Giant Artwork By Sixty NZ Artists To Hit Digital Billboards And Public Spaces Throughout The Nation

Shared Lines: Pūtahitanga

• Nationwide Digital Billboard Campaign launches 28 September
• Online Exhibition of Shared Lines: Pūtahitanga
• Physical installation in the ground floor of the new Spark building in Christchurch Cathedral Square

A giant collective artwork made by sixty New Zealand artists is complete and set to hit digital billboards and public spaces throughout the nation. The work celebrates new ways that artists have continued to work together in light of recent Covid 19 impacts while the physical outcomes respond to a country swivelling between alert levels.

The project, Shared Lines: Pūtahitanga is the brainchild of Shared Lines Collaborative, an exchange project which emerged out of the earthquake events that devastated Canterbury, New Zealand, and Fukushima, Japan in 2011. Shared Lines have previously held major festivals and events in Christchurch, Japan, Wellington and Kaikōura.

This work, says Shared Lines producer Linda Lee, aims to strengthen the connections between artists and communities through New Zealand’s regions and cities at a time when many are feeling isolated and their livelihoods have been out under great stress.

Having returned to New Zealand from a trip to Japan to install Shared Lines: Aotearoa - a showcase of New Zealand artists in Shiogama - just weeks before lockdown, producers Linda Lee and Audrey Baldwin conducted a series of experiments with Shared Lines artists in April. The artwork draws on the surrealist tradition of ‘exquisite corpse’ where each artist contributes an element to a work which is part of a collaborative whole.

In June Shared Lines sent a nationwide callout to artists. It resulted in the selection of 60 artists to create a 35 metre long ribbon, or braided ‘river’, to be displayed in public spaces and galleries. QMS and Go Media came on board providing digital billboard placements up and down the country while, thanks to Cequent Projects, a PVC banner will be displayed in the foyer of the prominent new Spark building across from Cathedral Square, Christchurch for the next three months. The nationwide launch of Shared Lines: Pūtahitanga on digital billboards and online will take place on Monday 28 September.

This work showcases a thick slice of local talent, with 25 of the 60 artists based in or around Ōtautahi. With the support of CCC’s Enliven Places Fund, the artwork will be visible 24/7 in the heart of the city.

Shared Lines aim to foster relationships and discussions in and between communities that have experienced disasters of all kinds around the Pacific Rim. Artists are used to being adaptable in marginal conditions and are often the first to act after a disaster to help the healing and contribute to the resilience of a community. Shared Lines: Pūtahitanga is an opportunity for New Zealanders to come together, and collectively reflect on the Covid-19 pandemic and our recovery.

Shared Lines would like to thank Creative New Zealand, Christchurch City Council, QMS Media, Go Media, Cequent, Adgraphix and Gordon Harris The Art & Graphic Store.

For more information about dates and locations of the billboards, exhibitions in Christchurch, updates and past projects visit www.sharedlines.org.nz

For any inquiries, contact sharedlinesnz@gmail.com and head to www.sharedlines.org.nz to find more information about our previous projects

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