Transforming Dunedin's streets with art

Wednesday, 28 February 2018

Scott Muir, of the Dunedin Street Art Charitable Trust, says they commission artists to put a splash of colour on some of Dunedin's bland spaces.

Top street artists are being lured to Dunedin with home-stays, tours of Castle St and rugby matches.

The Dunedin Street Art Trust has commissioned more than 40 artworks adorning walls around the city's CBD – not bad considering it gets no funding from local or central government, chairman Scott Muir says.

The finished version of Dunedin's latest street art pice.

What it does have is a blank canvas and plenty of ways to entice some of the best street artists in the world to visit the southern city.

The latest artist to visit was Puerto Rican Joshua Santos Rivera – better known as 'BIK' – who just completed a 3-D metallic mural of a bull at the rear of a Prince St building.

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It took three years for the trust to secure Rivera's services.

The trust offered a 'home-stay experience', which was becoming a favourite option amongst the international street art community, Muir said.

In Rivera's case that meant a tour through Dunedin's notorious Castle St during Orientation Week, and attending a rugby match between the Highlanders and Blues at Forsyth Barr Stadium.

'We wanted to show him the real Dunedin, warts and all . . . sometimes the warts are more interesting,' Muir said.

The trust, which has raised almost $150,000, wants each artist to become an ambassador for the city.

'We want the artist to go away with a great experience.'

The trust was set up more than four years ago, before street art 'exploded' on walls in New Zealand and overseas.

Dunedin had several advantages over other cities trying to secure top talent, Muir said.

'Dunedin is full of amazing old architecture and interesting old buildings, but it also has a sense of blandness about it . . . what we have done is added some colour.'

There was no shortage of locations for potential street art, Muir said.

The trust used its own funds, including from a recent fundraising auction, alongside some from building owners and local businesses.

The city was looking better as a result, Muir said.

'We've done the equivalent of putting a shiny new brooch on an old coat.'