New Zealand urban regeneration initiative Gap Filler, who previously threw public dance parties with a washing machine, has a wacky new project called ‘The Inconvenience Store’, a hybrid pop-up shop and art residency that explores the theme of inconvenience.
Located in Christchurch, the store works on a week-long residency basis, meaning each vendor stays for a week before another vendor takes over. The vendors are free to run the store according to their own interpretation of the theme, which is manifested in the products, the store layout, mode of payment or interactions between the staff and customers.
It has held one residency so far which featured wonderfully absurd products like packages of ‘Never-ending Happiness’ , ‘Jars of Silence’ and ‘Pints of Patience.’ The second residency is scheduled to run from 11 to 16 March and will require customers to spend two hours inside to make a purchase.
According to the collective, the project questions if inconvenience has a place in today’s mall culture where convenience breeds conformity, and aims to bring fun and creativity back into the community.
Gap Filler co-founder Ryan Reynolds said, “Many people want to push the inner city down that path towards more convenience, with free parking everywhere and a central air-conditioned mall. We feel that the central city needs a point of difference, that we should embrace inconvenience and turn it into an asset and point of attraction for the city.”
The store stands on a vacant spot in Cathedral Junction and is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 9.30am to 5.30pm. It is closed on Mondays to allow incoming vendors to make over the space.
If you live in Christchurch and are interested in checking it out, head over to the Gap Filler website and Facebook page to find out more about the project and schedule.
[via PSFK, images via Inconvenience Store]