photographs are those we commission or take ourselves – the studio portraits or snapshots that we share only with our family and friends. They speak of our identity within this limited circle. More

Curator Notes

27 June - 6 September 2020

In this exhibition on plant health we are opening up a window into our curators' minds, using
annotated notes to demystify the curatorial process, and illuminate
their typically unseen craft. More