Raa Whaanau - Happy Birthday National Contemporary Art Award! Celebrating its first 20 years

5 December 2020 - 24 January 2021

It is impossible to suppress art! Raa whaanau – Happy birthday to our National Contemporary Art Award!

What would have been the award’s 21st birthday, is now a celebratory exhibition of some of the winners and finalists from the past 20 years drawn largely from our collection. With the cancellation of the 2020 awards due to the COVID-19 lockdown, we have dedicated space to making a bold statement about art’s triumph rising above the menacing shadow of a pandemic: let’s splurge! Contemporary art – you win!

Education programmes are available for this exhibition.

Image: Detail, Dane Mitchell, Collateral, 2009, mixed media installation.
2009 National Contemporary Art Award winner.