Melissa Laing: Standing at the edge

A solo performance by Mustaq Missouri, written and directed by Melissa Laing.

“Imagine that, in the middle of a vast city, you might be so intimately connected to your community that you cannot leave your house without a serendipitous encounter.”

This is the world that our guide is dreaming of as he negotiates life after he’s made redundant. He’s taking us on a walk through the streets and gravel lots of the town centre, showing us development sites undergoing rapid change, and helping us see the possibilities of the place differently. He wants you to dream with him.

Standing at the edge is a meditation on the relationships between property, debt, work and community as they play out on the suburban fringes of Auckland. Our guide, Missouri, performs the story of a man balancing financial obligations against dreams of social and economic change. He’s questioning what we value and why.

Woven into the story are histories of failed and successful attempts to build alternative communities and create change through labour activism.

The 45-minute performance-walk through the town centre of North West Westgate was filmed on Monday 16 March as local shops began to close down in preparation for the lockdown. North West Westgate, a town centre being built on green fields, is experiencing rapid change as Auckland expands and intensifies.

Standing at the edge is presented as part of Walking about, a series of performative and participatory walks that travel across Auckland with Te Hau a Uru – the West Wind. It has been generously supported by Auckland Council.

06 June - 05 July 2020