The AAANZ 2026 Conference 'Haereka' runs 2–4 December 2026 primarily at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, co-hosted with Christchurch Art Gallery.
The Art Association of Australia and New Zealand brings its annual conference to Ōtautahi Christchurch from 2 to 4 December 2026, hosted primarily at the University of Canterbury with evening events across the city. Titled Haereka, meaning journey, the 2026 edition marks the association's return to New Zealand soil for its flagship gathering of art and visual-culture researchers.
The theme honours the journeys of the Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe and Ngāi Tahu peoples of Te Waipounamu, inviting work on journeying through time and place in relation to images, artistic practice and material culture.
The conference is run by the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ), a registered charity whose stated aim is to support research in the arts across art history, theory, curatorship, art education and practice. Its annual conference typically carries more than 150 papers alongside keynotes and graduate masterclasses.
The 2026 event is co-hosted by the University of Canterbury Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha and Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, with an organising committee drawn from both institutions and AAANZ, including Richard Bullen, Rosie Ibbotson and Barbara Garrie of the university and Melanie Oliver and Felicity Milburn of the gallery.
The conference is aimed at historians of art, design and visual culture, curators, artist-researchers and professionals across the galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) sector. The organisers particularly welcome First Nations, early-career and practice-led researchers, and run a dedicated First Nations stream alongside the main programme.
The main venue, the University of Canterbury, sits on its Ilam campus in northwest Christchurch, a short distance from Christchurch International Airport and connected to the central city by the Metro bus network. Christchurch is the South Island's largest city and its principal air gateway, served by direct trans-Tasman and domestic flights that make it straightforward to reach for Australian and New Zealand delegates.
Some evening sessions move into the central city, notably to Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, placing part of the programme among the city's public art institutions. Delegates have the full range of central-city and suburban accommodation to draw on, with the campus and the central city a short drive or bus ride apart.
Haereka is the first time AAANZ's annual conference has been held in New Zealand since Auckland in 2019, and the first in the South Island, drawing an academic and curatorial audience from across Australia and New Zealand to Christchurch in early summer. A three-day conference of this scale, split between a university campus and a major public gallery, is the kind of knowledge-sector event that fills shoulder-season accommodation and underlines Christchurch's standing as a South Island conference destination.
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