B.
Into the black
Behind the scenes
Okay, we've changed our colours. Last week I was praising the sight of our new space at 209 Tuam Street going into the white.
But watching the team apply black over white...
Good sight of this week, however, is our existing exhibition space at 212 Madras going into the black.
What with the beautifully charred ceiling...
...and the student-flat circa 1983 graffiti...
...and the spookily titled paint (surely the Acrylic Dead Flats are the best alt-rock outfit we've never heard of)...
...it's almost as though the spirit of shadowmeister Jason Greig, whose work was just on show in the space, has seeped right into the architecture.
...it's another contemporary artist and artwork that come to mind: Nedko Solakov and his well-known performance work A Life (Black and White), which involves, as Solakov's website says, "two workers/painters constantly repainting the walls of the exhibition space in black and white for the entire duration of the exhibition, day after day (following each other)."
Image source: http://db-artmag.de
Considering the stories you hear about post-earthquake renovations begun, interrupted, botched and re-begun, it's hard not to think of Solakov's performance as a very 'Christchurch' work. Home renovation stuck in an absurdist spin cycle.
More soon on what we'll be putting in our new black box.