Manchester Street seeks even more stunts

Hi stunts,

Had a great time in Christchurch - hung out at the Physics Room, met some lovely people, caught up with friends, haunted Manchester st, helped a mate do some filming 4.30am on the Avon. Fun times.

The site visit and opportunity to meet with some allies for the project was really useful and encouraging - there is definitely enthusiasm for the project and curiosity about what we will do. I only wish I had time to meet more people, especially connected to the lgbt community in Christchurch. Still, there are other ways we can continue the conversation and the people I met with have been really generous with contacts as well as news and information.

First things first - site visit with Mel.

Before we did a walk/visit along Manchest St we talked about whether there are enough places for posters on Manchester st alone and/or if we were interested in other sites in Chch. After a walk down Manchester st, however, we identified about a half dozen or more spots where we could mount posters, install image work, or poster-type creations. 

The reality is that, while there are some conventional sites for mounting posters (i.e. phantom billstickers sites), these are limited and we will seriously need to consider displaying our work on some 'unconventional 'sites/supports along Manchester. This seems fitting to the spirit/workings of Manchester St at present anyway.

Manchester st is probably quite emblematic of many former main streets in Christchurch at present. It has completely and radically changed from what it was pre-earthquake. Formerly a commercial hub and for many a party street in the good old days, with many two-storey buildings, as well as offices for many community organisations, including The Women’s Centre and Agender, it now reflects the fact that the “re-build” is a long slow process that cannot restore the community of the past and asks big questions about the future of the current community and what it is/will become.

The street will be one of the more challenging sites we’ve worked with in terms of our usual delight in pre-existing prime advertising spots. There aren't many. We have formal and informal car-park zones, empty fenced-off sections, the standing buildings, some operational, others empty, its remaining boarded up shops, its urban garden, parks, diary, new op shop and residential properties. People walk, bike and drive down Manchester st. Residents commute morning, evening. Teens seem to hang out there later at night. Sex workers work on corners toward the residential end at night. 

Here are the places, with photos, that we identified as potential sites for our work - all hypothetical and dependant on further conversations with owners and operators:

Stairway to - The Physics Room - a tantalising interior shot (random aside, as requested)

High Street - Manchester

From High Street through to the first 800+m of Manchester st, Phantom billstickers have a series of poster sites.

On High Street there are a series of frames /poster sites - unsure whether this site will be available next year as the land is up for sale.

There are then three poster towers run by phantom billstickers that are situated about 2-300 m apart from High St, up Manchester:

High St (above)

Manchester (above)

Manchester (above)

A new park - the Margaret Mahy Park is also just about to open - it's massive and just before the bridge.

Urban garden space

If we got permission from the owner we could mount works on the fence or consider constructing a mount of some kind - Mel thinks the owner would be open and supportive of this. They allowed a visiting artist to do a performance there which involved him trying to dig a hole to spain over the course of several days. The fence frontage of the site is fairly extensive as you can see:

  

There was a billboard space (currently empty) in a carpark to an office block - it's quite shaded by trees and not very visible from the street so don't consider it an ideal spot for work. It's set back behind the red car in this shot. It was raining so apologies for the unclear shot:

The Red Cross shop window 

A Red Cross shop is about to open. As as you can see there is some danger tape symbolism right out front. We could possibly install something in the front window with permission. Magazine covers?:

              

The blue dairy 

Apologies for the really terrible shot! Rain! There is an inset window space on the side of the diary - about A2 or A1 size that we could negotiate with the owner to use. It's currently empty. The spot is under the centre of the three green advertisements for V.

North Projects

Could possible create something on the gate (the whole gate would be amazing) or the front yard.

    

Other sites: there were a few empty buildings earlier on in Manchest st - a tall former office block and then - close the the Margaret Mahy park and opposite - there was a former shop with large boarded up windows that could be other potential sites for our work - this would require us to negotiate with the landlords. Still, these sites were in proximity to the phantom billstickers sites so might be OTT in this zone? Anyway, something for us to discuss.

Option if we were to look outside Manchester st include the regular public art/community event programme called First Thursdays, which involves art projects in suburbs outside of town - local shops stay open late around the events - most recently in Sydenham: http://www.firstthursdayschch.co.nz/ 

In terms of the meetings I had with people, it'd be great to skype in the first instance as these were all private conversations.

Any chance you are free 8am NZ Monday morning/8pm EU Sunday evening?

We can also talk more about materials and such.

Good times!