NICAI students tackle Rugby World Cup

It’s not just rugby fans who are gearing up for the Rugby World Cup.

Students from the University’s National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries (NICAI) are using the Rugby World Cup as the inspiration for creativity and scholarship.

NICAI architecture students are collaborating with dance, music and fine arts students to create installations and events that feature as part of Auckland’s Fan Trail – the walking route from the waterfront to Eden Park stadium.

Located in Myer’s Park, the installations are inspired by the theme of “Jack in a box”— they are large-scale, architectural “follies” that open to release surprises in movement and dance, sound and sonic arts, and visual arts. The park comes alive during the three hours before kick-off on each Eden Park match day.

On opening night, thousands of visitors flocked to the Fan Trail, interacting with and clearly delighting in the multidisciplinary installations.

For Uwe Rieger, Associate Professor of Architecture in the School of Architecture and Planning, participation in Auckland’s Fan Trail offers a chance to showcase NICAI’s creative excellence to national and international audiences.

“Six large shipping containers form the base for our activities that ‘open up’ with a variety of interdisciplinary surprises designed to animate the walk from downtown to the stadium,” says Associate Professor Rieger.

A number of respected architecture practitioners, including Sue Hillery, Mike O’Sullivan and Graham Burgess, are taking time from their busy schedules to act as tutors in the Fan Trail studio project. Associate Professor Rieger says from a curriculum perspective, the project is academically rigorous.

“Students are discovering there is a big difference between on-paper designs and actual construction. This is also an exercise in project management that includes legal, financial, health and safety, and timeline issues. And it’s an exercise in teamwork and collaboration. This is the future of architecture: teams working across disciplines.”

While architecture students are taking the lead in the Fan Trail project, NICAI’s dance, music and fine arts students are working alongside them to create an innovative experience for fans heading to the match.

According to those involved, Elam students are using the project to “form a dialogue” with the architectural follies; dance students are “gaining a significantly more informed sense of studio practice, beyond what working in conventional theatre contexts can bring”; and sonic art postgraduates are experimenting with “morphing everyday sounds into something that is quite different”.

Ultimately, says Associate Professor Rieger, Auckland’s Fan Trail project enables the University to be “an active part of the discussion within the creative scene. We are not working behind closed doors; we are a vibrant and visible part of the community”.

For more information about NICAI’s installations visit www.amped.auckland.ac.nz

For more information about Auckland’s Fan Trail visit www.auckland2011.com

The University of Auckland’s National Institute of Creative Arts and Industries comprises the School of Architecture and Planning, Elam School of Fine Arts, the Centre for New Zealand Art Research and Discovery (CNZARD), the School of Music and the Dance Studies Programme.