The Social

The Social is a collective of artists engaged in a practice of interactive and site specific performances in Christchurch, New Zealand. The core of our practice has everything to do with critical public dialogue and setting up environments for social connections to take place within the urban centre of a post-quake city. email [email protected] to follow, like facebook.com/chchsocial

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The Social’s art-making resources now available to Chch-based, hands-on practitioners.

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Ivan Lupi after holding honey and gold leaf for 6 hours

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Week 7 of Making Space at CoCA with Cushla Donaldson, Julia Harvey, Jason Ware, & Many Joass

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Week 6- Cushla Donaldson, Leafa Krause & Jordana Bragg taking residence in front of the gallery.

Sandrine Castle and Julia Holden displaying in the tinyMRL.project

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Chase H.Q. Mayfield

For 'Mayfield Residence', The Social, Ashburton Art Gallery, 2017. Video by Dave Marshall, Motoko Kikkiwa and Matthew Ward.

Video documentation of The Social’s camping trip at Ashburton Gallery with Motoko, Dave and Matt

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Instagram post by Audrey Baldwin • Jul 9, 2017 at 4:13am UTC

21 Likes, 1 Comments - Audrey Baldwin (@tawdryt) on Instagram: “The vicious circle #trashimal in the semi-wilds orlf High St #makingspace #scrapprincess…”

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Instagram post by Audrey Baldwin • Jul 9, 2017 at 4:13am UTC

15 Likes, 1 Comments - Audrey Baldwin (@tawdryt) on Instagram: “One of #scrapprincess trashimals sighted in the wilds of the cbd! #makingspace #trashimals…”

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On the fringes

Life in the city is never as ordinary as it seems. Here, there are men who make ray guns, women who wear Victorian bustles beneath their skirts, and erotic performers who embrace the absurd.

Our own Audrey Baldwin!

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The Swiss side of NOMAD (Thinking) Residency

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Political Plan - Feedback, White Hole performance by Mark Harvey

In response to the exhibition Fffuture Fffocused Art Prize (organised by Riff Raff, the collaborative artist duo comprised of Li-Ming Hu and Daphne Simons),we had individual spectators on my back while they gave feedback to me on the exhibition and I fed them chips at the same time. I also reflected also on physics ideas like collapsing wave function and the theory of the white hole.

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Political Plan - Forward and Backward - Mark Harvey performance in collaboration with Julia Harvie

We walked in a straight line from outside on the street all the way in to the back of the main gallery at COCA for an hour. When we walked backward we discussed our political regrets, when we walked forwards we discussed what we see could be political solutions.

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28 June Performance by Mark Harvey titled Political Window

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Instagram post by Audrey Baldwin • Jun 27, 2017 at 4:02am UTC

29 Likes, 1 Comments - Audrey Baldwin (@tawdryt) on Instagram: “Where DID the trashimals go? Follow #scrapprincess map to see them in their new locations around…”

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Tech Impressionz gives a tour of The Social’s caravan.

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Political Plan  - Political Field - performance by Mark Harvey

For one hour I read the book The New Zealand Project by Max Harris and tried to relay what I read to passersby and cafe patrons around COCA, without being noticeable. 

(Video still by Clara Wells)

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Political Plan, Mark Harvey

Political Window - in collaboration with Audrey Baldwin

We collected political messages from passersby and attempted to send them to each other via telekinesis for an hour and a half at COCA.

Mark Harvey will engage with a range of strategies towards inviting and generating political proclamations and manifestos by members of the public and other artists in addition to himself, in the here and now and somewhere else.

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Mark Harvey is interviewed by Tech Impressionz while he performs as part of his Nomad (Thinking) Residency