Introducing  Two Artists, Three Works, One Crisis! Get set for another hot topic with Urban Dream Brokerage’s (UDB) fourth commission for a vacant space 2021, with support from Wellington City Council. From late November 2021 through to February 2022, artists Bek Coogan and Heleyni Pratley delve into one of the biggest crises of our time, presenting two solo works, along with a collaborative ‘panel discussion’ event, in response to the current housing crisis. Prepare!

“We intend for our art to draw attention to the pain & suffering caused by the effects of the neo-liberal economic agenda regarding housing  over the last decades. The results of these 'free-market' policies have increased the poverty & class divide for all”

Bek Coogan, kicks things off on November 26th^th for a five day period, with her performance based project, The Original Homeless, running from Friday November 26th to Tuesday November 30th, 115 Manners St, next to State Opera House. Developing further, her recent art project ‘We’re all Hostages’ held at Te Whare Herā in 2020.  

For that project Coogan rescued 100's of shards of mostly rimu sarking destined for landfill, in what she calls a “raged response” to the current housing and economic situation. The rimu sarking wood is making a come-back, starring in a contemporary, interactive, real life, real time take on the Christmas nativity scene with ‘classic Christmas crafts’   We are the ‘Christmas Card,” says Coogan.”Can affordable rent be the gift this Christmas?”

This interactive work will be part installation, part performance, as passers by are welcomed to become part of the work and part of the story, via the opportunity to take a photo, make a card, or a decoration with their own authentic message. It may be just a chance to pause and breathe. Sometimes that is the best option available.

Like the real estate agents say, ‘Location, Location, Location’. The site  of Te Aro Park for this art work is already historically loaded, located at  115 Manners St, the activation will be open to the public from 10am to 4pm daily.

For updates around activation check 

www.urbandreambrokerage.org.nz/two-artists-three-works-one-crisis

www.eventfinda.co.nz/2021/the-original-homeless-interactive-art-installation/wellington-region

“I’m referencing historic and symbolic narratives that have been ‘layered with consumerism’ via the brainwashing with the tropes of ‘Christmas Capitalism’,  to create a space to reflect on how the land and spirituality, and the human rights to a home have also been consumed and disrespected.” 

Bek Coogan is a Te Whanganui-a-Tara-based artist and musician, performance artist, whose work orbits the meeting points where real life meets art. Originally from Palmerston North, She works across the fields of Performance, Music, Video, Drawing and Collage, exploring both the art and non-art world, questioning the artist’s role and their ability to practice in non-art spaces.

Part two of this huge and essential topic comes from artist Heleyni Pratley with background work and interviews kicking off in December 2021 and culminating in February 2022 with A Work About The Housing Crisis With An Indoor Outdoor Flow featuring The Housing Crisis Community Reflection and Assessment Centre, where you will be met by ‘Flow’ a housing space concept, embodied by Pratley. This immersive and participatory work will carve out a space in the city, where the complexities of the housing crisis can be explored and feelings shared. Through art making, discussion and reflection.

The work from these two incredibly strong Wellington based women then culminates in February 2022 as they combine forces for The Panel! Get Set for this live performance event starring ‘the ladder’, an economist, and a smoke machine!

Two Artists, Three Works, One Crisis, is the fourth in a series of public art commissions for vacant city spaces funded by Wellington City Council’s City Recovery Fund and commissioned by public art organisation Letting Space and vacant space brokers Urban Dream Brokerage. They will be produced by artists during 2021 and early 2022 with spaces brokered for them by the brokerage. 

UDB has previously assisted and brokered space for over 100 creative projects in Te Whanganui-e-tara and wider Aotearoa from 2013-2018. The programme has encouraged the innovative use of vacant and underutilised retail and public space to creatively build community. With our world changing in recent years due to Covid 19, they received a strong mandate to return in 2020 and continue their mahi of enlivening our cities streets.