Out-of-place houses subject of one-day sculpture

Click to enlarge Brittons Yard. Photo: Lara Almarcegui

Thursday, February 12, 2009
Out-of-place houses subject of one-day sculpture

Changes in Wellington’s residential housing history and the surrounding environment are being explored in the latest one-day sculpture project being exhibited on the city’s outskirts.

\The project Relocated Houses, Brittons Yard, 2009, which can be viewed on tomorrow at Haywards Hill Rd, was commissioned as part of the year-long One Day Sculpture series by the Litmus Research Initiative, School of Fine Arts at Massey University.

Spanish artist Lara Almarcegui discovered the strange street of houses on her initial research visit to New Zealand in March last year. Never intended to be sited side by side the buildings have been removed from the city and surrounding region to this curious waystation, awaiting sale, unoccupied and unfurnished, some in a state of disrepair, others relatively intact.

Drawing on her experience of researching the histories of wastelands and ruins around the world, Almarcegui has worked intensively to trace the roots of each house. The resulting One Day Sculpture project includes a history of the houses published in tomorrow’s Dominion Post, and an invitation from the artist to visitors to join her on an exclusive tour of the street at Brittons Yard from 6.30-8.30pm.

For a gold coin donation, return transport is offered from the city centre to the sculpture site. Mini vans will leave from outside the entrance to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa at 6pm and 6.45pm, returning to Wellington at 7.45pm and 8.45pm.

Curator of the One Day Sculpture series, Claire Doherty says though the individual stories of each of the houses may touch on personal histories, it is the potential for these buildings to tell us about the moments of change in Wellington’s histories that most interests the artist.

Almarceguí’s project is the sixth new artwork for Wellington in the One Day Sculpture series. Previous works include a dramatic barricade which blocked Stout St (by the British duo Heather and Ivan Morison); a chorus of bells sounding a flood warning through the central city (Amy Howden-Chapman); and a soup kitchen commemorating a race-based murder (Kah Bee Chow). The series continues though until June.

Almarcegui, who is currently based in Rotterdam, will be speaking about her work at an informal talk on Sunday. She and fellow One Day Sculpture artist Bedwyr Williams will be joined in conversation by Litmus research director David Cross at level 1 of the Enjoy Public Art Gallery on Sunday February 15 at at 4pm.

For more information on all the projects and public programme events please visit: www.onedaysculpture.org.nz

ENDS

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