Compelling Alternatives

A Master's thesis isn't what most people talk about as they stand around a BBQ on the water's edge with a drink in one hand and a gourmet sausage in the other. We repress our inner intellectual and pretend to be more interested in sport. Deep down inside though, we want everybody to stop talking about such simplistic trivia and instead dive head-long into the rich tapestry of historical, technical, and cultural forces that make the world what it is, and what it could be. When friends, sons, daughters, and grandchildren mention their thesis, Kiwis do everything they can to make it look like they are only a little bit interested. But in fact, we really want to get comfy and go through it in every detail. We want to expand the bibliography, develop the unresolved threads and scribble all through the margins. We love it. New Zealand really is the intellectual capital of the world. It seems we just don't want too many people to know.

We've had enough of the repression. We're bashing down the walls of the ivory tower and taking our swollen brains into the city. We're taking our thesis projects out of the studio and marching them through town so you too can wallow in our deepest thoughts. We're exhibiting our work at the new Overseas Passenger Terminal on Wellington's waterfront on the weekend of November 1 & 2, 2014 with an opening on Friday October 31. It is the water's edge at its prime and there will be drinks, and gourmet sausages.

Nineteen of us, all students of architecture and landscape architecture at Victoria University, have pondered the future of the Kapiti-Horowhenua region hunting for compelling alternatives to the status quo. It's a future under pressure. As cities in New Zealand and around the world rapidly expand, there is also pressure on their surrounding regions as developers look to expand the city limits; farmers look to increase productivity; indigenous people look to defend their cultural integrity; tourists look for environmental gratification; and lifestyle residents look for their piece of paradise. Like many of our country's regional landscapes Kapiti-Horowhenua has extraordinary untapped potential, and our projects are evidence. As a collection, it is a fascinating case study of how much more we could make of New Zealand's great regional landscapes.

Mounting an exhibition like this takes loads of energy, but it takes money too, so this is an appeal for a little help. Any donation you can make, ten, twenty dollars or more, will help cover the costs of transporting the projects, mounting the exhibition,  some drinks and, of course the gourmet sausages (and all donations attract a 33% tax credit). If we reach our target, any additional money will be put towards publication.

Thanks very much for your support.

Louise Seyb, Gwena Gilbert, Jonny Fletcher, George Grieve, Ben Allinson, Ben Allnatt, Belinda Stuart, Olly Chan, Natasha Milne, Winston Dewhirst, Tom Inwood, Mark Radford, Nick Wheaton, Deborah Scott, Caitlin Wallace, Daniel Roberts, Daniel Whatnall, Nicole Davidson, and Robbie Budge

"…and so the guards threw down their weapons. And the tutors put aside their books and gowns, and they threw open the castle gates and danced out into the fields…"

Sing along... http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/dance-all-around-the-world