Necessary Threat Hikalu Clarke

Hikalu Clarke’s practice engages with relationships between governing bodies and its citizenry, focusing upon Counter Terrorism architectural philosophies and Unpleasant Design.

Traditional public spaces are being replaced with commercially aligned, privately owned public spaces (POPS). Though these spaces may provide safer environments, the experience of habitation is homogenised—colonised by a specific, financially mobile demographic.

Unlike traditional public spaces, whose value is decided by public utility, these POPS must remain commercially viable to be valid. This in turn requires constant update to remain relevant, nurturing a state of perpetual destruction and reconstruction.

Necessary Threat questions how permanent colonisation is often implemented initially through temporary occupation. Temporary scaffolding configurations will dominate the exhibition space, forcing the audience to negotiate their spatial agency within the gallery.

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Hikalu Clarke was born in Japan and grew up in Palmerston North. He graduated with an MFA from Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design in 2016 and was one of the co-developers of Whitecliffe’s DEMO project space. Recent exhibitions include; ITS A POND NOT A MOAT, MEANWHILE, Wellington (2017);The Tomorrow People, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington (2017); Hotel Devon Island, Collaborative exhibition with Rainer Weston, DEMO, Auckland (2016) and New Perspectives, Artspace, Auckland (2016).