Artists announced for first Common Ground art festival

11 December 2014

Artists announced for first Common Ground art festival

Elbe's milk bar - the teenage hangout that was a catalyst for the 1954 Mazengarb Report – will be recreated in Lower Hutt next year.

The installation by Tim Barlow is one of 11 artworks that will form Common Ground, Hutt City’s inaugural public art festival.

Ten artists from across New Zealand have been selected to show at the first festival.

Lana Lopesi’s work A'oga Hutt will take up a CBD shop space to create a reading roomthat connects the Hutt Pacific community through researching history, sharing stories and conversation.

Mia Hamilton’s bright yellow and white Daisy Blanket was a stand-out at last year’s Banks Shoes Shapeshifter exhibition. The Wellington artist returns to Hutt City forCommon Ground making large-scale French knitted ropes and giving lessons on traditional French knitting.

In her work Infill Housing she’ll also be installing birds’ nests that she’s creating from found materials, into trees. Every branch in the tree will hold nests, just as every section in her street holds multiple dwellings; a statement about childhood freedom and her concern for the next generation.

Jay Hutchinson’s work will also make a political statement. His 24-hour performance in a vacant CBD shop will recreate the experience of a sweatshop worker, drawing attention to the way the things we consume are produced.

Common Ground will run from 28 Feb–7 March 2015 around Lower Hutt and run alongside the Fringe Festival (20 Feb–14 March).

Artists showing in Common Ground – from 28 Feb-7 March 2015 – are:
• Anna Bailey
• Barbarian Productions
• Tim Barlow
• Bent
• Simon Grove
• Mia Hamilton
• Jay Hutchinson
• Lana Lopesi
• Tane Moleta
• Victoria Singh

The Mazengarb Report of 1954, formally titled the Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents, resulted from a ministerial inquiry sparked by two infamous and well-publicised events in New Zealand's history: the 22 June 1954 Parker–Hulme murder case (subject of the 1994 Peter Jackson film Heavenly Creatures) and the 20 June 1954 "Petone incident". Information on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazengarb_Report

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