The celebration runs from 6.30pm to 10pm, with live music, DJs, food and an opportunity to look inside the refurbished gallery.

Visitors should enter from Victoria Street, where Wellington band Niko Ne Zna will perform in Te Ngākau Civic Square.

The evening’s entertainment includes Ügly Disco at 6.30pm, BIRDPARTY at 8pm and Benny Salvador at 9pm. Food will be available to buy, along with drinks from a cash bar.

Entry is free, and the exhibition spaces will be open throughout the evening, although the gallery has cautioned that Friday’s celebration is not intended as a quiet opportunity to view the art. The event listing does not specify advance booking.

The reopening marks the return of one of Wellington’s main cultural venues following extensive earthquake strengthening and refurbishment.

Work has included strengthening internal walls, replacing heating and ventilation systems, installing new exhibition walls and upgrading accessible toilets.

During the closure, City Gallery continued presenting exhibitions at other venues around Wellington.

Gallery director Charlotte Davy said its return was important for the city.

“Our city has missed this platform for art and discussion,” she said.

The gallery reopens for regular visiting on Saturday 10 October with a major exhibition by British artist Cornelia Parker, featuring more than 50 works spread across the building.

Parker is known for transforming ordinary objects into large-scale artworks, often by crushing, breaking or dismantling them and then creating something new from the remains.

One of her best-known installations, Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View, features the fragments of a garden shed that was blown apart and then suspended around a light.

The exhibition includes sculpture, photography, film and installations spanning more than four decades of her career.

Unlike Friday’s free party, the Cornelia Parker exhibition is ticketed. Admission costs $25 for adults, $22 for concessions and $2 for children, with tickets available through Ticketmaster.

The exhibition runs until 7 March 2027.

Parker will also take part in a public conversation with co-curator Andrea Schlieker at the Harbourside Function Venue, 4 Taranaki Street, on Saturday at 4pm. This is a separate ticketed event.

City Gallery will open daily from 10am to 5pm, with late opening until 9pm on Thursdays.

The gallery’s new café, Āta, opens on Wednesday 14 October.