UNTITLED is a new temporary creative space by Life in Vacant Spaces (LiVS), giving artists, makers, performers, writers and community groups a place to test ideas, share work and connect with the public.
Running from 7 August – 4 October 2026 at 361 Tuam Street, the eight-week project will see the space continually change hands, with a rolling programme of exhibitions, workshops, installations, talks, performances, pop-ups and creative experiments.
The idea grew from something LiVS hears constantly through its work connecting people with vacant spaces across Ōtautahi: “We just need a space.”
While Christchurch has no shortage of creative ideas, finding affordable, accessible space to try something new can still be incredibly difficult.
UNTITLED is LiVS’ response.
Rather than brokering the space to a single project, LiVS has temporarily taken it on and opened the doors to multiple creatives through a pay-what-you-can model. Participants can use the space for anything from a weekend to a week, giving them an opportunity to experiment without the financial commitment or pressure of a traditional commercial space. There is deliberately no single theme or fixed outcome. One week might be an exhibition, the next an open studio, workshop programme, performance, conversation or something entirely unexpected. Some projects may be fully formed; others might be testing an idea in public for the very first time.
“Through LiVS, we hear from people all the time who have a great idea but simply need somewhere to make it happen. UNTITLED is about saying yes to some of those ideas and giving people the opportunity to test, refine and share them with the public. We want the space to keep changing and for people to come back and discover something completely different each time,” says Elisha Blogg, Director, Life in Vacant Spaces.
First through the door: Lighthouse – UNTITLED launched on 7 August with Lighthouse: Prototype No. 1, a week-long exploration of books, photography, art, publishing and slow creative practice created by Brad MacDonald and Heather Sarin.
Lighthouse is itself an idea in development, using its week at UNTITLED to test what a future analogue cultural house in Christchurch could look and feel like.
Over the following seven weeks, a changing line-up of creatives will take over the space, each bringing their own ideas, audiences and ways of using it.
For LiVS, the experiment is as much about what happens after UNTITLED as what happens inside it. Can a week in a temporary space give someone the confidence, audience, connections or proof of concept to take an idea somewhere bigger?
UNTITLED
361 Tuam Street, Ōtautahi Christchurch
7 August – 4 October 2026
Follow @livschristchurch for the evolving programme, opening hours and upcoming events