Philosophy & People

Satellite in the City

After six years in the Auckland arts scene Satellite is closing its doors.

Satellite Gallery was established in 2006 to support and exhibit the works of emerging professional artists. It embodied a philosophy of inclusiveness and accessibility alongside its sibling gallery, the Depot Artspace and provided many opportunities for artists and their audiences including the gallery, stock room and the unique ‘Pod’ initiative. Satellite also offered residencies and supported projects such as New Zealand Film evenings, theatre, and progressive musical events.

Satellite’s vision encompassed an art world utopia, where the intrinsic value of arts practice superseded profit. While this vision sustained Satellite through many years it eventually became untenable in an increasingly challenging economic climate, especially when, as a privately owned and unsubsidised art space, survival depended primarily on the commitment of its owners.

We would like to thank all those who supported Satellite and shared the vision; staff, artists, volunteers and audiences. We would especially like to acknowledge Shelley Hargis Satellite’s first gallery manager, Robyn Gibson our inaugural resident artist and kaitiaki, designer and builder Dave Balcom, and resident curators Justin Morgan and Katrina Rose, all of whom contributed significantly to Satellite’s aesthetics, edginess, ambience and atmosphere of inclusiveness. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the vision of Linda Blincko who sees possibilities and works so hard to realise opportunities, which largely brought Satellite into being and has given it direction over the past six years.

Because we believe in the need to uphold this vision and these qualities in a world increasingly dominated by more materialistic concerns, Satellite will maintain and grow its established, well-visited virtual presence. Satellite will continue to support the artists it has previously shown with online exhibitions, links to exhibitions they are holding in other galleries and to personal websites.

Nicolas Baxter

Satellite owner and director

The Vernacular Lounge

Due to the growth of the collection, its widening scope and planned projects, the Vernacular Lounge has shifted to the premises of its parent gallery - for more information please contact

In 2011 Satellite Gallery became home to the Vernacular Lounge, an intimate living room where the influences that shape New Zealand’s distinctive cultural identity as defined by its art, architecture, literature, film and other cultural forms, are discussed, debated, explored and celebrated.

The ‘lounge’, while not peculiar to New Zealand, is traditionally and typically the social hub of the New Zealand home and it is in this spirit and form that the Vernacular Lounge will host and initiate presentations, exhibitions, happenings, recitals, screenings, concerts and performances that explore and develop our cultural vernacular.

It is a living community space in which to also acknowledge and celebrate those Cultural Icons who have significantly contributed to and who enliven and enrich this vernacular.

“Vernacular… belonging in place, knowing your own stories, realising your own potential. Being yourself rather than trying to be someone else” Tony Watkins

“Cultures are not manufactured by artists or declared by committees. They are the responses of peoples, in a particular time and a particular place, to that time and that place…They are not shaped by social revolutions but by a continuous accumulation of personal rebellions. They are enriched by the tensions of challenge. They are about difference more than they are about sameness” Hamish Keith

Linda Blincko

Nicolas Baxter

Nicolas is the Managing Director of Satellite. He has been the guiding force behind Satellite Gallery since it started.