A photograph of a garden area and coffee kiosk on Colombo Street.
A photograph of a garden area on the former site of Piko Wholefoods.
A photograph of seating for Gap Filler's temporary outdoor cinema. The seating is stacked in a workshop.
A photograph of seating for Gap Filler's temporary outdoor cinema. The seating is stacked in a workshop.
A photograph of the empty site where Gap Filler's Dance-O-Mat will be constructed.
A photograph of a group of people at the Songs For Christchurch launch.
A photograph of a refreshments table at the opening of Gap Filler's Dance-O-Mat.
A photograph of the Fitzgerald Avenue Community Garden.
A photograph of the Fitzgerald Avenue Community Garden.
A photograph of volunteers creating the Outdoor Music Room.
A photograph of a garden area on the former site of Piko Wholefoods.
A video of a tour through the Christchurch central city Red Zone. The video includes footage of Armagh Street, Madras Street, Latimer Square, St John's Anglican Church, Hereford Street, the Octagon Live restaurant, the Design and Arts building, the High Street mall, and the Grand Chancellor Hotel. It also includes footage of construction workers cutting up metal beams, and clearing rubble from a building on Manchester Street.
A video of a tour of the Christchurch central city Red Zone. The video includes footage of the Design and Arts College Building, the Heritage Hotel, Cathedral Junction, the Octagon Live restaurant, Manchester Street, Hereford Street, Bedford Row, High Street, Lichfield Street, the Majestic Theatre, Colombo Street, Cashel Street, Just Jeans and Starbucks on Cashel Street, and Kilmore Street. It also includes footage of residents on a Red Zone bus tour.
There's a big weekend in store for Christchurch where the curtain is being raised on the new Court Theatre. The new $56 million playhouse is the theatre's first permanent home since the 2011 earthquake destroyed its Arts Centre venue.
A photograph showing Geoff Devoll and Anna Kouwenhoven in their 'red zoned' home, soon to be demolished following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing a demolition of a 'red zoned' home in Dallington, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing a demolition of a 'red zoned' home in Dallington, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing Road Cones in Dallington, Christchurch following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing a demolition of a 'red zoned' home in Dallington, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photography showing Bill and Heather Allott outside their 'red zoned' home, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing earthquake damage in a Dallington resident's home, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing earthquake damage in a Dallington resident's home, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing Jayne Cummins in her 'red zoned' home, soon to be demolished following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing earthquake damaged homes in Dallington, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing earthquake damage in a Dallington resident's home, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph showing a 'red zoned' home in Dallington, following the series of earthquakes in Christchurch.
A photograph captioned, "I wonder what they're going to do with the land? We'd like a community garden. That's our aim, but I don't know what they're going to do. Seems like nobody does".
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 captioned, "So we're just sitting here not knowing. And okay, sooner or later it will come to an end, eventually it has to. It's the not knowing that kills you".
Photograph captioned, "I'll have mixed feelings when I leave. I'll be sad to go - and sad to see my house go. But I hope it'll be a good feeling once it's over. I'll be pleased to get to that stage and feel like I'm finally moving on".