Day in and day out we become accustomed to our surroundings. The guy making coffee at the local cafe, the potted plants in the foyer at work, the doors to the lift; the mundane becomes a backdrop to everyday life. So what if one day an oversized dart was fired onto the window above the stairs - would you notice?

Roisin Moore Fabricate 2009

Tiffany Singh Sacred Space 2009

During the recent Auckland Festival graduates and students of Elam School of Fine Arts presented Elam Art UpFront - the art trail with a difference. Leading intrepid viewers through the foyers of Shortland Street's glamorous high-rise buildings, the exhibition showcased site specific work by some of the country's best emerging artists. This included Warren Childs at 34 Shortland Street; Tim Chapman, Roisin Moore, Katie Theunissen at the AXA Centre; Priscilla Brown at The Shortland Centre, WHK Gosling Chapman Tower; Tim Chapman, Florence Wild, Fiona Gillmore and Louise Menzies at Shortland Chambers; and Tiffany Singh at the New Zealand Post Shop.

Priscilla Brown Space Oddity 2008

Florence Wild ELVIS LIVES! (In A Silent Way) 2009

The exhibition drew a wide audience including festival goers and the hundreds of workers that inhabit the buildings. The Elam installations faced off against blue chip corporate collections providing much discussion about what comprises public art today. This debate was taken further when the show concluded with a public talk at the Gus Fisher Gallery on 'How Can Artists Make Great Places?'

Timothy Chapman Don't Play With That Inside 2007

Elam Art UpFront, The Foyer Art Project, 6 - 20 March 2009
Elam School of Fine Arts, National Institute of Creative Arts and Industry
The University of Auckland
www.creative.auckland.ac.nz

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