ART BOX Project Launch

ART BOX Project Launch

John Di Stefano - Inter/Section

Civic Square 5th-18th November 2003

Inter/Section is proudly sponsored by Big Image Print

November the 5th will see the launch of The Art Box Project, a contemporary art project of public space installations. The Art Box is a 1m^3 Perspex cube that will relocate to different sites around Wellington.

Over the course of a year, 12 different artists will engage with different sites around Wellington City creating site-specific works within the Art Box. The Project aims to raise discussion around contemporary public art practice. Project Director, Katharine Allard, says, "The Art Box creates a pocket of space for artists to play in a multitude of ways with interpreting the city." To become involved in the project artists submit proposals to the Art Box Project Trust - the next deadline for submission is January 4th 2004.

Allard first had the idea for the Art Box over a year ago and set up the Art Box Project Trust, which have meet regularly to develop the project, exploring funding options and establishing links with community to bring the idea into fruition. Funding to build the Art Box was granted through Wellington City Council and Creative NZ's Creative Communities scheme earlier this year. Big Image Print has partnered the Art Box Project Trust to sponsor the launch project and the Wellington Waterfront will also be sponsoring two projects over the coming months.

The first artist to exhibit is John Di Stefano, from the 5th to the 18th of November. His work "Inter/Section" will be situated at the heart of Wellington's Civic Square, a site that has undergone much transformation over the past 100 years.

>From afar, the installation will resemble a black minimalist cube. As passers-by approach the Art Box, they will at first see their own reflection on the surface of the cube, and as their proximity to the box shifts they will begin to discern fragments of faint late 19^th and 20^th Century photographs of the site. The (live) reflection of the passerby activates the work, literally superimposing past with present.

Di Stefano's recent work engages with the notions of displacement, history and identity by examining how perceptions of memory, space and time shape the articulation of subjectivities. Di Stefano say Inter/Section is "conceived as a meditation on the lives of those citizens who have lived in the city".

John Di Stefano, (BFA, Concordia University, Montreal; MFA, UCLA; PhD, Concordia University, Montreal) is an interdisciplinary visual artist/videomaker, writer, curator and educator. At present, he is a Senior Lecturer and Director of the Postgraduate Studies programme at Massey University's School of Fine Arts in Wellington. He has exhibited his work extensively over the past 12 years, participating in numerous exhibitions, including several one-person shows in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, as well as film & video festivals in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Currently taking place is 'Je Me Souviens (I Remember)', his exhibition at The Moving Image Centre, Auckland.

© Scoop Media