Last time on the blog we talked about packaging and how our Victorian ancestors made do without plastic trays to wrap their cans of coke in (and all the rest of it). This week we’re going to take a closer … Continue reading →
Last time on the blog we talked about packaging and how our Victorian ancestors made do without plastic trays to wrap their cans of coke in (and all the rest of it). This week we’re going to take a closer … Continue reading →
A panel with Michael Bell, Steph Walker and Kiri Jarden. It’s almost 13 years since the devastating earthquake of 22 February 2011, which forced 70 percent of the Ōtautahi Christchurch CBD to be demolished. While the rebuild has been a slow and often difficult process in visions meeting reality, there is also much to celebrate in the city taking up the opportunity, through art and design, to remake it as a place for all.
Tina, the debut feature film of Miki Magasiva is a love letter to both Samoan culture and how choral music, across cultures, can assist people in change. The way art can enable acceptance of the richness of our difference. But Tina is also centrally about how Pasifika women are leaders in taking culture forward. The title translates in English as mother, or female elder. And in the lead role Anapela Polata'ivao plays Mareta, a mother struggling after the death of her daughter in the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake. Taking on a job as a teacher at a wealthy Pakeha-dominated private school, Mareta connects with kids who it turns out also really need support. She takes them all the way to the Big Sing National Choir Competition. Anapela Polata'ivao gives a remarkable performance. She is the constant, complex beating heart of this movie. As a director and actor Anapela has long played a significant leadership role in bringing Pacific voices to stage and screen, and last year became an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in recognition of her service. We welcomed her to Culture 101 to play 'Fast Favourites' where her choices were Lindah Lepou, Jordyn with a Why and writer directors Arianne Mnouchkine, Vela Manusaute and Nina Nawalowalo.
In the bringing together of art and mental health, Kim Morton is a champion. Following the Christchurch earthquakes, Kim founded Otautahi Creative Spaces, a busy creative community in inner city suburb Philipstown.
Artist and landscape architect Bridget Allen wouldn't have known how appropriate the name of her gardening business was to be when she set it up, out of Ilam art school and working at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens. The name Regenerative Gardening Maintenance was prophetic given her city and its landscape was about to start regenerating. The 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquakes saw not only buildings turned to rubble, large tracts of land, including an area around Ōtākaro Avon River the size of two New York Central Parks, started to turn from suburbia back to nature. The red zone has been turning green ever since. In the wake of tragedy artists and gardeners came together to innovate and create new public spaces, with an eye on sustainability and community connection. Allen cofounded New Brighton sewing charity Stitch-o-Mat and retrained as a landscape architect. Since 2023 she has been the director of The Green Lab, which began after the quakes as Greening the Rubble, creating urban green spaces and events for connection, while also working with residents to make their own backyards more sustainable. Ever busy with working and planting bees, workshops to build habitats for plants and nature, and consultations to help people make their backyards more sustainable, on August 16 Bridget is running with The Green Lab Birds of Brighton printmaking workshops. It's at the Make Station in New Brighton Mall at 11am and 1pm. No experience is needed. She joined Culture 101's Mark Amery.
A piece of personal experience writing about the Canterbury earthquakes, written by Max.
A piece of personal experience writing about the Canterbury earthquakes, written by Mitchell.
A piece of personal experience writing about the Canterbury earthquakes, written by Jae Youn
A piece of personal experience writing about the Canterbury earthquakes, written by Jack 1.
A piece of personal experience writing about the Canterbury earthquakes, written by Jack 2.
A piece of personal experience writing about the Canterbury earthquakes, written by George.
A piece of personal experience writing about the Canterbury earthquakes, written by Sean.
A piece of personal experience writing about the Canterbury earthquakes, written by Tim.
Wayne Youle's mural, 'I Seem to Have Temporarily Misplaced My Sense of Humour' (2012), in Sydenham.
A piece of personal experience writing about the Canterbury earthquakes, written by Jonathan.
A piece of personal experience writing about the Canterbury earthquakes, written by Jake.
A piece of personal experience writing about the Canterbury earthquakes, written by Sam.
The first major arts event to be held in Christchurch since the February earthquake kicks off today.
A series of earthquakes has forced Christchurch to re-plan and rebuild. Discussions about rebuilding strategies have emphasized the intention of making it a city for the future, sustainable and vibrant. This paper discusses the relationship between microclimate and urban culture in Christchurch based upon the concept of urban comfort. It explores the relationships between environment, people and culture to help understand the local requirements for urban landscape design. In this paper we claim that cultural requirements also should be taken into account when looking for sustainable strategies. A distinctive feature of this research is its focus on the way people are adapting to both surviving prequake and new post‐quake environments. Preliminary findings from the first year of field work using participant observation and 61 in‐depth interviews with Christchurch residents are presented. The interviews were carried out in a variety of urban settings including: established sites (places sustaining relatively little damage) and emerging sites (those requiring rebuilding) during 2011‐2012. Evidence from the interviews highlight future challenges regarding sustainability and urban comfort issues. Post‐quake Christchurch presents a remarkable opportunity to design an urban landscape which provides environmental, economic, social and cultural sustainability. However, to achieve successful outcomes it is fundamental to respond to the local culture. Field data suggest that the strong connections between urban and rural settings present in local culture, lifestyle and landscape generate a particular aesthetic and recreation preference for urban spaces, which should be considered in the urban landscape design strategies.
An audio documentary created by Kris Vavasour about the multitude of challenge the musicians, performers and venue owners in Lyttelton face in the aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes. All songs are from the 'Harbour Union' album (2011), in alphabetical order: 'Even Keel' (Lindon Puffin); 'Ghost of this Town' (Marlon Williams); 'How Lucky You Are' (Delaney Davidson & Marlon Williams); 'Human Enough' (Lindon Puffin); 'It's So Good' (Delaney Davidson); 'Little Mountain Town' (Marlon Williams); 'Rocking Bell' (Adam McGrath); 'The Waterside' (Adam McGrath).
There is a now a rich literature on the connections between digital media, networked computing, and the shaping of urban material cultures. Much less has addressed the post-disaster context, like we face in Christchurch, where it is more a case of re-build rather than re-new. In what follows I suggest that Lev Manovich’s well-known distinction between narrative and database as distinct but related cultural forms is a useful framework for thinking about the Christchurch rebuild, and perhaps urbanism more generally.
The quality of public space is vital to livable cities. Yet livable cities also require empowered communities. This thesis asks: how is the landscape architect’s design expertise expressed as part of the public participation process, what are the key features of design expertise that lead to an effective design-based participation process and how does quality in the participation process relate to the quality of design outcomes? A theoretical framework is developed from which to clarify the relationship between decision-making processes in design and public participation. Insights from design theory are combined with the findings of key informant interviews with New Zealand and Northern Europe design experts, and with landscape architects, community and Council staff working in post-earthquake Ōtautahi/Christchurch, Aotearoa/New Zealand. Results of a case study of Albion Square in Ōhinehou/Lyttelton reveal that the designer’s interactions with the public play a critical role in shaping elegant design outcomes in public space design. Four key insights reveal that participatory design processes in New Zealand need to be reconsidered in order to enable landscape architects to work more closely with communities in mutual learning, rather than the currently limiting technical problem solving process. Institutional, professional and theoretical implications are drawn from the findings.
A PDF copy of pages 326-327 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Sanctioned Graffiti Across the City'. Photos: Reuben Woods, Wongi FREAK Wilson (Deadpool Production, Graffalaphabet, BDS Full Production).
A PDF copy of pages 122-123 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'We Love Pop Up'. Photo with permission: SHAC
A PDF copy of pages 344-345 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Canterbury Quakes'. Photos courtesy of Canterbury Museum
A PDF copy of pages 70-71 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Bandaid Artwork'. Photographs: Heather Hayward (top left), Reuben Woods (top right), Jenna Lynn Brown (bottom left and right)
A PDF copy of page 138 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The page documents the transitional project 'CERA'.
A PDF copy of pages 328-329 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Unsanctioned Graffiti Across the City'. Photo: Reuben Woods
A PDF copy of pages 14-15 of the book Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. The pages document the transitional project 'Rent Party Club'. Photos: Laura Harper. With permission: Rent Party Club.