A student spending all day in bed is not really a news story.
But it is when the bed is in a public car park.
Otago Polytechnic School of Art student Clarke Hegan went
deep undercover on Saturday, all in the name of art.
The 20-year-old spent Saturday sleeping in a bed in a
Cumberland St car park. The bed was "parked" on a patch of
grass from the Dunedin Botanic Garden.
"It's about using public land as a private space," he said.
"I stayed up all night and then took a sleeping pill at 10am
and went to bed."
Mr Hegan had bought an all-day parking ticket and, for the
next seven hours, he snoozed while life bustled around him.
Shoppers wandered by with groceries, car horns tooted and
people took photographs.
Someone made off with his duvet early in the afternoon, so he
had only the sheet for protection when the heavens opened at
3pm and the rain came.
But Mr Hegan slumbered on.
"Some people were kind and thoughtful and others weren't the
nicest. But that's all part of it. I was completely
vulnerable to whatever people wanted to do to me," he said.
Wilson Parking officer Andrew Gilder said it was the most
unusual "vehicle" he had seen in the car park.
"There were groups of girls getting into bed with him and
having their photos taken," a clearly amused Mr Gilder said.
Even Dunedin police popped around to check on the crashed-out
student.
"We had a call about it and put it in the system, so we could
advise anyone else who rang up what was going on," Senior
Sergeant Steve Aitken said.
The installation was part of Mr Hegan's project for the
School of Art "Site" exhibition next month.
-nigel.benson@odt.co.nz
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