Master of Arts (Art in Public Space) Program Manager Fiona Hillary is one of the speakers at the New Zealand Symposium, Holding the space: Communities and Spatial Authority Post Crisis, curated by Sophie Jerram.

This half-day symposium focuses on the transition from the point of crisis (where temporary demonstrations of care for space and community abound in Aotearoa), toward formalising or recognising the responsibility being demonstrated by these communities.

Wellington Faculty of Architecture and Design Innovation
There is often vocal celebration of care work at the time of crisis and revitalisation; however the authority attributed to communities following the recovery does not match the responsibility that the community takes on. As a Pākeha curator I realise many Māori colleagues and activists know too well the pain of this gap between responsibility and authority. This is one opportunity to imagine the future together beyond this current ‘state of exception’.

We do not know how long the financial crisis will last, what else is being planned as we ‘lockdown’ nor what form the balance of power is likely to be in the long term but we might begin to imagine structures, formal and informal modes of decision-making and clearer routes to “partner state” politics — whereby the state is an ally of community and solidarity movements rather than the controlling authority of our spaces.

SPEAKERS:
Jade Kake (Ngāpuhi, Te Whakatōhea, Te Arawa) 
Sophie Jerram (Te Herenga Waka, VUW/ University of Copenhagen) 
Heidi Svenningsen Kajita (University of Copenhagen) 
Hannah Hopewell (Te Herenga Waka, VUW) 
Anna Brown (Massey University of Wellington)
Fiona Hillary (RMIT University, Melbourne)
Tamatha Paul (Ngāti Awa, Waikato Tainui; Wellington City Councillor)

Join on Zoom https://vuw.zoom.us/j/268880745

Image supplied by Wellington Faculty of Architecture and Design Innovation for ‎Holding the space: communities & spatial authority post crisis symposium