Cityside has offered a series of contemporary remediations of the traditional Stations of the Cross at each Easter since 1997. These are installed in our small worship space and open to the public.
In 1996 Cityside was just starting to find its way as a new church. Numbers were small, around 20-30 at morning worship. I was keen to provide a worshipping community that would support and encourage all forms of creativity, and particularly artists. I had no experience of and little understanding of art or the arts in general. In the years previous several visual artists had started coming to Cityside. Often on my mind were the dual questions of how could I encourage these artistic talents, and how could we connect the Christian faith with the surrounding culture? One morning around Christmas of that year I literally woke up asking myself, ‘Why don’t we do a contemporary series of the Stations of the Cross and open them to the public?‘ I have no idea where the concept came from and I’m not even sure how I knew about the Stations of the Cross. I would have to attribute the inspiration to the work of God’s Spirit.
My original concept, floated in a letter to 14 Citysiders on 6 January 1997, was to follow a labyrinth pattern with the stations located within this pathway. Any form of creative art would be acceptable, other churches could be invited to look at the art, and we could retire to Galbraiths Ale House up the road afterwards! A meeting over lunch on Sunday February 9 found enough support to proceed and the installation opened on Maundy Thursday 27 March, less than 6 weeks later!
That first year we lined the walls with shiny black polythene and lit the works with candles and bed and floor lamps. The art covered a wider variety of media than almost any year since — three televisions running two video loops, a single television and loop, seven televisions in a ‘cross’ stack running two video loops, walk through tunnels, interactive face wiping, oil on canvas, calligraphy, mixed media, and cartoon.
The basic concept has remained unchanged. The artists, who may have no formal training or any previous experience of producing art, are charged with reflecting on the biblical story that goes with the station they have chosen and interpreting that reflection in a form (using any media) that others can then reflect on. Sometimes we include traditional non-biblical stations as well eg Veronica wipes the face of Jesus. Any Citysider can contribute and there is no censorship or checking of the content, style or medium of the pieces. The only parameters are those of size and intention. As curator I do not see the art until it arrives to be hung or placed in the space.
The Cityside auditorium is stripped of its furniture and considerable wall hangings, lined out with black fabric 4 metres high (although we have used silver and polythene previously) and the space designed and walls built to form some sort of pathway past the art and an enclosed area for reflection. The art is then placed and lit by individual low voltage quartz halogen spot lights.
While the concept has remained the same over the years, the design, promotion and curation has improved and developed with each installation. The number of punters coming through has risen from 370 to 1100. It has cost between $2000 and $5000 to produce each year. This has come from Creative New Zealand Creative Communities grants ($500-$1000 in five of the seven years) and the rest from private individuals at Cityside. The church itself has generally not contributed directly but has picked up incidental costs of photocopying, admin etc. This is because Cityside as an organisation has made the philosophical decision not to fund any projects of any kind. All projects are funded by those who support them and feel some sense of call and commitment to them. Cityside does provide basic administrative support to projects.
A final comment about my role. I am involved because I believe the project is a worthwhile one and that I have gifts that are useful to making it happen. I do not do it because I am employed as a pastoral leader at Cityside. The fact that my Cityside employment is flexible makes it easier to give it the huge amount of time required, but my motivation is my personal interest in it. If I was a member of the Cityside community, lying on a cushion Sunday by Sunday and not employed by them, I would still want to head up this project. It is something I do as part of this community rather than as ‘the minister’. Probably in the minds of most Citysiders this distinction doesn’t exist, but it is an important one for me, as is the fact that it is not directly supported financially by the church.
Mark Pierson 23 October, 2003.