From the ashes of the earthquakes which have destroyed so much of Christchurch over the past year, are starting to rise new venues and new opportunities for artisits.
Intricate and imaginative are the knits which are pearled and planed away in an exhibition at the Dowse in Lower Hutt. Artist and Christchurch earthquake refugee Jacquelyn Greenbank talks to Lynn about her wonderful and whimsical contribution from her new home in Tauranga.
Part of the Kiwi brain drain to Australia, Christchurch artist Mike Hewson prepares to show his new countrymen the impact of the earthquakes on his hometown and his art.
With earthquake damage worse than first, gallery staff are thinking laterally, and this weekend sees the beginning of the Rolling Maul Exhibition. Director Jenny Harper gives us an update.
Poet/Journalist Richard Langston's fifth collection 'Things Lay in Pieces' starts with a sequence about the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Christchurch poet Jeffrey Paparoa Holman whose new collection Shaken Down 6.3 looks at the impacts and aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes. It's published by Canterbury University Press.
A couple of the most intriguing public art installations on in Christchurch. Dr Jessica Halliday discusses COCA gallery's window space project and Riki Manuel describes his art installations made from the ruins of earthquake hit buildings.
Ruth Todd is a stalwart of the Christchurch Writers and Readers Festival - which returns after a four year hiatus due to the earthquakes.
Professor Andrew Barrie discusses an exhibition that comes up with ways to keep Christchurch communities together after the loss of so many earthquake damaged parish churches.
The Temple for Christchurch is an enormous work, representing the seismic wave of the February 22 earthquake. Made mostly from salvaged wood it's taken a team of volunteers two years to build. But it will meet a fiery end on Saturday night when it is deliberately set alight. Justin Gregory meets the designer and his volunteers with two weeks left until burn day. But when he gets there, none are to be found.
Poetica is a series of large-scale paintings of 20 different poems in twenty different languages, paying tribute to the different nationalities lost in the Christchurch earthquake.
Earthquakes are one of the few natural disasters Australia seldom experiences. We find out from curator Felicity Milburn how our neighbours have responded to an exhibition of earthquake related art direct from Christchurch.
Earthquakes are one of the few natural disasters Australia seldom experiences. We find out from curator Felicity Milburn how our neighbours have responded to an exhibition of earthquake related art direct from Christchurch. Tomorrow will be the same (but not as this is), on show in Mandurah in Western Australia.
Maddie Leach and Jem Noble, collaborators on I was using six watts when you Received me... The broadcast of sounds that are special to the city but were lost after the earthquakes are part of the SCAPE Public Art Biennial which starts in Christchurch this Friday.
A copy of an 'animated painting', created from painted portraits of 50 people from the Christchurch arts community. The video was part of Julia Holden's exhibition 'its like now'.
A short story by Shirley Eng titled, "Tears and Hugs".
Paper 090 The NMIT Arts & Media Building is the first in a new generation of multistorey timber structures. It employs an advanced damage avoidance earthquake design that is a world first for a timber building. Aurecon structural engineers are the first to use this revolutionary Pres-Lam technology developed at the University of Canterbury. This technology marks a fundamental change in design philosophy. Conventional seismic design of multi-storey structures typically depends on member ductility and the acceptance of a certain amount of damage to beams, columns and walls. The NMIT seismic system relies on pairs of coupled LVL shear walls that incorporate high strength steel tendons post-tensioned through a central duct. The walls are centrally fixed allowing them to rock during a seismic event. A series of U-shaped steel plates placed between the walls form a coupling mechanism, and act as dissipators to absorb seismic energy. The design allows the primary structure to remain essentially undamaged while readily replaceable connections act as plastic fuses. In this era where sustainability is becoming a key focus, the extensive use of timber and engineered-wood products such as LVL make use of a natural resource all grown and manufactured within a 100km radius of Nelson. This project demonstrates that there are now cost effective, sustainable and innovative solutions for multi-story timber buildings with potential applications for building owners in seismic areas around the world.
A video of an address by Andre Lovatt, CEO of the Arts Centre, at the 2014 Seismics and the City forum. This talk was part of the Building Innovation section.
Context of the project: On 4 September 2010, 22 February 2011, 13 June 2011 and 23 December 2011 Christchurch suffered major earthquakes and aftershocks (well over 10,000) that have left the central city in ruins and many of the eastern suburbs barely habitable even now. The earthquakes on 22 February caused catastrophic loss of life with 185 people killed. The toll this has taken on the residents of Christchurch has been considerable, not least of all for the significant psychological impact and disruption it has had on the children. As the process of rebuilding the city commenced, it became clear that the arts would play a key role in maintaining our quality of life during difficult times. For me, this started with the children and the most expressive of all the art forms – music.
A photograph of the Poetica Urban Poetry wall.
A short story by Jane Seaford titled, "Finding the Way Home".
A photograph of the entrance to the Re:Entry event.
A photograph of volunteers painting a mural in Kaiapoi.
A short story by Shirley Eng titled, "Man in a Boat".
Slides from the presentation by Dr Julie Mackey (School of Literacies and Arts in Education) on "Implementing Blended E-Learning Strategies in Disaster Response Mode and Beyond: Stories from teacher education".
A photograph of The Brewery on Garlands Road.
A photograph of a musician performing at the Re:Entry event.
The tower on the Great Hall at the Arts Centre has recently been lowered to the ground for safety - and decorated for Christmas. It must be the most unusual Christmas tree ever.
A photograph of a decorated fence at Gap Filler's first project.
A photograph of large wooden flowers erected on an empty site in Kaiapoi.