Bronwyn Holloway-Smith: The Wheel of Avalon

Step onto the dazzling set of The Wheel of Avalon, Bronwyn Holloway-Smith's bold new installation reimagining the iconic 1990s game show Wheel of Fortune New Zealand.

Filmed at the Avalon Television Centre in Lower Hutt, the original show was more than just a syndicated import—it was a proudly local production, staffed by locals and peppered with prize ads filmed along Te Awakairangi and in nearby parks. For kids growing up in the Hutt, like Holloway-Smith, it was glitzy, magical—the kind of show where winning a new car could change your life, and Lana’s outfits deserved their own fan club.

Decades later, Holloway-Smith returns to this nostalgic touchstone with both affection and a sharply critical gaze. Beneath the glitter and canned applause lies a pointed examination of the forces that shape our national identity, economy, and cultural memory. A long-time explorer of public histories, media archives and civic values, she uses this familiar slice of 90s pop culture to ask: what were the real prizes on our national wheel of fortune? And what—now—are we spinning for?

At the heart of the installation is the prize wheel itself, which visitors are invited to spin with that satisfyingly retro clunk. Gone now are the steak knives, spa pools, and new cars. In their place, Holloway-Smith offers a new set of prizes—thoughtful, provocative, and quietly radical—that invites us to rethink what we value and how we remember.