Embargoed Till 1.30pm on Wednesday 12 July
Media Release 10 July 2006 2 pages
Engage unveiling at South Library
Engage, artist Graham Bennett’s third public art work to be installed in Christchurch, will be unveiled at South
Christchurch Library this Wednesday.
The seven-piece sculpture stands up to four metres tall. Its polished stainless steel rods are topped with curved metal
blades balanced with head-sized boulders from the upper reaches of the Waimakariri River. Engage will be highly visible
and dramatic, installed outside the library, facing Colombo Street.
Engage, Graham Bennett says, introduces a contrast in its curved forms and a human element to the otherwise severe,
straight lines of the library’s architecture.
“The curves reflect those of the meandering Heathcote River at the library’s doorstep, the braided Waimakariri riverbed,
on the floodplain of which Christchurch is built, and the backdrop of the undulating Port Hills.”
The art work connects with many elements, inviting people to engage, observe or discover the human geographic, climatic
and cultural dimensions of the library within the context of the district, province and time – past and present.
“It also allows the viewer to consider the interplay of physical structures, social constructs, intellectual notions;
dynamics of balance, change and reflection.”
Four pieces of the sculpture are located outside the library, two in the moat and one inside the building. Graham
Bennett says just like people, the sculpture marches into the building to enhance learning, discovery and understanding.
Graham Bennett’s other public art works in Christchurch are the Reasons for Voyaging sculpture, providing a monumental
entrance to the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, and A Tribute to Firefighters on the banks of the Avon
River, made from materials sourced from the World Trade Centre site.
His art works are also in Kurashiki, Christchurch’s sister city in Japan, and in a number of private sculpture parks in
New Zealand.
Engage is funded by the Christchurch City Council’s Artworks in Public Places Fund and will be unveiled on Wednesday,
July 12, at 1pm.
ENDS