One Day Sculpture Presents: Amy Howden-Chapman

Amy Howden-Chapman

(b. Wellington, New Zealand, 1984; lives and works in Wellington, New Zealand)
COMMISSIONED BY City Gallery Wellington

Marine Bells, collection Museum of Wellington. Photo: Amy Howden-Chapman

The Flood, My Chanting

Thursday 9 October 2008, commencing at 1PM*

A Performed sound circuit travelling from the lagoon by Jervois Quay, down lower Willis St, Featherston St, Waring-Taylor St towards the waterfront, Wellington

*if raining, the event will be postponed until Friday 10 October 2008 at 2.00 pm

A series of bells will be temporarily installed through central Wellington in a circuit curving from the waterfront though the central city and back to the sea. The line which the bells collectively delineate will correspond to the part of the central city most under threat from future flooding. By mapping the space of the city with sound, the project will consider the relationship of the built environment to Wellington’s natural topography.

A chain reaction of sound will be activated by the sound of one bell reaching the position of the next. This sound cue will be acted on by ringers running between the bell stations. As the circuit is repeated passers-by will hear the over-lapping and varying resonances of the bells. The duration of the sound circuit will be naturally determined, responding to the ringers moving through the streets, as well as to the necessary duration required for each of the bells to send the signal on.

The antique marine bells are on loan from the Museum of Wellington City & Sea’s collection. These decommissioned maritime bells are rich and imposing objects, inscribed with the names and dates of their vessel, their surfaces marked with the history of their original use. Customarily bells aboard ships were used for ceremonial purposes, the marking of time, and to communicate a ship’s presence to other vessels and warn of imminent danger.

The project also looks back to the out-dated tradition of ringing church bells in times of danger in order to raise alarm to inhabitants of surrounding parishes. Church bells have traditionally been a way in which sound maps distance, and thereby defines distinct communities. The project seeks to use sound, objects and performative action to ask what emotional reactions we should have to the warnings of today about the natural disasters predicted for the future.

Amy Howden-Chapman works in a range of media including performative collaborations. Her work considers social and emotional responses to our surroundings, particularly sites where urban settings meet natural and environmental phenomena. A dance is created between fable and fact, science and prophecy. Reaction is summoned, and an event becomes a chant.

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Biography

Amy Howden-Chapman, Save the Whale/The Great Pacific Ocean Rubbish Patch Recreation, 2006, (photographic documentation of an event, work presented at a single channel video). Courtesy of the artist.

Amy Howden-Chapman is a Wellington-based artist and writer, born in 1984. She has a Masters degree in Creative Writing, Victoria University, (2005) and an Honours degree in Art History, Victoria University, (2006). Her work has appeared throughout New Zealand, as well as in Australia and America, including being in group exhibitions such as 'E.P.A.(Environmental Performance Actions)' Exit Art, New York (2008); 'Earth Matters' Auckland City Art Gallery (2008); 'The Water Show', The Physics Room Christchurch (2008): ' 'An Introduction to the Theory of Everything', Michael Hirschfeld Gallery, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington (2006); ' 'Old Habits Die Hard', Norwich Gallery, UK and Kunstnernes Hus, Olso, Norway (2005), organised by Sparwasser Gallery, Berlin, Germany, and 'ETA', Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington (2004). Solo projects include 'Wall Wall', Kiosk (organised by The Physics Room), Christchurch (2007) and 'The Story of Three Sentences', Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington (2004). She is part of performance group Raised By Wolves with artist Biddy Livesey, and recent projects include 'Popping the Tent ', an episode of New Artland, Television Spaceman (screened May 2008); 'I'm Breathless: Forced Fields' - Conical Gallery, (2007) 'Strange Parade & The Gift of Hills' (with accompanying publication 'After Leaving the Wilderness'), Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne (2007); 'Mall wall talk task bask bark park', in 'Moment Making: After the Situation', ARTSPACE, Auckland (2007).