The Beauty of Broken Art

Christchurch. July 2009. Ajr When I was out walking on Sunday, I took myself off to one of my favourite art spots, The Kiosk, a tiny Tardis-like exhibition space that stands at the juncture of High, Manchester and Lichfield Streets courtesy of The Physics Room. I was saddened to see vandals had finally taken to it – that the glass box had been smashed in and piles of broken glass had fallen in on the exhibition piece. At least I’m ASSUMING it was an act of destruction. One never quite knows with contemporary art. There’s always the danger that, what I think to be an act of vandalism may actually be a total piss-take by some over-energised creative mind. But I’m going with my first instincts – that this magic little ‘showroom’ has been wilfully destroyed. That said, there seemed to me a strange beauty there – something chilling and austere and broken that fitted the freezing climes of the day. I loved the changes in texture and the way the light shone through glass clear and opaque, whole and shattered. I liked the peep-hole effect, through and over the work, to the architecture of the streetscape beyond. It’s hard to know what the artist was originally intending of their exhibit – and sorry, I don’t know who the artist is/was – but judging by the flimsy, inconsequential remains, I’d venture to say (somewhat critically), that the work has gained strength in the demolition. But that’s only my opinion. You can see The Kiosk in many of its earlier guises by clicking on The Kiosk in the label line below this post. www.physicsroom.org.nz