Webcam turned on Wellington Office Building as Work of Art

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Webcam turned on Wellington Office Building as Work of Art

As an unconventional artwork it’s already turning heads, and now public art programme Letting Space have announced that a Wellington office building being treated as an art object can be viewed by webcam.

Artist Colin Hodson has launched a website for his artwork The Market Testament. At themarkettestament.squarespace.com/ you’ll find a webcam trained day and night on 139 The Terrace in the Wellington CBD. The webcam looks down Grey Street, from a window in the Museum of City and Sea, to a building whose lighting on different level goes on and off at night according to data provided to it from the day’s trading on the stockmarket. The website also provides images of the evidence of human occupation in the recently vacated building.

Colin Hodson’s artwork The Market Testament highlights, the artist says, “the degree to which our lives are highly determined by complex economic systems programmed to serve interests that, to a large part, are running beyond our comprehension and control”. The work operates nightly until the night of Easter Monday 25 April. It can be viewed physically both on The Terrace and from below on Grey Street, nestled between the James Cook and Novotel Hotels.

The webcam has been made possible with the assistance of the Museum of City and Sea, Wireless NZ and R2. Letting Space's property partner for the project is Prime Property.
Colin Hodson’s work, curators Sophie Jerram and Mark Amery say, highlights the very significant issue for Wellington City of excess office space. Public art programme Letting Space (www.lettingspace.org.nz) bring artists and property owners together to explore creative ideas for urban renewal and growth. It commissions temporary art works from leading New Zealand contemporary artists for vacant commercial CBD spaces. The programme was responsible for four public art projects in Wellington in 2010, including Kim Paton’s Free Store and Tao Wells’ The Beneficiary’s Office, which both caused significant national media interest and debate. They have recently completed a project with artists the Suburban Floral Association as part of the Auckland Arts Festival.
Colin Hodson’s previous work includes the direction of two feature films, Shifter and .ON., and he is currently developing more film projects. He has exhibited video in various shows in New Zealand, Australia and The Netherlands, as well as live performance projects.

ENDS

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