ART BOX Project Launch
John Di Stefano - Inter/Section
Civic Square 5th-18th November 2003
Inter/Section is proudly sponsored by Big Image Print
November the 5th will see the launch of The Art Box Project, a contemporary art project of public space installations.
The Art Box is a 1m^3 Perspex cube that will relocate to different sites around Wellington.
Over the course of a year, 12 different artists will engage with different sites around Wellington City creating
site-specific works within the Art Box. The Project aims to raise discussion around contemporary public art practice.
Project Director, Katharine Allard, says, "The Art Box creates a pocket of space for artists to play in a multitude of
ways with interpreting the city." To become involved in the project artists submit proposals to the Art Box Project
Trust - the next deadline for submission is January 4th 2004.
Allard first had the idea for the Art Box over a year ago and set up the Art Box Project Trust, which have meet
regularly to develop the project, exploring funding options and establishing links with community to bring the idea into
fruition. Funding to build the Art Box was granted through Wellington City Council and Creative NZ's Creative
Communities scheme earlier this year. Big Image Print has partnered the Art Box Project Trust to sponsor the launch
project and the Wellington Waterfront will also be sponsoring two projects over the coming months.
The first artist to exhibit is John Di Stefano, from the 5th to the 18th of November. His work "Inter/Section" will be
situated at the heart of Wellington's Civic Square, a site that has undergone much transformation over the past 100
years.
>From afar, the installation will resemble a black minimalist cube. As passers-by approach the Art Box, they will at
first see their own reflection on the surface of the cube, and as their proximity to the box shifts they will begin to
discern fragments of faint late 19^th and 20^th Century photographs of the site. The (live) reflection of the passerby
activates the work, literally superimposing past with present.
Di Stefano's recent work engages with the notions of displacement, history and identity by examining how perceptions of
memory, space and time shape the articulation of subjectivities. Di Stefano say Inter/Section is "conceived as a
meditation on the lives of those citizens who have lived in the city".
John Di Stefano, (BFA, Concordia University, Montreal; MFA, UCLA; PhD, Concordia University, Montreal) is an
interdisciplinary visual artist/videomaker, writer, curator and educator. At present, he is a Senior Lecturer and
Director of the Postgraduate Studies programme at Massey University's School of Fine Arts in Wellington. He has
exhibited his work extensively over the past 12 years, participating in numerous exhibitions, including several
one-person shows in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, as well as film & video festivals in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Currently taking place is 'Je Me Souviens (I Remember)',
his exhibition at The Moving Image Centre, Auckland.