in the dark

Do you guys know that I'm helping to organise an art event called Art in the Dark?

Its an amazing thing. We've challenged artists to create works that touch on the themes of community, environment and utopias, and they're going to be presented in Ponsonby's Western Park over two nights in October. The artworks will explore those themes while addressing more practical considerations: light, mobility, night, and conservation.

western park

There are five of us on the Art in the Dark team and we're all relative novices at organising light-art festivals (surprise!)But that isn't really a problem; people are generally happy to help us when we ask for advice or an expert eye. The Art in the Dark team are all friends. We're also all girls, and we're all about the same age. We meet after work, have a glass of wine and some chips in a cafe with our laptops out, plotting our next move. Or else we'll go to one of our houses for a shared dinner or brunch and work while we eat. We surreptitiously work on it while at our "real jobs". 

our pre-launch

Somehow, we've managed to create things like sponsor-packs, budgets, websites, artist workshops, and pop-up events; we've even given  interviews to magazines, newspapers and radio, presentations at community centres and at council meetings. We have actors, sculptors, cyclists, designers, poets, dancers, installations artists, musicians and film makers creating works for Art in the Dark, and all for free. We even have a (tiny) presence at Semi-Permanent. Art in the Dark has grown beyond our expectations, and it is so exciting.

that's us

If you're in Auckland on the 15th and 16th of October, you should come to Western Park and wander through the trees with a lantern in hand. 

The entry to our launch. Pretty, no?

Photos by Hans E Hammonds.