Click photo to enlarge
The "ugly white fence" at the Forsyth Barr Stadium site in
Dunedin could soon be home to a giant mural, if the Keep
Dunedin Beautiful group has its way. Photo by Gerard
O'Brien.
The white fence guarding the Forsyth Barr Stadium site
could be turned into Dunedin's largest work of art in an effort
to ward off graffiti and vandalism.
Dunedin City Council staff and members of Keep Dunedin
Beautiful are seeking resource consent for the project, which
is yet to be approved.
The idea would see individual fence panels - from the Water
of Leith to Leander St - used as the canvas for a series of
colourful murals.
Keep Dunedin Beautiful co-ordinator Darlene Thomson said
schools, community groups and individuals would be invited to
apply for space to paint on the fence. The murals would be
separated by panels showing information about the project,
and required safety notices, but aimed to turn the eyesore
into an "art wall", she said.
"It won't be one mural. It will be loads and loads of murals
done by different groups.
"People respect that [art], so it won't be graffitied. Let
them paint to their hearts' content," she said.
The idea had been jointly developed by Keep Dunedin
Beautiful, Taskforce Green and Dunedin police last month, and
Carisbrook Stadium Trust staff were "very receptive", she
said.
Potential artists would have to submit their ideas to Keep
Dunedin Beautiful for approval, and comply with set rules,
she said.
"It has to be art work and it has to be non-offensive. There
can't be any words on it at all.
"The idea is it should be a thing of beauty, rather than this
ugly white fence," Mrs Thomson said.
Council resource consents manager Alan Worthington confirmed
an application was being considered by a council planner with
input from an urban designer.
It was likely to be processed on a non-notified basis, with a
decision released next month, once the New Zealand Transport
Agency - responsible for the nearby State Highway 88 - had
been consulted, he said.
Like the Berlin Wall...
except here it is in place for the reverse reason. This one is designed to keep the oppressed (Dunedin ratepayers/citizens ignored) out, while the other was designed to keep them in. In either case, the people it was put up against were not usually high income earners. History repeats - with a twist. It's erection shows they have a complex, they know there's a lot of anger for not heeding democracy whatsoever. A chain of white elephants painted on it would be a good start.
Words
"It has to be art work and it has to be non-offensive. There can't be any words on it at all."
The white fence will hold some words at least: "Construction Zone - Danger, Keep Out". Is this art?
Open invitation to graffiti buffs
I suspect that long before next month there will be a number of 'non-notified' works of art decorating the wall. A solid white fence 'guarding' the site of an such a controversial project near the University and near a main road is practically on open invitation to student graffiti artists.
Ha
They haven't painted over the white elephant yet.
Non Notified ?
Non Notified consents are appropriate when "the effects are no more than minor", and when all the affected parties can be clearly identified. Whether the effects of a 2m high, 100m long grafitti sprayed fence are "no more than minor" is very subjective, and appears to vary greatly in the eyes of the planning authority. But, unless City Planning intends to mail out consent approval forms to every commuter resident between Ravensbourne and Aramoana, and stop every tourist campervan that travels down the road, then the affected parties cannot be identified. And so the application must be Publically Notified. Or have the rules surrounding signage now changed, and all signage facing a public road will now be processed as Non Notified consent applications? To demonstrate consistency to the ratepayers. Or is this a case of Council ignoring its own rules to further its own cause. That's not really a question.