Sunday 14 December 2008, from 07.00
Stout St between Lambton Quay and Ballance Sts, Wellington, NZ
A monumental installation was formed from a colossal mass of inorganic rubbish borrowed from local recyclers and the dump: abandoned vehicles, tyres, compacted plastic, household appliances, bicycles, supermarket trolleys and – on closer inspection – garden and domestic objects, including a host of children’s toys.
Passers-by were drawn towards this massive behemoth formed from salvaged materials. The barricade was more object than political action, and its potency lay in its scenic splendour as a sculpture that fleetingly linked the theatrical and the quotidian with the catastrophic. Its construction began at midnight on Saturday, to its total disassembly and dispersal 24 hours later. Returning the sculpture’s contents to the dump and recyclers from which it was borrowed positions the artwork as a fleeting event: a transitory performance that leaves its traces only in the minds of those who witnessed it.
Resources
Heather and Ivan Morison, Journée Des Barricades – a commissioned response
‘The temporary public artwork entitled Journée Des Barricades acted as…
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One Day Sculpture book
In ONE DAY SCULPTURE, prominent critics, curators and scholars explore…
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