Out of Place opens in the Gallery's offsite space above NG boutique and The National at 212 Madras Street on Saturday 4 August.

Incorporating a variety of media, including painting, photography, sculpture and installation, the works in the exhibition use the built environment as a starting point for the exploration of less concrete ideas.

Director Jenny Harper says that while the structures seen in the exhibition are noticeably uninhabited, they resound with presence.

'These unpeopled spaces invite us to consider the histories they hold, the futures they store and the emptiness they leave behind.

'We have experienced dramatic and continuing changes in our relationships with structures across the city as a result of the earthquakes, so many will find this exhibition has additional meaning for them.'

Chris Pole's meticulously-detailed and epically scaled painting Dumbstruck presents an oscillating wall of pattern and texture. More than a visual depiction of an anonymous cityscape, his work attaches imagination and memory to the structures around us.

Tim J. Veling's post-quake photographs document a Christchurch that is transformed and in transition. Taken from a body of work titled Adaptation, his images present the re-imagined city that is emerging as the urban landscape finds a new equilibrium.

Charlotte Watson's work creates an entire 'room within a room'. In an office area at the entrance to the main gallery upstairs, she cuts into walls and 'folds' them down, building furniture and other objects to create a startling and imaginative experience.

Katharina Jaeger's works are equally shaped by uncertain times. Transportable, lightweight and modular, her repurposed forms offer a suggestion of usefulness, support and purchase even as the ground shifts beneath our feet.

Curator Felicity Milburn says that the artists in Out of Place 'skew traditional expectations about structure, placing it under pressure and presenting imagined perspectives. Each prompts us to reflect on the powerful, but often unstated associations we have with the city that surround us in a very different way.'

The exhibition continues until 26 August. Opening hours: Monday to Friday 10am to 5pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am to 4pm.