As anyone who lived through it can attest, the Canterbury earthquakes shook people’s sense of place, permanence, and identity. Amidst the rubble and reconstruction, a quiet revolution took root.

*LEFT TO RIGHT Sēmisi Potauaine,* VAKA ‘A HINA; Neil Dawson, Fanfare; Ming Ranginui, Bibbidi Bobbidi Booo

Along with bulldozers and cranes came grassroots initiatives and creative vision. Part of that transformation was SCAPE Public Art, an organisation that has spent over two decades helping Ōtautahi Christchurch imagine not just what it could rebuild, but what it could become.

SCAPE’s contribution is easy to overlook – and that’s the point. The public art it facilitates integrates with the city, shifting how spaces feel and function in subtle but significant ways. As artist Neil Dawson told Stuff on the eve of the official blessing of Fanfare, produced by SCAPE, “Public art changes the mood of spaces and the way people behave in them. Even though you might not know why it feels good to be in a particular place, you build up your relationship with public art through glimpses and glances.”

Founded in 1998, SCAPE was producing contemporary public art well before the earthquakes. But the aftermath provided urgency, opportunity, and international goodwill.

What makes SCAPE’s model particularly effective is its collaboration with industry. Art doesn’t magically arrive on a plinth; it’s engineered, fabricated, and maintained through partnerships with construction firms, local councils, and private sponsors. “When I started this role in June, one of the first things I did was attend a meeting where the SCAPE team presented some incredible artists’ concepts to a committee of industry leaders. The energy in the room was fantastic – everyone was excited, developing ideas for how they could help bring the concepts to life and support the artists’ vision,” says Rachel Jefferies, SCAPE Executive Director.

*LEFT TO RIGHT Mischa Kuball,* Solidarity Grid; Anthony Gormley, STAY; Royaa Qasimi, Positive Letterbox

This blend of art and industry has delivered significant sculptures that would, to be frank, be outside city budgets, such as Sir Antony Gormley’s STAY – the pair of abstract block figures, one standing in the Ōtākaro Avon River, the other sheltered under a cloister at The Arts Centre – or Sēmisi Fetaoki Potauaine’s towering VAKA ’A HINA in Rauroa Park. “SCAPE fundraises 80 per cent of its annual budget from private sources; it’s both a stress and a strength. Last year, local businesses gave us $280,000 of in-kind support,” says Rachel.

Works of public art have become permanent markers of a city choosing imagination over fear.

Increasingly, the organisation has turned its focus to education and community engagement, fostering the next generation of artists, thinkers, and city-shapers. SCAPE employs a half-time educator who delivers quality public art education for school children, enabling them to engage with art in their own city, fostering their creative thinking, and developing their understanding of the issues underlying each artwork. SCAPE’s forthcoming season of temporary artworks also features competition-winning designs by Christchurch children.

“There’s something really powerful about giving people access to creative experiences outside traditional gallery spaces,” says Rachel. “Public art invites everyone into the conversation – no matter who they are or where they come from. Its impact grows over time, but the combined efforts of artists and organisations across the city are shaping a more open, expressive urban spirit that you can see and feel.”

In many ways, SCAPE’s success is measured not in headlines, but in how a city feels on a walk through its centre, in a shadow cast by an artwork that invites pause. In the way a child points, asks questions, imagines.

SCAPE Public Art Season 2025: Free public art, activities & guided walks from 7 November 2025 to 1 February 2026 | scapepublicart.org.nz

Our city’s quiet revolution