Announcing Letting Space: A Major Art and Property Project
In a first-off for Wellington’s CBD, artists and property developers are working hand in hand to fill empty commercial sites through a new project, Letting Space.
This visual arts project, funded by Creative New Zealand and the Wellington City Council, seeks to transform the relationship between artists, property developers and owners and their city. As the effects of a recession on the property market continue to be felt, Letting Space explores creative ideas for the use of vacant commercial space, be it a shop, office block or apartments.
“Both the environmental and financial crises that we are beginning to understand, mean we as a society have to start looking at different models for the use of our commercial property,” argue Letting Space curators Sophie Jerram and Mark Amery. “These may be models which operate differently to our current retail culture. We intend to suggest different ways for our cities to operate. We want to help develop a city that turns to artists for savvy, responsive and provocative solutions for using vacant commercial space.”
Pivotal to Letting Space is the strong involvement of property developers. Letting Space launches with two art projects in vacant retail space in Wellington’s CBD in April and May, and a forum at City Gallery Wellington on May 6, entitled the Urban Dream Brokerage.
The opening installation by sound artist Dugal McKinnon opens on Sunday April 18 in a new retail space at 141 Willis Street owned by The Wellington Company. Entitled Popular Archeology it features a choir of 36 cassette tape loops playing on as many players, presenting fragments of hit songs, from each year the audio cassette was in its retail prime of life. The space itself will resemble a poorly funded archive. Counter to retail’s obsession with the new and the untouched, Pop Archaelogy invites people to bring into the retail environment their boxes of old cassette tapes for a last spin on the tape decks. They will join a temporary community archive, and performance space over the project’s length (closing Sunday May 9).
Following McKinnon’s work is the provocative “Free Shop” by Kim Paton, opening Friday 21 May at 38 Ghuznee Street, at a site currently owned by New Zealand company Foodstuffs. Paton’s work will source produce that would otherwise have been deemed waste simply because it is excess to customer demand. “The basic economic principle of Free shop is redistribution. Many of the products at Free shop will already have been paid for several times over, every loaf of bread or bag of apples we buy includes the unseen cost of however many are wasted”, says artist Kim Paton.
The Letting Space team also welcomes short written pitches by April 9 for the use of vacant commercial space by artists and property 
developers and managers. Six of the best pitches will be selected for what they are dubbing The Urban Dream Brokerage, a Dragon’s Den like pitching session at City Gallery Wellington on 6 May. Amery and Jerram say “We’re building new opportunities for artists to talk directly with the city’s property owners, and property owners to talk directly to artists. Both groups are equally passionate about the aesthetics of Wellington.”
More information can be found at the Letting Space website at www.lettingspace.org.nz. Six of the best ideas will be presented in a live pitching session, the Urban Dream Brokerage at City Gallery Wellington on May 6th.
For more information on Letting Space go to www.lettingspace.org.nz. People can join in discussion already through a blog on the site and Facebook and Twitter feeds.
The programme is supported by Creative New Zealand, Wellington City Council, City Gallery Wellington, Foodstuffs and The Wellington Company.
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