Events Calendar

Experience the intersection of art, science, and technology in this groundbreaking exhibition featuring over 30 works by 21 internationally celebrated astrophotographers.

This eighth Winterstellar exhibition represents the finest contemporary astrophotography from across the South Island, where cutting-edge camera technology meets artistic vision under some of the world's darkest skies.

These aren't just photographs—they're artistic interpretations of cosmic phenomena, transforming scientific imagery into stunning visual art. The abstract beauty of nebulae, galaxies, and star fields creates works that could be mistaken for ocean depths or microscopic worlds, challenging our perceptions of scale and beauty in the universe.

Featured artists include globally recognised names whose work has been exhibited internationally and published in National Geographic, NASA, Forbes, and the BBC.

Award winners include Milky Way Photographer of the Year recipients and artists whose images have been selected as NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day.

The exhibition will be showing rangi takō | clear skies, an original film combining time-lapse astrophotography with a specially commissioned musical score by composer Liz Conway, creating a multi-sensory artistic experience that brings the night sky's movement and rhythm indoors.

This unique art form pushes the boundaries of traditional photography, requiring technical mastery, artistic vision, and often hours of patient work in remote locations.

The result is a body of work that expands our understanding of both art and our place in the cosmos.

Following its Central Otago debut, the exhibition will tour nationally, showcasing South Island's contribution to this emerging and dynamic art form.

A celebration of contemporary New Zealand art at the forefront of global astrophotography.

The final flourish to this exhibition will be a 7.2m long by 2m high super detailed (30arcsec/px) image of the Milky Way captured over a number of years by Professor Brian Boyle from the Antimony Observatory in the Kawarau Gibbston International Dark Sky Park.

This installation will be complimented later in October by a video which dives into the depths of our Milky Way with breathtaking deep space images of nebulae and other astronomical phenomenon captured from within Otago's dark skies.

Location

Central Stories Museum & Art Gallery

21 Centennial Ave, Alexandra