Abstract:
LIVING HALLS is a growing collaborative archive. The paintings, drawings, honour boards, documents, database, photos, stories and audio recordings that make up this archive tell us about the war memorial halls of Aotearoa. Following the Second World War, New Zealanders wholeheartedly embraced the idea of constructing utilitarian memorials to honour soldiers killed in action instead of the ‘traditional’ monuments favoured after the First World War. Government subsidies encouraged the widespread building of community centres and halls as ‘living memorials’ for all to share. These were ‘monuments with an inside’1, conceptually complex spaces that were built by communities to symbolise their grief, but also to solve a practical need for a place to gather for everything from dancing to voting.
