Chairs for Christchurch quake victims moving for new arena

An artwork by Peter Majendie remembers the 185 people who died in the Christchurch earthquake in February 2011. Photo / Conan Young

By Sally Murphy of RNZ

An art installation of 185 chairs, symbolising people killed in the Christchurch earthquake, will be moved.

Artist Peter Majendie placed the white chairs opposite the CTV site on Madras St on the first anniversary of the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that struck on 22 February 2011, causing severe damage, killing 185 and injuring several thousand people.

The city's new multi-use arena will be built on the site of the memorial.

Majendie said the chairs would be moved to a new temporary site on 17 November.

The bishop had given approval for the work to be placed on the site of the old St Lukes Church on the corner of Kilmore and Manchester streets for a couple of years, Majendie said.

"We have come up with a nice landscape plan and the chairs will have a bit more space, so it will look good," he said.

Long-term plans for the chairs, which have become an attraction for locals and tourists, remain uncertain.

Majendie said the chairs had transcended the earthquake and become a symbol of loss.

"I've met people there who have lost someone and they just come and sit quietly at the chairs."

Majendie installed a 186th chair to symbolise others who lost their lives that day or because of the effects of the earthquake.

"My friend lost his mum that day, she had a heart attack but by the time she could get help she passed away. If it was any other day she could have survived.

"That's what I like about art - you can acknowledge everyone in a way that can't be done with an official memorial," he said.

- RNZ