#Sew art wizard wont work license
#Sew art wizard wont work free

вЂњPeople passing him in the street wonвЂ™t say, вЂOh thereвЂ™s the living work of art!вЂ™ вЂњHe is a living work of art - it has become part of him now,вЂ™ says Neil Roberts, a former curator at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery. So what becomes of The Wizard of New Zealand's status as a living work of art? He was also awarded a QSM in 2009.Д«ut after the Christchurch earthquakes in 2011 the cityвЂ™s concerns shifted from tourism to rebuilding the city and the Cathedral Square is not what it once was, which meant The Wizard no longer had a place to perform.

And around the same time,В The Christchurch City CouncilВ appointed himВ Wizard of Christchurch.ДЄlmost a decade later, in 1990, he was officially appointedВ Wizard of New ZealandВ by Prime Minister, Mike Moore.

In 1982 theВ New Zealand Art Gallery Directors AssociationВ issued a statement pushing for The Wizard to be recognised as an authentic living work of art.

#Sew art wizard wont work free

вЂњI made such fun of the whole thing that they finally made free speech part of the Christchurch city squareвЂ™s function.вЂќ By this time, The WizardвЂ™s audience was growing and the council finally gave in. Over the course of three months, police also attempted to arrest him without much success. 'Because I'm using fun as my main technique to avoid confrontation with unimaginative boring bureaucrats I had to use fun.вЂќ I was in a cardboard box speaking inside the box,' he says. вЂњI spoke in a gas mask, I spoke in French, I spoke in tongues, I spoke mime.

#Sew art wizard wont work license

The city council attempted to remove him from the Square citing that he needed a license to perform there. The Wizard first performed in the Christchurch's Cathedral Square in 1974, and on his earlier appearance, faced plenty of resistance. They were very much like me.вЂќД«ut the success of the project would rely on witty, provocative and humorous communication with the aim of provoking a strong response from the audience, in this case, the general public. вЂњIt was founded by romantics in the 19th century who really loved art and debate and argument. вЂњIt was actually my ideal community,вЂќ says The Wizard. Photo: Courtesy of The WizardChristchurch was his location of choice. It also meant saying goodbye to the life he had once known. In order to fully immerse himself in the project, The Wizard would need to relocate to a place where he was anonymous in order to build a world around him.

No one had ever conceived of something like this before. Becoming a fully fledged living work of art was edgy and provocative. It was there they met with director, Eric Westbrook, who was excited by The WizardвЂ™s proposal. To make this official, he and his partner, Alice, visited the National Gallery of Victoria. But he was keen to push the envelope further by creating a fully formed aesthetic. But he wanted to activate this by steering clear of violence, and instead, confronting people with what he refers to as вЂunusually creative responses.вЂ™ДЇor The Wizard, that was very much like street theatre. It was 1969, and he was starting a new position in the Department of Social Science and Sociology at the University of New South Wales, where he specialised in religion and revitalisation movements.Дuring this period, he was looking into new ways to challenge social and political ideology. The Wizard's transition to become a living work of art began to take shape while he was living in Melbourne. 'Your identity is only one thing, but you need to have a whole lifestyle - your family and friends, the universe you live in and the way you see the world - has to all be turned into something aesthetic, rather than moral or rational.' вЂњThat means everything about you is created by yourself as an artwork,вЂќ says The Wizard. But what many wonвЂ™t know is that the man formerly known as Ian Brackenbury Channell, was also part of a larger project that would see him become a living work of art.