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Right The faces on the L-Pavilion Gallery are prints of works by Philip Trusttum from the exhibition Bookwork: A homage to finger puppets. Philip is a Christchurch artist and Martin's father. Below right A nighttime peek at works by 59 artists who submitted pieces based on a 10cm cardboard cube. All were auctioned to raise funds for the ArtBox project.
Far right The Lantern Gallery shows Bodytok Quintet: The Human Instrument Archive, a project by Phil Dadson with interactive software by James Charlton. Below far right The Christchurch Art Gallery now utilises the 100-squaremetre Lantern Gallery. Below Martin Trusttum of CPIT.
OUTSIDE THE BOX Christchurch’s ArtBox brings art back to the centre of the quakedamaged city. INTERVIEW / Jeremy Hansen PHOTOGRAPHY / Guy Frederick
Art Box Corner Madras and St Asaph Streets, Christchurch cpit.ac.nz christchurchartgallery.org.nz
32 / HOME NEW ZEALAND
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What is the ArtBox?
MARTIN TRUSTTUM, CANTERBURY POLYTECHNIC
ArtBox at its most simple is a studio and gallery space for local artists. We have three small steel-frame and polycarbonate buildings ranging in size from one box to eight, and they provide one workshop and two galleries. Immediately after the earthquake it became obvious there were a lot of people without any place to show work. I believe we need arts activity in order to keep our students wanting to come to the city, so we [the team at Canterbury Polytechnic Institute of Technology] wanted to provide a resource and a hub for people to meet up and discuss the arts. If you don’t have an active arts programme in the central city then you don’t have a lot to engage with, as there’s very little retail in here. The fact people are coming back testifies that the art programmes are understood to be valuable. We’ve done a dozen ArtBox shows since
February 2013, and Christchurch Art Gallery has taken over the 100-squaremetre Lantern Gallery, a collaborative approach that really works. How were they designed and built? They were designed by Andrew Just of F3 Design to have a steel frame so you can link the boxes together in a whole host of different ways. The walls are made from ply, slight steel framing and batts, and some polycarbonate. These things could have a life of 50-60 years. How do you feel about the city’s future generally? I feel very positive about Christchurch. If you’ve got some ideas and a willingness to contribute and get involved, then where would you rather be? The reality is that it will take a bit longer than everyone thinks or hopes. There’s a lot to learn but it’s very exciting. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.