S/F project

In 2011, Auckland-based art and publishing initiative split/fountain (S/F) was to facilitate a project at The Physics Room, but when the earthquakes struck Christchurch, plans were put on hold. Opening on Saturday 22 June, S/F will digress from the original project and instead expand upon Temporary Housing + Shelter, a publication and exhibition project produced in collaboration with Whatever Press (Tokyo) for the 2012 Tokyo Art Book Fair.

For The Physics Room 2013 exhibition project, Xin Cheng, Michael Parr and Blaine Western will improvise a display and furniture system constructed from a selection of raw materials locally sourced through TradeMe, exploring opportunistic forms and the versatility of materials in common usage. They will consider the objectives of space through various interim structures that establish form in multiple configurations and suggestions.

A workbook publication document will be produced as part of the project amassing work and writing from a varied group of contributors including Barnaby Bennett, Bekah Carran, Eleanor Cooper, Jessica Halliday, Toshiaki Koga, Melanie Keung, Asumi Mizuo, Johnny Moore, James Oram, Bruce Russell, Ella Sutherland, Zina Swanson, Tim Veiling and Sebastian Warne. Designed by Henry Babbage and Layla Tweedie Cullen, the workbook is edited by Matthew Galloway, Melanie Oliver, Layla Tweedie Cullen, Henry Babbage and Luke Wood.

The S/F project at The Physics Room embraces transitional and temporary methodologies and speculates on the latent possibilities that may exist in opportunistic, collaborative, short-term initiatives. The artists and contributors will consider the use of the gallery space and the potential for printed matter to foster shared experiences and conversations amongst the improvised structures, furniture and a reading space, cultivating relationships through a temporary practice that mirrors the informal projects already characterised as an alternative form of transitional place-making in Christchurch since the earthquakes.

The opening on Saturday 22 June, 6pm, will operate as a makeshift furniture workshop, inviting participants to informally assist in the construction and discussion of temporary structures