COMMODE




Beverley and Vicki
Paul Johns
2/57
9pm, Saturday 18 October 2025

One night only. Presented at MESH lX Return

As an extension of Paul Johns’ exhibition ‘Beautiful Flowers and How to Grow Them’ (City Gallery Wellington at The Dowse Art Museum), COMMODE presents Beverley and Vicki, who featured in Johns’ exhibited films. Hosted at 2/57 opposite where Carmen Rupe’s night club The Balcony once stood, Johns’ films connect contemporary queer club nights such as MESH to those of the past, centring on the trans workers and performers who shaped The Balcony. In doing so, the screening acknowledges the continuities between Johns’ documentation and the cultures that continue to animate Pōneke Wellington’s queer nightlife.

Paul Johns is a conceptual artist based in Ōtautahi Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand, working predominantly in photography, film, neon and installation. With a practice spanning over five decades, recent exhibitions include Beautiful Flowers and How to Grow Them, The Dowse Art Museum with City Gallery Wellington; Perilous, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, Ōtautahi; Midnight Cowboy, Pah Homestead, Tāmaki Makaurau; Body-Maker, Olga, Ōtepoti; Listening Stones Jumping Rocks, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara; Been Here Long?, Visions, Tāmaki Makaurau; Paul Johns & Billy Apple, Nadene Milne Gallery, Ōtautahi.

Photography by Ted Whitaker.