NEWS RELEASE
6 December 2007
Bolton Street Cottage comes alive this summer
If you receive an unexpected gift in the post in January and wonder where it came from, chances are you will have met
and made an impact on visual artist Lee Kit during his stay in Wellington.
Lee arrives in the capital next week from Hong Kong as the first Bolton Street Cottage Artist-in-Residence. The scheme
has been jointly developed by Wellington City Council and the Asia New Zealand Foundation.
Lee is keen to see what sort of impact he will make in the city as a visiting artist or tourist, by subtly approaching
people in his daily life and making something for them. This process will culminate in a four-day exhibition at Enjoy
Public Art Gallery (147 Cuba Street) before Lee posts each object to the person he made it for.
“My role as an artist will only be known to the people I ‘target’ when they receive the gift of the art object,” says
Lee.
Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast will launch the programme next Thursday 13 December at the Bolton Hotel, just as Lee
takes up residency in Bolton Street Sexton's Cottage – one of Wellington’s oldest homes. The cottage was built in 1857
on land adjacent to the Bolton Street Cemetery to provide accommodation for a sexton.
Mayor Prendergast says this new initiative will strengthen the connection between creative people from Asia and their
Wellington contemporaries.
“The whole point of this residency is to enable artists from Asia to work with and make links with our artists, arts
organisations and institutions. I hope Lee will truly enjoy his stay and make strong connections with Wellington,” she
says.
Lee graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2003 with a Masters in Fine Arts, and has just had a solo
exhibition, 3 / 4 suggestions for a better living at Para/Site Art Space, also in Hong Kong. He used abstract artworks
to decorate useful items such as curtains and tablecloths, created a domestic setting in the gallery, and then
encouraged friends and visitors to his exhibition to make use of and sit among his work. He could very well do the same
at the cottage.
The Bolton Street Cottage Artist-in-Residence programme is open to arts practitioners from Asian countries working in
any genre including visual arts, performance and literature. Residencies will last between one and three months.
Lee Kit will be welcomed by Mayor Prendergast at 5pm on Thursday 13 December at Café Brioche, Bolton Hotel, corner of
Bolton and Mowbray Streets.
ENDS