FESTA: a political statement of hope in 3D. Attending Christchurch's Festival of Transitional Architecture held over the Labour Day weekend is a very much a real world thing I've been doing for last three years - a kind of checking-in to see for myself how the city is doing. This year, more than any other, I was struck by the unreality of it all.
I don't mean the dystopic landscape of the central city, the fact that almost four years on from the earthquakes so little has been done. That the city still feels like a war zone - vast devastated empty spaces, uneven ground, dust that covers your shoes, forlorn crumbling buildings propped and abandoned, and, when the wind blows, so much flapping of frayed building paper or plastic wrapping hanging torn at broken edges.
No, I'm talking about how FESTA is such a virtual world event, made real for one night, and how it gets you thinking about all sorts of things - digital visualisation technology, augmented reality, big data, sensing data, and, oddly, how most of the mainstream media seems so totally disengaged.
Start with how this year's event - CityUps - got off the ground with a $25,000 pledgeme project. It hit its target on 9 October with just 370 pledgers. In the scheme of things that was a minor top-up for this crowd-created festival, an incredible coming together of sponsors, funders, collaborators, installation partners and the public.
Layher Ltd, for example, came to the party with 20 tonnes of scaffolding which TNL transported from Wellington to Christchurch. Here you have to pay respect to the team and the trust board who work so tirelessly to make it happen - in particular the indefatigable director Jessica Halliday.
