HS Alumni exhibitions (curated)
The CURATION programme of the HANDSHAKE project connects ex-Handshakers with new challenges and expanded network opportunities, including international exhibitions.
These curated exhibitions are single‑focused, evolving primarily from requests or opportunities from galleries, curators, and events, in partnership with M101 organisers. They may arise from an artist’s call for elaborate curatorial themes, collaborations, or new challenges, or from the chance for artworks developed in past and current practices to be exhibited in new locations and circumstances.
Each HS exhibition is unique, shaped by a different mix of artists, curatorial focus, exhibition setup, and local context. The HS organisers work closely with (co‑)curators and gallery partners to negotiate the curation and selection of works.
This additional programme extends opportunities for continuation, focus, and growth in the creative field. Through it, artistic excellence, creative strength, resilience, development, and networking can thrive.
Current:
Aotearoa Exchange, Munich 2026
Aotearoa Exchange presented a unique live performance as part of the 1st International Summit of Jewelry Classes and Pop‑up Exhibition, held during the Pinakothek der Moderne’s centenary celebrations in Munich on Friday, 6 March, 2026. The project brought together wearable works by twenty Handshake Project alumni, animated by six performers who moved through the space to create shifting, embodied encounters between audience and work.
The presentation offered an artist‑led intervention centred on collaboration, mobility, and shared encounter. Sculptural headpieces by Mia Straka and garments by Jessica Winchcombe formed the core of the performance, carrying alumni works activated through choreographed movement.
Set within the Pinakothek der Moderne’s once‑in‑a‑century celebration, Aotearoa Exchange placed our alumni within a rare international gathering of peers and experts — an opportunity to communicate, share, compare, and participate in a global exchange of ideas and practices.
Supported by Creative New Zealand, Makers 101, and the artists.
Past:
HS alumni at Stanley Street Gallery, Sydney
April 10 – May 4, 2024
An exhibition by Reawyn Walsh, Nina van Duijnhoven, Aphra Cheesman, Nadene Carr, Becky Bliss, Sarah Walker-Holt, Neke Moa, and Caroline Thomas who contemplate themes of discovery, origins, integration, transformation, virtue, cultural respect, differences, and conflict.
CHAINreaction (10-year anniversary)
March – April 2021
MAKERS of Traditional CHANGE: The Conventional Reformed
HS alumni EXHIBITION at Stanley Street Gallery, Sydney, 30 September – 24 October, 2020
Selected NZ jewellery artists from the HANDSHAKE project exhibited artworks connected to the context of traditional jewellery.
These artists respond to widely known jewellery traditions, e.g. reformatted versions of how and why jewellery exists or is worn.
CLICK here for more
TE AO HURIHURI – EVER CHANGING WORLD
Journeys through jewellery from New Zealand and the UK. The Crypt gallery, London 23 – 27 October 2018
curated by Mark Hutchins-Pond and Peter Deckers
Pātaka Art + Museum, Toi Gallery, Porirua, 14 September – 14 October 2018
at the Residenz Palaz, Munich, Germany, 25–27 February 2016 (Munich Jewellery Week)
Click here for more details about the setup process of this show
DOWNLOAD Munich SPECIALS catalogue PDF
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