Otago students make a note of debt

Student political leader Harriet Geoghegan has enlisted the help of University of Otago students to create an art installation with a political message.

By attaching exactly 1320 notes to a board in exactly the prescribed pattern, they have spelled out $11 billion - the amount of debt owed by New Zealand students on their tertiary loans and a figure increasing by $1250 a minute.

Each note bears a student's career aspirations, their current student debt total, and how long they expect it will take them to pay it off.

Ms Geoghegan, this year's Otago University Students' Association president, said she came up with the idea after a campus sticky-note blitz earlier this year by design students protesting the closure of their department.

She said her installation worked as a striking artwork, and also made a strong political statement about the need for students to take loans to fund their studies, and about the Government underfunding of the tertiary sector which made loans necessary.

"It also makes students aware about their loans. Some don't know how much they owe, and others don't want to know because the amount is horrifyingly large."

The largest amount written on a note was more than $100,000 owed by a medical student, she said.

As the students placed their notes on the board, their actions were filmed using time lapse photography. A short film would be produced for Prime Minister John Key and publication on the OUSA website.

She also planned to photograph the work and send copies to Mr Key and other MPs.

The installation is one of 13 individual artworks or exhibitions in this year's OUSA art week, which finishes tomorrow.

- allison.rudd@odt.co.nz