Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki
Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA, formerly the Canterbury Society of Arts) is a curated art gallery in the centre of Christchurch, New Zealand. The gallery is governed by the Canterbury Society of Arts Charitable Trust.
Also recorded as CoCA · Canterbury Society of Arts · Centre of Contemporary Art
Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki

Nicholas Burrowes · Flickr: 66 Gloucester Street (2) · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Name
- Centre of Contemporary Art
- Founded
- 1880
- Headquarters
- New Zealand
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA, formerly the Canterbury Society of Arts) is a curated art gallery in the centre of Christchurch, New Zealand. The gallery is governed by the Canterbury Society of Arts Charitable Trust.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q5062650 · wikipedia · Centre of Contemporary Art
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Centre of Contemporary Art • Architectural Style — modernist • Ren Cost — NZ$4.1 m • Location — Christchurch Central City • Address — 66 Gloucester Street, Christchurch • Owner — CSA Charitable Trust • Construction Start Date — 1968 • Renovation Date — 2011–2016 • Architecture Firm — Minson, Henning Hansen
Gloucester Street and CoCA
Gloucester Street and CoCA
In 1968 the CSA moved to larger premises at 66 Gloucester Street. The purpose-built gallery is a major example of the 'Christchurch Style' of modernist buildings designed by Canterbury's avant-garde architects in the post-war period. The building was honoured by two New Zealand Institute of Architects awards. In the years following this move, the gallery thrived and was renowned for housing some of the most progressive and innovative exhibitions in New Zealand's history of art. The CSA helped launch the careers of local New Zealand artists including Neil Dawson, Bruce Edgar, Ross Marwick, and Boyd Webb, who had their inaugural exhibitions there in June 1971. In 1996, the CSA gallery was rebranded CoCA Centre of Contemporary Art. In 2016, the gallery was gifted the name Toi Moroki by Ngāi Tahu. The gallery's full name became CoCA Toi Moroki Centre of Contemporary Art.
Earthquake and recovery
Earthquake and recovery
Like many prominent buildings in Christchurch, the CoCA gallery was damaged in the February earthquakes of 2011. In 2013 a "rescue squad of volunteers, former gallery staff on contract and experts from Te Papa recovered all the artworks trapped in the building, including everything on display at the time and the gallery's collection". Four million dollars was spent on repairs, strengthening and refurbishment of the building.
Future and refocus
Future and refocus
CoCA reopened on 13 February 2016 in its restored and modernised gallery space on Gloucester Street. The gallery was closed again temporarily after the 2016 Christchurch earthquake struck the day after the reopening. Since 2022, CoCA has refocussed its role within New Zealand contemporary art, and places an emphasis on serving its local arts community. Programmed by an artist-led group via an open call process, CoCA continues to show work by prominent New Zealand artists including the late Robyn Kahukiwa, Judy Darragh and Ron Te Kawa, as well as emerging artists including arts collective The Killing.
Institutional history
Dated record
Institutional history
The full dated record · 2 entries
1880
Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki established.
1880
Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki is recorded from 1880.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- New Zealand
The Canterbury Society of Arts
People associated with the Canterbury Society of Arts CoCA began in 1880 as the Canterbury Society of Arts (CSA). It was the first organisation to exhibit and collect artworks in Christchurch, and quickly became the most influential and dynamic arts society in New Zealand. Its first exhibition was held in 1881 at Christchurch Boys' High School, in what later became part of the Christchurch Arts Centre. The CSA played an essential role in New Zealand's burgeoning arts scene. In the 1930s it exhibited the works of “The Group”; a collection of artists including the eminent New Zealand painters Rita Angus, Evelyn Page and Doris Lusk. The CSA found its first permanent home in 1890 in a building especially designed for it by society member and acclaimed New Zealand architect Benjamin Mountfort (1825–1898) – the Canterbury Society of Arts Gallery. This was a prime example of the function and form of Gothic Revival in New Zealand architecture. A second neighbouring gallery, in the more conservatively favoured Venetian Gothic style, was added in 1894 by Richard Dacre Harman. Both buildings were on the New Zealand Historic Places Trust register until their demolition following the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Register Record : Canterbury Society of Arts Gallery (Former). Quakestudies.canterbury.ac.nz.
- 2.Elisabeth Louise C'Ailceta Cooke. The Group 1927–1977 : an annotated bibliography. Christchurchcitylibraries.com.
- 3.Register Records for the former Canterbury Society of Arts Gallery, 282–286 Durham Street, Christchurch. Quakestudies.canterbury.ac.nz.
- 4.A clear future for COCA. Stuff.co.nz. 7 October 2015.
- 5.Charlie Gates. Funds sought to speed CoCA reopening. Stuff.co.nz. 15 November 2013.
- 6.CoCA – Centre of Contemporary Art.
- 7.Jitters, but little damage in CBD. The Press. A3. 15 February 2016.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Institutions
3,152 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Centre de Cultura Contemporània de BarcelonaOrganisation
- Centre Dürrenmatt NeuchâtelOrganisation
- Centre for Contemporary PhotographyOrganisation
- Centre for International Light ArtOrganisation
- Centre Pompidou-MetzOrganisation
- Centre pour l’Image ContemporaineOrganisation
- Centro Atlántico de Arte ModernoOrganisation
- Centro Cultural La MonedaOrganisation
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.