The Crackling of the Sun

Time and location

23 AUG – 1 NOV 2026

The Crackling of the Sun brings together works that explore myth, speculative histories and futures, and shared forms of world-making. Drawing on science fiction, new technologies, and diverse mythologies, the exhibition connects speculative imaginaries from different parts of the world. Rather than following a linear sense of history, it moves through temporalities shaped by ancestry, cosmology, memory, and future-making. Time appears not as a singular forward movement, but as something that loops, fractures, and returns through echoes, interruptions, remembrance, prophecy, and survival.

The “crackling” of the sun suggests both rupture and transmission – a radiant instability through which stories move across generations, worlds, and states of being. Mythologies are approached not as distant pasts but as living technologies: systems for navigating planetary crisis, displacement, kinship, and transformation. The conjunction of works proposes futurity as relational rather than extractive: a practice of returning, listening, and reactivating what has been obscured. 

Curated by Anja Lückenkemper

Image Credit: Mawena Yehouessi, Evil N, 2025. Courtesy of the Artist.

Help keep Te Uru humming

Help keep Te Uru humming

Te Uru plays a leading role in sharing contemporary art with diverse audiences. your support enables us to continue this important work by making our exhibitions and programmes accessible to everyone. By donating to Te Uru, you are contributing essential funds to the development of art in Aotearoa, and the communities it nourishes.

Help keep Te Uru humming