Emerging Artists to Re:Ignite the City in Re:START Mall

Emerging Artists to Re:Ignite the City in Re:START Mall during SCAPE Public Art Season

From a group of over sixty who attended the SCAPE Public Art Development Workshop Re:ACTIVATE in May, emerging public artists’ Mark Catley and Janna van Hasselt have been selected to have their artworks produced by SCAPE Public Art, the largest producer of public art in New Zealand.

The Re:ACTIVATE exhibition will be hosted in the heart of the city at Cashel Street Re:START Mall and is guest curated by Paula Orrell, Director & Principal Curator of CoCA.

The SCAPE Public Art Season 2016 will also produce, with the support of Lewis Bradford Engineers, the first Re:ACTIVATE Kids public artwork by young artist, George Lewis. Re:ACTIVATE Kids, offers aspiring artists and designers under the age of eighteen the chance to be selected to have their artwork produced.

There will be an opportunity to meet the artists and all those involved in the project during the SCAPE Public Art Season 2016 Opening Weekend at Re:START at noon on October 1. For the full public programme go to http://www.scapepublicart.org.nz/season2016/programmes/

Re:START Chairperson John Suckling says the Cashel Street Re:START Mall is an appropriate setting to showcase emerging artists. “SCAPE Public Art producing the Re:ACTIVATE artwork within the Re:START Mall promotes the city’s creative profile and showcases the innovative urban regeneration of Christchurch. This has always been at the heart of what we are trying to achieve. Our goal is to be a community project that is even more than a Container Mall, to reignite the city centre during our recovery. SCAPE Public Art has helped us give reason to bring local people and visitors back to our centre. We are delighted to host the Re:ACTIVATE exhibition and impressed to see an initiative to engage kids and youth with art through Re:ACTIVATE Kids. Our existing SCAPE artworks, the characters of Avonside Drive, seem so at home within the mall and reflect well what we try to be all about; community and collaboration”.

Deborah McCormick, Director of SCAPE Public Art, says the Cashel Street Re:START Mall is a great partner to SCAPE Public Art. “We share so many of the same goals for the city. SCAPE endeavours, through Re:ACTIVATE, to provide an opportunity to develop local and emerging artists supported by our art and industry partnership model with Fulton Hogan partnering with the artists to achieve their first public artworks. We are thrilled to produce Mark and Janna’s unique pieces as well as introduce a kids and youth inspired aspect to connect to our talented young artists very early on through Re:ACTIVATE Kids. Just as the SCAPE Public Art whakataukī or guiding principle proclaims; ka tipu te whaihanga – creativity will strengthen our reemerging city”.

The selected Re:ACTIVATE artists are:

Mark Catley Sign o' the Times 2016

Signs show us our way forward, prevent us from falling into hazards and can stop us from progress. The Cashel Street Re:START Mall was a beacon of hope following the Christchurch earthquakes. A sign to Christchurch, New Zealand and to the rest of the world that our city can come back from disaster.

Janna van Hasselt Buzz Carpet 2016

Buzz Carpet is an interactive ground mural, which truly engulfs its site. A ludic tension between the planar and dimensional spaces creates a skin with an ambiguous sense of figure and ground. The pattern is derived from the stitches in crochet and mimics the makeup of surrounding building sites that form its backdrop. Visitors can engage directly with the piece on many different levels and will be dazed by its intense colour buzz.

SCAPE Public Art has moved from its biennial model to an annual, six-week season of Public Art from October 1 – November 12 2016 (incorporating school holidays and the New Zealand Cup and Show Week celebrations), launching new works and showcasing the extensive current catalogue of major public artworks.

The SCAPE Public Art Season 2016 profiles six key elements related to Public Art. These components include;

SCAPE Public Art Walkway

· Presence - Heather Galbraith’s curated exhibition of public artwork

· Re:ACTIVATE - Student & emerging artists’ exhibition

· SCAPE Education – Classroom programme and art making activities

· SCAPE Speaker Series - Artists talks, screenings and public programmes

· SCAPE Events - Including an opening weekend of youth, family and children-focused free events

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