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It's tempting to align the flourishing of artist-run initiatives (ARIs) in Auckland with the city's concurrent growth in tertiary institutions offering degrees in visual art. When I went to art school, the Elam School of Fine Arts was really the only available choice. Today there are five schools operating in a city of a million inhabitants, and each year sees a new outpouring of usually unrepresented fine arts graduates from these institutions. In such a competitive art pool, association with ARIs can mean the difference between sinking or swimming for an emergent practice.

The loophole in my theory about more schools leading to more artist-run spaces, however, is that nearly all spaces are the brainchildren of Elamites, so consequently it's these graduates who stay afloat (at least in terms of art-world cachet, if not actual money in the bank). The exception to this Elam-dominant trend is the long-lived Room (rm) project, which grew out of the Auckland University of Technology system, and particularly the inspiring tutelage of the late Julian Dashper. Run by a board of five members, most notably the stalwart Nick Spratt, Room has been through many incarnations since 1997 reflecting its ever-changing CBD location: rm3, rm212, rm401 and rm103. Having recently moved to an unnumbered room near Samoa House on Karangahape Road, it is now known by the diminutive 'rm'.

Perhaps because of its relative longevity, Room feels like the friendliest, most dependable space in Auckland - supporters were invited to bring pot plants to the first opening as house-warming gifts. Serving cups of tea and receptive to anyone's proposal, Room is genuinely community spirited, offering workshops and operating a small shop of artist multiples. This contrasts with a new breed of artist-run initiative which is perhaps more akin to an artist-run dealership. Run by a collective of artists who share characteristic aesthetics and interests, such as Tahi Moore, Kate Newby and Simon Denny, Gambia Castle would fit this description. They increased the status of their stable by exercising the Tinkerbell principle: believing so hard in their crew that everyone else followed suit. While some of Gambia Castle's artists already had representation at the space's inception, they now nearly all enjoy the support of dealers or publicly funded institutions, or both. This is a demonstration of the worthwhile investment for any collective of paying rent and buying 'airspace' - simply being visible. But ultimately the key to the success of a place like Gambia Castle and its coterie of hipsters is that it just looks like fun ...

This article appears in excerpted form. You can read the entire article in Art & Australia's Autumn 2010 issue.