Shared Lines Wellington

Shared Lines emerged out of the earthquake events that devastated Canterbury, New Zealand, and Fukushima, Japan in 2011. Shared Lines is now an established collective of artists and art producers that aim to promote artistic exchange between cities and use art to build resilient cities.

Artists are very resilient and used to working with very little, and were among the first to use their talents and ideas to help the city process, discuss and heal from the devastation that had occurred.

Houses became art galleries, parks turned into music stadiums and rubble strewn sites transformed into stages. The arts community (and a sizeable chunk of the public) not only turned up; they participated, engaged and collaborated.

Out of this spirit of collaboration arose Shared Lines; an ongoing project to help artists (and the public) in other places connect and build that kind of resilience into their own communities. Our first project was an exhibition exchange with Sendai, near Fukushima in Japan, following their earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Five exhibitions were held with over 60 artists participating from the two cities.

Shared Lines Collective is about conversation, growth and coming together in spite of what the world throws at us. We want this ongoing project to create opportunities for artists and communities to learn, grow and share their experiences with others who will benefit from them.

What is SL:W?
Following the earthquakes in Kaikoura and Wellington in 2016, Shared Lines is bringing a new project to Wellington in October 2017. This event will be a public exhibition bringing together art from Christchurch, Sendai, Kaikoura and Wellington, with artist talks, performance, public art and a symposium with arts, community and business leaders.

We want to broaden the conversation about how we can build strong/resilient cities, communities and artistic practices - not only in the immediate aftermath of devastation, but beyond it. The Wellington event seeks to include Wellington artists, business people, city planners and legislators who want to gain practical knowledge and discussion from real life experiences on the ground.

What we need
We really need your help to make this happen; the money raised will go towards transport and accommodation costs for the artists involved. Your donations will go towards bringing more voices to the table. We feel that SL:W will benefit from having as many artists gathered as possible to share not only their work, but their experiences. With your support, we can share this important message that art is key in making communities resilient in times of disaster and uncertainty.

https://sharedlines.wordpress.com/