B.

The Street

Behind the scenes

The Street was an exhibition and a series of associated events held back in 1980. The questions it asked could scarcely be more relevant to the city in 2012.

Riccarton Road street scene. Image courtesy Christchurch City Council

Riccarton Road street scene. Image courtesy Christchurch City Council

The idea of the exhibition was to inform, stimulate and question attitudes to the street as a physical space where traffic flowed and people interacted. A questionnaire was designed to gather information on the general attitude of the people on the street and the results were included in the exhibition. It was part of the 1980 Christchurch Arts Festival.

Among the artists were Larence Shustak, Murray Hedwig, Laurence Aberhart, Glenn Jowitt, Neil Dawson, Margaret Dawson and Chris Cree-Brown, along with town-planners from Christcuhrch City Council and the Ministry of Transport.

Read more and see some of the images from the exhibition.