CERA
Community
Environment
Relevance Activities

Public Programmes

Tuesdays 7-9pm Life Drawing with Hannah Beehre ($15)
Wednesdays 12.30-1.30pm Lunchtime Yoga with Movement Art Practice (koha)
Wednesday 8 April, 4-6pm Public Forum: Changes to Council Arts Funding
Friday 10 April, 8pm Hex Waves with support from Les Baxters & Motte
Doors open 8pm, free entry.
Saturday 11 April, 1-3pm Indoor bowls workshop with St Pauls Indoor Bowls Association
Thursday 16 April, 6-7.30pm Social Practice reading group with Melanie Oliver
Shannon Jackson, "Performance, Aesthetics, and Support," in Social Works: Performing Art, Supporting Publics (Oxon: Routledge, 2012), 11-42.  

CERA (Community Environment Relevance Activities) transplants to The Physics Room the ethos and activities of a rural social space. Resembling a sports hall or community centre, complete with dartboard, indoor bowls and court lines, the gallery is set for action. An accompanying video work documenting the North Hokianga A&P Show provides a glimpse into this provincial community and highlights the importance of such social events to create a sense of being in common.

In Christchurch, the acronym CERA is more commonly associated with the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, a government agency established to lead and coordinate the rebuild of the city. The terms Dawson Clutterbuck has used to substitute for CERA – Community Environment Relevance Activities – are also taken from their website though they are, arguably, used as mere rhetoric.

Acknowledging that a ‘community’ is rooted in its sociopolitical context, Clutterbuck encourages critical reflection on the local political situation, offering the gallery as a space for social interaction and community group events.

Dawson Clutterbuck b. 1987, Kaitaia
Dawson Clutterbuck's research-based art practice often engages performance, film and sculpture. By collaborating with individuals and community groups and viewing art as a process of reciprocal creative labour, Clutterbuck develops projects that engage with the sociopolitical context of shared spaces, exploring ideas of 'community', institution and place. Completing a Master of Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts in 2011, Clutterbuck is a co-founder of artist-run space Ferari and is based in Auckland. Recent exhibitions include; Te Tiriti- Treaty, Kings Theatre Kawakawa [group], Between Land and Sea, Halsey Wharf Waterfront Auckland [solo], Ferari Boys, Pilot Space Hamilton [group], Boom Bap, this space, these t-shirts, Rm gallery Auckland [solo] and Rangahaua, New Zealand Film Archive Auckland [solo].