Month: March 2013

Container installation for the 2013 Dunedin Fringe Festival: audio work installed in a beehive within a shipping container in Dunedin’s Octagon. 2000 life size bee decals were distributed within a 2km radius in public places. This work aimed to draw attention to the plight of New Zealand’s feral bees, an essential part of our food ecology, but threatened by the Varoa mite. In the summer of 2013 the Varoa mite reached Dunedin. Information was distributed about urban beekeeping.
Designed and produced in collaboration with Leyton Glen.

A tender for public seating in Vogel Street was won by Otago Polytechnic’s workspace innovation studio in 2013. 

A team of design staff and graduates worked together to produce these unique seats that raw together historical industrial and maritime and artists uses of the area. Drawing on the location’s historical context and significance – the area was once a key canoe mooring point for Maori, and later became the entryway for Dunedin’s new arrivals. The seats reference the industries that grew from the jetty and ocean transport routes with shapes that echo ship sails and waves, and bales of wool readied for export in the factories. The materials chosen for the seats reflect the nature of the area; sleepers were incorporated in a nod to the 150-year-old jetty; steel and concrete were used for the body of the seats alluding to the previous industrial nature of the precinct; song lyrics from iconic Dunedin bands were carved into the seats as a tribute to the musicians who once frequented the area.

The original Vogel Street party was held in 2013, and researched and produced by year 3 communication design students. As this historic are of the city was undergoing gentrification students undertook a project, and shared the histories they discovered through the presentation of a range of interactive experiences at this public event, supported by Bachelor of Culinary Arts students.

http://architecturenow.co.nz/articles/vogels-revival/