South Island

22/150... !!! please, if you're in the South Island - or know anyone that is, share this project and send samples!

Deadline for samples

The deadline for samples is September 17th at latest, which is just under 8 weeks away!!
If you haven't sent samples yet, please, when the weather is clear, nip out and get a couple!

Sitting about the 150 mark for samples so far - would like to be at 400 by the deadline ideally, so tell everyone you know. I can be reached at h2ospectrum@gmail.com

The facebook group had a surge of members over the last few weeks, after Nicole Bennik's article
and is now at 112 members, around 40-50 of which have sent samples. Have had massive support from the Ecology crew at Massey University, thanks guys, you rock!


Setting the deadline mid September will give me a couple of weeks to finalise the display of them. Have been discussing various options, looking at possibly a three dimensional form - either something conical or of historical significance. My brother has been working on hooking up a motor to agitate the samples so the can be seen in suspended form.

Will update area totals shortly, but the map is still pretty accurate - Wellington Region has jumped up into the 20+ category, thanks to Em Davidson and Mac Birrell, and a few of the South Island sites have gone from red (0) to the lightest blue (still less than 5 in a region). Wairarapa has now a couple of samples, Gisborne area has 1 - the Naki is still not on the board, but is the only remaining region in the North Island to not have any samples. South Island has graduated into double figures, but with the North Island over 100 - definitely looking to get as many more South Island samples as possible in the coming weeks!

Email h2ospectrum@gmail.com for the postal address to send samples.
Thanks again to everyone who has made this project possible!

Also, see Juilet Larken's post on collecting Southland Samples here:

http://julietlarkin.wordpress.com/2010/07/11/water-samples-collected-for-amelias-water-art-installation/

Maps of samples colour coded by number collected.

Of 110 samples I only have 4 from the South Island! 

As you can seek, there are also areas in the North Isalnd that I have no samples from so far.

Any samples from the light blue as well as the red areas would be greatly appreciated!

100 samples!

Two wonderful mornings brought two sets of 6 and 7 samples from Dug Stuart and Rachel Turner to my door.
Dug's set from the Waikato: The three on the right are from the Waikato river, before, mid and after hamilton. It is interesting that you can visibly see the difference between them.

And Rachels set from Turangi-Rotorua

With a set of 6 that I brought back from Whanganui from my brother, Alex Hitchcock, that takes the total up so far to 110 samples!!! Which I think is pretty awesome for a couple of months.

The downside: I still only have 4 samples from the south island, out of 110!!!
I realised also, that the scale of what I create with the samples is such that if I do 6 vials at 5mL each from each sample, I still need roughly 400 samples to get me to the 2400 vials needed to make something 1.5m high...So... send links to all you know! I've got another couple of months collecting tops!

Many thanks to all that have contributed so far.
Amelia

Kelly and Troy Taylor - collecting samples on their honeymoon

Kels sent me these pxts this afternoon. She and Troy are on a campervan trip around the South Island for their honey moon - so are going above and beyond the call of duty - collecting me samples. These sample jars were recycled from the hospital by Barb Hammond.

Looks like the weather is perfect! Happy for you guys, and thanks heaps.

Press release by Nicole Bennik

Me, Artist, drawing attention to ‘rivers of shame’ (click for story)

Press release by Nicole Bennik, who is studying Journalism at Whitireia Journalism School. I was her first solo story.

Check it out and share with friends!! 


Unabridged q&a
  What is 'Spectrum'?

Spectrum is the umbrella name for my current body of work, which is centred around New Zealand freshwater. I wanted to use a title that would reflect that we have a wide range of water quality here. It's a kind of brand, if you will.

Where did the idea originate?

I've been aware NZ's water quality is declining for a while; you keep seeing more and more "dangerous water quality" signs. But the reality was really brought home for me in 2009 I went to a freshwater seminar at the Ecology department at Massey University in Palmerston North. Dr Mike Joy was speaking, he's the kind of person that polarises opinions, because he's so passionate about what he does. He's a very good speaker, but it was his statistics about the decline of water quality, and the decline of our native fish that worried me. It happened to coincide with a competition a group called Intersect was running for young artists. Intersect is a network of 'young' professionals concerned with sustainability (I can get you their contact if you like).
The competition they were running was called "Waiora Arteries of Aotearoa" - and they basically asked young arists (under 25) to respond to the topic of Freshwater in New Zealand. It was a really upbeat brief, which was difficult to respond to having just been given all this information, and having been in an institution where you pretty much write your own briefs from year two on, it was quite challenging to respond to something so specific. I entered a proposal for a display fridge (with a glass door) full of baby bottles which contained some of the most contaminated water I could find. I was fully convinced that it was too negative a reaction to such a positive brief, but I ended up winning and being able to create the artwork, which I called New Zealand Pure (a spin on the tourism industry's 100% PURE slogan). It's currently on display in the Otago School of Medicine in Wellington, next to the water cooler.

I did a lot of research leading up to making the work, because I wanted to be fully informed. It focussed entirely on the damage that we are doing to our waterways by presenting the worst. Collecting the water from Oroua River where they pump human effluent from Fielding had a really profound affect on me. I wanted to be able to share that experience, to get other people to collect water from their local streams, rivers and lakes. I've also done a lot of research since, and water is the crux of so much, I felt like I hadn't finished exploring the possibilities of it yet. So I started Spectrum. It's a process of collation - getting as many samples (i.e raw materials) and interactions as possible, as well as working on ways that I can use the water to provoke new lines of thought.
Most of my art is created with the intention to provoke dialogue around this kind of environmental issue - to ask ethical questions, of myself as well as my audience.

At the moment I'm working on a series of portraits of the people who have sent me the water, which I'm painting with their sample on indicator paper that I've made. Depending on the alkalinity/acidity of the water, the paper changes different colours. At least that's the theory! The science of it is harder than it looks.

When is it to be finished?

It's my major 'project' for my BFA Honours degree - which is a final year of research based practise. My end of year exhibition is early november, and I think it's assessed before then. So before then! I'm hoping to get most of the samples by late August/early September so I can finalise the display of a piece which incorporates them all physically.
 
Upon completion, where will it be 'published'?

It will be assessed in the end of year exhibition at Elam School of Fine Arts. Depending on what finished works come from the project, there are possibilities for exhibiting components in other exhibitions too.

What is the purpose behind it?
What messages do you hope to portray?

I have to be clear, I'm an artist first, not a scientist. The science interests me and is the basis for my research, but I'm making art.
Testing every sample I got would be a huge financial undertaking, so at this stage I'm more interested in the materiality of it, and what I can bring to the subject as an artist.

I'm hoping to provoke people into thinking about something we take for granted.  Water is something, particularly in urban areas, that is concealed, in pipes and drains. It's also something we are lucky to have plenty of here. There is SO much information around water. I could rant all day, but that's not what gets people's attention, and I don't want to give the impression that I'm morally better. I'm working from an position of questioning; I don't want to say "this is wrong" I'm trying to ask "Is this right?" But in a way that hopefully isn't overly didactic or overtly literal. Hopefully by making art, with aesthetic/cultural value out of something so 'every day' it will change the way people see water.

How many people are involved? 

At the moment, there's 95 members of the facebook group. I've had samples from about 30 people. Some people have been very generous and sent more than one sample, which has been great! I've actually found it very challenging to get people to participate - emails are all well and good, but you get less response than you would if you could actually talk to people face to face, and since I have no funding other than student loans etc, it's very challenging. Art on a shoestring! I've got samples from about 80 different sources so far, but ideally I'd love to have around 300.

Tell us a bit about you & your educational history

birthdate is 4 Oct 1986
New Zealand / British Citizen
Have lived here, Japan and England.
Came back from UK to study Art in NZ in 2007
Was at Quay School of the Arts in Whanganui 2007-2009. Transfered to Elam School of Fine arts (Auckland University) to complete my Honours Year.
I'd like to do an MA in Art and Environment in UK next year, funding dependant/all going well.

If people want to send samples, how do they get ahold of you?

h2ospectrum@gmail.com or via facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=114518911900535#!/group.php?gid=114518911900535

Water flash video

Neat little flash about water HERE 
can almost ignore that it's Leo-Dicaprio narrating.