Installation of the city’s newest sculpture is about to start

Passing Time by Anton Parsons will be located on Wilson Reserve, at the High Street entrance to the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) and will be dedicated as part of a public parade in the city on Saturday 5 March.

The sculpture is a gift to the city from the Christchurch City Council, CPIT and the CPIT Foundation (which provides support for enterprising projects). Passing Time was chosen by a commissioning group including representatives of CPIT and members of the Christchurch City Council’s Public Art Advisory Group, which was formed to advocate and encourage the commissioning of public works of art. The new work continues the linked route of public sculptures that starts in Cathedral Square with the Chalice (2000) and takes in Flour Power (Stewart Plaza, 2008) and Nucleus (corner of Lichfield, High and Manchester Streets, 2006) on its way to CPIT.

Passing Time is a twisting ribbon of randomly linked boxes - with each box depicting one of the years between 1906 (founding date of the Christchurch Technical College which became a technical institute in 1965 and a polytech in 1980) and 2010 (the date of the sculpture’s production). The work can be walked around, walked through, touched and sat on. Its Auckland-based artist Anton Parsons is a graduate of Canterbury University’s School of Fine Arts.

“The Passing Time sculpture and its location in Wilson Reserve, the entrance to the Madras Street campus, expresses our mission of the community inside CPIT and CPIT inside the community,” says CPIT Chief Executive Kay Giles.

The unveiling of the work will occur at the starting point of a SCAPE Parade marking the beginning of the 6th SCAPE Christchurch Biennial of Art in Public Space (4 March to 17 April) which is organised by the Art & Industry Biennial Trust. Starting at the Wilson Reserve, the parade will move along High Street, through Cathedral Square and end up in Victoria Square. Along the way, parade participants will celebrate the opening of eight new public works of art - assisted along the way by street performances, music, line dancing and a sausage sizzle. The free event is open to the public.

“For each SCAPE Christchurch Biennial, the Trust has worked with partners to ensure that at least one new public artwork remains in the city,” says Chairman, Bob Blyth. “This year Art & Industry Biennial Trust is delighted to be project manager for Passing Time, maintaining our commitment to growing Christchurch’s collection of quality public artworks.”

Passing Time was to have been installed in September last year, at the start of SCAPE 2010, but the Christchurch earthquake intervened and SCAPE was postponed to 2011.

“It has been a long wait to get this exciting new sculpture into place and I really welcome the opportunity to share it with the rest of Christchurch - and with the visitors that we look forward to welcoming to our city this year. It’s a very powerful work and gives us reason to pause, reflect and celebrate all that has been achieved in this city since 1906,” says Mayor Bob Parker.

"CPIT Foundation is pleased to support this valuable addition of public art to the CPIT campus and to the Christchurch cityscape," said the Foundation's Chief Executive Tony Kunowski.

ENDS

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