FESTA 2014: The Future Will Be Live
A rendering of Continuum, submitted by the School of Architecture and Planning, University of Auckland as part of CityUps.
The Daze Maze, submitted by the Unitec Architecture Department will be on display on FESTA’s opening night.
Antigravity by the School of Architecture and Planning, University of Auckland, will be part of FESTA’s headline event, CityUps.
Christchurch’s Festival of Transitional Architecture (FESTA), which celebrates collective and creative city-making, will take place over Labour Weekend on 24-27 October. FESTA 2014: The Future Will Be Live explores alternative futures through a myriad of 30 events spread across Christchurch’s central business district.
FESTA, now in its third year, has become one of the largest public architectural events in New Zealand. It celebrates innovative responses to Christchurch’s voids, and experimental and community-led architecture, festival director Jessica Halliday says.
“Participating in the city’s remaking on such a scale, and engaging in its transformation, is an unparalleled experience when the collective need is so great and the setting so remarkable.”
CityUps, the 2014 headline event, is a collaboration between 265 New Zealand architecture and fine arts students, who will take over two central city blocks on 25 October to create their version of a future. Led by Studio Christchurch, CityUps will incorporate 10-metre high frames adorned with contributions from the students. The event will be supported by an app called CityUps+, through which the public can view a virtual future for Christchurch created by architects from across the globe.
Other highlights include Dematerialization, a project created by three University of Melbourne graduates that links physical space and virtual reality, the Greening the Rubble Walking Tour, which explores green spaces in the city centre, and the Plant Gang’s immersive Present State installation – a verdant space filled with recordings of foraging adventures throughout the city.