Over 50 urban artists have taken over the empty, redevelopment ready Museum.

With the Museum’s redevelopment not far away, most of the complex is empty and we’ve handed it over to urban artists from Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas to use as their canvas.

They’ve created a winding pathway of art across five floors and over 35 spaces, including storerooms, offices and other parts of the Museum that are normally off-limits.

Their artworks, which range from traditional graffiti to murals, paste-ups, projections and more, are inspired by the Museum and the taonga (treasures) it cares for.

Building on works done as part of the blockbuster 2013/14 urban art exhibition RISE, the new works showcase the evolution and diversity of urban art, a movement that has been embraced by the Canterbury public and their Museum.

Image: A detail from a work by Flox and SWEATS painted for SHIFT.