Ōtautahi Automatic is the second work in what I hope to be a collection of animations which document the textures and motion of street sidewalks. Though often considered to be banal and static I have come to find pavements hide detailed textures which animate remarkably. Using the surrealist automatic drawing technique of frottage, a.k.a. taking rubbings, you can find all sorts of interesting movements and lots of surprises!

For this work I am asking volunteers to join me in creating rubbings around the streets of our beautiful, broken and re-growing city. On July 1 & 2 volunteers will join me in creating documentation of a stretch of central city footpath. I will take these rubbings and animate them in The Social’s open working studio at Toi Moroki. Anyone is welcome to come visit to see the process and chat. As soon as the work is complete it will be on display in CoCA for all to view, on or before July 9.