Tag: Star Wars

The Dark Countdown Begins! An Interactive Installation by Centuri Chan

Centuri Chan is a multi-faceted creative – one of the forces (excuse the pun, it will make sense later…) behind the Humans of Christchurch Ōtautahi project, he is a photographer, content creator, Lego block master, and, importantly, a ‘Star Wars guy’. In his upcoming project Dark Countdown, he will fuse his fixation on a galaxy far, far away with a visual commentary on the waste created by mass commercial marketing and short-term collectible fads. The result will be an interactive installation that is an impressive patch work image, and a deeper commentary on contemporary consumerism and capitalism. We took the chance to let Centuri fill us in on this intriguing project, giving us an insight into the concept and execution…

“In 2016 a major supermarket chain released a set of Star Wars collectibles as part of a gimmicky advertising campaign. A grocery spend of $20 or more would be awarded with a single blind-bagged ‘Cosmic Shell’ featuring a character from the Star Wars films. Collectors were encouraged to collect and trade for the complete set of 36 to fill an exclusive collectors album. 

I conceived this Dark Countdown artwork around 2020 after finding hundreds of cosmic shells at op-shops, flea markets and online marketplaces after the promotion ended. I have always been a collector, and I have been a huge Star Wars fan since I was a youngster. My past-self would have spent countless hours and grocery trips completing the set. 

Instead, it was after the hype died down that I started. I spent several years collecting bulk lots, bags of spares, and even unopened boxes of these small plastic discs.” Chan will now utilise this vast collection to create a 5-metre wide mosaic image at the St Asaph Street gallery space The Art Hole. In collecting the required amount of discs to create the massive artwork, Chan is able to highlight the problematic nature of such gimmicks, which intentionally cause a furore of excitement like a brief sugar rush, before most of the collectible trinkets are discarded and forgotten. It is easy to imagine which side of the galactic unrest the producers might fall on (insert Imperial March here)… 

The Dark Countdown installation is almost five years in the making. The final work will be a giant photo-mosaic made from thousands of these discarded Cosmic Shells. The exhibition comprises two parts, the interactive installation of week one, where the public is invited to help create the giant mosaic in situ at the Art Hole gallery space from Tuesday 20th May (opening 5:30pm to 7pm) until Saturday 24th May. The second stage will see the completed artwork on display for a week, open to the public from Tuesday 27th May (the unveiling at 5:30pm – 7:00pm) to Saturday 31st May.

Screenshot

Be part of Dark Countdown by helping install the giant mosaic work and visiting the exhibition:

Interactive Installation:
Opening – Tuesday 20th May, 5.30pm – 7:00pm
Gallery Open Hours: Tuesday 20th May – Saturday 24th May, 9:00am – 4:00pm

Exhibition:
Opening (Artwork Unveiling) – Tuesday 27th May, 5.30pm – 7:00pm
Gallery Open Hours: Tuesday 27th May – Saturday 31st May, 9:00am – 4:00pm

Follow Dark Countdown on Facebook for updates and follow Centuri Creative on Instagram…

And That Was… May 2023

May is notable for a few things: the final fling before winter really kicks in and a celebration of a galaxy far far away. With fewer large-scale projects, this is a perfect time to explore the things that are a little bit smaller, a little more understated or in the case of one of our entries, focused on the audio rather than the visual. From bright blooms and beats to darker images, scary monsters and anime heroes, here are some of our highlights for the month of May…

Local Elements – Learning Curves EP

Local rapper and producer Local Elements released Learning Curves, his first solo EP, on May 22nd, a four track effort with the artist also producing the majority of the songs. The result of hard work and hustle, the EP’s title refers to the literal learning curves of the task, but the final result is a funky piece of head-nodding hip hop with a distinctly local flavour. Stream Learning Curves on Spotify and via Local Elements’ website…

Bright Blooms

As the days get a bit colder and the nights a bit longer, I’m thankful for the small, but bright, blooms appearing throughout the city. Ōtautahi’s urban gardener Bloom has been planting the small wooden blocks adorned with her stylised flowers across the city, often in unassuming places, places where a spot of colour and joy is most definitely needed. Keep your eyes out for Bloom’s Urban Gardener project as part of the 2023 Boosted Ōtautahi campaign – support her fundraising effort here…

Dark Ballad

If Bloom’s flowers add life and colour to the darker months, the intense images of Dark Ballad are a perfect fit with the greyer skies – moody, graphic imagery that is equally alluring and unsettling. The artist’s collection of paste-ups in stark black and white are a striking contrast from the colourful walls on which they are found…

Ikarus, Dcypher and Captain Kris in New Brighton

New Brighton is a true graffiti art hot spot, with a selection of legal walls constantly refreshed with slick pieces and productions. One of the most impressive is this latest collaboration between the DTR crew’s Ikarus and Dcypher and Ōtautahi ex-pat Captain Kris – the formers’ pieces either side of the latter’s Goku character – a winning combination. Teeming with crackling energy, this Dragonball Z themed production is yet another reason to head out to the beach for some wall walking…

May the Fourth be with you…

May the Fourth is, of course, synonymous with Star Wars and here in Ōtautahi, May the Fourth means the likelihood of some fresh paste-ups by resident vintage toy enthusiast Mark Catley… This year to celebrate the galaxy that George Lucas built, Catley added some nasty looking creatures to the central city streets, including a Rancor on Hereford Street…

These were our highlights – what caught your eye? Let us know in the comments – or send your pictures to [email protected]

Street Treats, Vol. 3

The concept behind the Street Treats series is to reflect the diverse expressions on the walls of the city beyond the large scale permissioned murals, reaching into the traditions of urban art culture’s roots as a subversive, rebellious and independent art movement. Of course, it gets tiresome to use terms like rebellious for an artistic culture that is thoroughly mainstream now, but it is important to remember the potential of these types of expressions as both visual messages and tactical invasions of our heavily designed environments. Commentators (often those attempting to defend the ‘art world’ by dismissing street art, as if they are actually in competition) can often charge street art with a vacuity, and as such a lack of conceptual heft and valid commentary. However, the point is as much about the manner of expression as the content – the act is the message. There are of course exceptions, explicitly political messages that favour bludgeoning bluntness over sophisticated subtlety. The reason for such a decision is another aspect of street art’s aesthetic – the audience must be commandeered – they are not arriving inside a white cube with an idea they will be confronted, but instead engaged in their daily activities, necessitating an immediacy. Of course, in this type of situation, even a lack of message can impact a viewer, by simply adding an air of uncertainty and inquisitiveness to a stroll through a city. To that end, the selections in this volume run from wide-ranging political commentaries to nostalgic popular culture references, and importantly, the intervention into our surrounding environments, making use of the spaces and fixtures that we often take for granted, revealing the potential for transformation…

Don’t forget to share your own pictures from the streets by tagging us in your social media posts with #watchthisspace or #streettreats…