A Transitional Imaginary: Space, Network and Memory in Christchurch is the outcome and the record of a particular event: the coming together of eight artists and writers in Ōtautahi Christchurch in November 2015, with the ambitious aim to write a book collaboratively over five days. The collaborative process followed the generative ‘book sprint’ method founded by our facilitator for the event, Adam Hyde, who has long been immersed in digital practices in Aotearoa. A book sprint prioritises the collective voice of the participants and reflects the ideas and understandings that are produced at the time in which the book was written, in a plurality of perspectives. Over one hundred books have been completed using the sprint methodology, covering subjects from software documentation to reflections on collaboration and fiction. We chose to approach writing about Ōtautahi Christchurch through this collaborative process in order to reflect the complexity of the post-quake city and the multiple paths to understanding it. The city has itself been a space of intensive collaboration in the post-disaster period. A Transitional Imaginary is a raw and immediate record, as much felt expression as argued thesis. In many ways the process of writing had the character of endurance performance art. The process worked by honouring the different backgrounds of the participants, allowing that dialogue and intensity could be generative of different forms of text, creating a knowledge that eschews a position of authority, working instead to activate whatever anecdotes, opinions, resources and experiences are brought into discussion. This method enables a dynamic of voices that merge here, separate there and interrupt elsewhere again. As in the contested process of rebuilding and reimagining Christchurch itself, the dissonance and counterpoint of writing reflects the form of conversation itself. This book incorporates conflict, agreement and the activation of new ideas through cross-fertilisation to produce a new reading of the city and its transition. The transitional has been given a specific meaning in Christchurch. It is a product of local theorising that encompasses the need for new modes of action in a city that has been substantially demolished (Bennett & Parker, 2012). Transitional projects, such as those created by Gap Filler, take advantage of the physical and social spaces created by the earthquake through activating these as propositions for new ways of being in the city. The transitional is in motion, looking towards the future. A Transitional Imaginary explores the transitional as a way of thinking and how we understand the city through art practices, including the digital and in writing.
A photograph of the Telogis Concept Christchurch project on the corner of Tuam Street and Madras Street. The project was organised by the Student Volunteer Army and Life in Vacant Spaces.
A photograph of the Telogis Concept Christchurch project on the corner of Tuam Street and Madras Street. The project was organised by the Student Volunteer Army and Life in Vacant Spaces.
The Christchurch earthquakes caused devastating damage to many of the city’s creative spaces. But rising from the rubble has been the Isaac Theatre Royal under the watchful eye of Neil Cox. He’s directed the resurrection of one of the premiere performance spaces in the country.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the library, to create the Undercroft.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the library, to create the Undercroft.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the library, to create the Undercroft.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the library, to create the Undercroft.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the library, to create the Undercroft.
Workers helping to remediate the space under the library, to create the Undercroft.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
A photograph of musicians on stage in the 'Sound Cone' space at LUXCITY.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
Students making use of the work and computer spaces in the reopened library.
A video taken inside the roof space of a damaged house in Avonside.
The Foundry Bar and ampitheatre areas reopened as social spaces after the earthquake.