Art for Christchurch at Art Central

Art for Christchurch at Art Central

The SCAPE 7 Public Art Christchurch Biennial has just released plans for SCAPE 7 Art Central, Christchurch’s temporary art, culture and education space from 27 September – 9 November 2013.

Art Central will be located in the Performing Arts Precinct on the corner of Gloucester and Colombo Streets. This position will centre it at the middle of SCAPE 7’s free-to-view Public Art Walkway of eleven ambitious new temporary works of public art; two new, permanent sculptures and four existing installations.

The 700m2 architecturally-designed space will play host to SCAPE 7’s opening weekend, public events, school and community art programmes, artist talks, an outdoor cafe, reading room, bike-hire and be the meeting point for free guided tours and activities for children.

“Our aim is to create a welcoming central-city space where the community can engage with the new, cutting-edge public art that we are creating for SCAPE 7” says Bob Blyth, Chairman of the SCAPE Public Art Trust.

“In addition to being the hub for SCAPE 7’s activities, we have also designed Art Central with additional capacity to permit us to share the space with other Christchurch Arts Organisations” he continues.

Westpac Regional manager Gina Dellabarca says “Westpac is supporting this as we believe a dynamic arts scene is vital to the recovery of our city, and having a project which is easily accessible for everyone in the community is particularly important to us. We commend SCAPE Public Art for bringing such a top quality programme of art and events to the city and we are proud to be a part of that vision.”

Fulton Hogan have commenced ground-works at the Art Central site, and construction of the dramatic curtain walls and Portabuild units which LeadbetterCarr architects have specified for Art Central will be complete in time for SCAPE 7’s opening weekend on 28 and 29 September 2013.

“At a time when all of Christchurch is having to think creatively, it is encouraging to see that SCAPE Public Art have envisioned a temporary venue which can be shared with others, can be used again, and welcomes Christchurch people to engage with a raft of top quality, free art installations and events” says Roger Sutton, Chief Executive of CERA who have supported the siting of Art Central.

Deborah McCormick, Director of SCAPE Public Art says “Hundreds of hours and materials and services have been provided on a sponsorship basis for the construction of Art Central. It’s important for Christchurch people to come and make the most of Art Central. Our city businesses have invested their time and energy to create it for us, and enjoying it will be our thank you to them.”

Art Central Sponsors:

PLATINUM: Westpac

GOLD: Canterbury Community Trust, Christchurch City Council

SILVER: Aotea Electric, Aurecon, CCDU, CERA, Fulton Hogan, Leighs Construction, NZ Steel, Placemakers, Spanbuild, RCP, The Press

BRONZE: Orion, JA Schneideman Family Trust, Mackleys Transport.

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