Outside an abandoned building in New Zealand\u2019s second-biggest city, a sign reads \u201cslightly haunted but manageable\u201d. In the middle of a busy shopping strip, pedestrians are warned to keep to a 2.83km\/h walking speed. In another part of Christchurch, one piece of signage declares simply \u201cdon\u2019t\u201d.<\/p>\n
The baffling boards are not an overzealous new council initiative, but a piece of art designed to \u201cplay with the way we take authority and signage so seriously\u201d.<\/p>\n
Despite resembling official Christchurch city council signs, the \u201cChristchurch city confusion\u201d warnings are the work of artist Cameron Hunt.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea was to make signs that look official, but with completely absurd messages, therefore creating moments of confusion, followed by little bursts of joy,\u201d Hunt told the Guardian.<\/p>\n
Hunt erected six signs around the city centre, as part of the Little Street art festival early this month. Each was conceived with a specific location in mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cWatching people interact with the signs has been awesome,\u201d Hunt said. \u201cThere have also been a few grumpy people who\u2019ve joked about writing to the council about these \u2018ridiculous signs\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council, however, is thrilled.<\/p>\n
\u201cHunt\u2019s signs are truly delightful,\u201d said Kiri Jarden, the council\u2019s principal adviser for community arts. \u201cWe totally support artists using humour to gently interrupt and engage passersby.\u201d<\/p>\n
People have been taking photos, sharing them online, and turning the signs into a treasure hunt, Hunt said. In some instances, people have posted their confusion to social media, only to be promptly informed the signs are tongue-in-cheek.<\/p>\n
One Reddit user posted an image to the site asking if the walking speed limit sign was \u201cfor real?\u201d. \u201cI\u2019m naturally a fast walker so a bit concerned,\u201d they wrote, prompting a wave of replies.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because it\u2019s a confusing prank how does that constitute art?\u201d one wrote.<\/p>\n
Another said: \u201cTo the person who made and installed this sign: well done, one of the greatest pieces of guerrilla art I\u2019ve ever seen. The fact that somebody even fell for it just makes it so much better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hunt hopes his work challenges people stop and notice their surroundings.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach piece is a small, interactive moment for people, sparking curiosity and conversation in a way that murals or graffiti cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Outside an abandoned building in New Zealand\u2019s second-biggest city, a sign reads \u201cslightly haunted but manageable\u201d. In the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-364259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}