01: STATEMENT OF INTENT

Architecture students at Te Aro Campus pride themselves not only on their technical aptitude and finesse in critiques, but in the graphic, exploratory and ‘research-through-design’ processes which give the finished artifacts depth and meaning. Political agendas, social ills, manifestos decreeing intent and observations worthy of re-representation through artistic means have all proven fertile ground for artistic endeavor – and we represent, challenge and engage with this material through varied architectural means. Indeed, producing this theoretical body of work to underpin the structures we design has been common practice for us for over four years: Yet we have not tested the value of these inquisitions and expositions outside the life of our projects.

Now, we believe, is the right time.

So I have approached the class and provoked their imagination in this regard. I propositioned them - the young designers, architects, model makers, drawers, thinkers and ideas people... Would it be possible to show our creative work to a wider audience? Can we test the meaning of the multifarious, interesting bits and pieces that compel us and compel others while we design - to help us design? To engage on a level where we seriously display work as artistic practice - with intellectual weight but mainstream appeal?

We propose that we bring work which stands on it’s own two feet as artistic practice to your space, and display it in the manner of a gallery show. The pop-up gallery space as a display type, which exposes something interesting and unusual for a very limited time is ideal for our purposes.

The idea is to provoke a wider audience, shake conceptions of how architecture is produced and thought about, and stir the imagination of an audience unhardened by the routine of the critique scenario. This can't happen inside the walls of Te Aro Campus, as we are trying to engage a wider audience, indeed a wider community outside the realm of academic, architectural critique and review sessions. We want to display to a public who have recently seen architecture demonstrated as physically unstable and questionable, and an architectural community that has displayed itself through another type – in the media especially – and is now seen as quarrelsome over heritage value, demolition, and urban design issues. We would like to pursue a public forum for the exposure of architectural creativity and imagination that can touch and inspire the creative capital.