Two Dutch artists, along with Elam School of Fine Arts students, will participate in a One Day Sculpture project on Wednesday April 8.

The artists will examine issues of free speech in New Zealand as part of The University of Auckland’s Elam International Artist in Residence Programme.

Based in Rotterdam, Liesbeth Bik and Jos van der Pol have worked collectively as Bik Van der Pol since 1995. Liesbeth Bik also lectures in the masters programme at Rotterdam’s prestigious Piet Zwart Institute.

One Day Sculpture is New Zealand’s first nationwide commissioning series of temporary, place-based public artworks. Invited artists produce a new work that will occur during a discrete 24-hour period over the year-long series. 

Bik Van der Pol’s One Day Sculpture, 1440 minutes towards the development of a site, examines issues of free speech in relation to New Zealand’s history and the government policies that have determined its democratic society. Working with Elam students, they will reclaim the Band Rotunda in Auckland’s Albert Park, known historically as a site of political protest and activism.

Bik Van der Pol have focused on the controversial legislation around the Electoral Finance Act as a starting point for the project. Over the 24 hour period Elam students will distribute to passers-by 1000 self-produced publications comprising of a series of posters that can either be dispersed individually or reviewed as a magazine-style collection of art.

Bik Van der Pol work across vastly different formats. Spanning installation, temporary public architecture, workshops, billboards, live collaborative events and publications they explore the potential of art to produce and transmit knowledge. The two artists collaboratively question “How can art maintain a space for difference in contemporary culture?”

During their residency at Elam, Bik Van der Pol will also present a public lecture on their practice and their sculpture project. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 6pm on Tuesday April 7 in the Elam Lecture Theatre (20 Whittaker Place).

The One Day Sculpture project 1440 minutes towards the development of a site will take place between the hours of 00.00 and 23.59 on Wednesday 8 April.