Banter out of the box
Brought up in rural Manawatu, Matt Liggins loves some good old banter. Carly Thomas talked to him about the dying art of communication and what makes people happy.
Don’t put Matt Liggins in a box. Heck no, put him in a triangle. A teeny three-sided temple with a beer crate for a seat – it’s his statement to the world, or at least his own beloved Kiwi backyard.
Liggins is an architect who despises run-of-the-mill houses. He is an artist who likes to make people smile – a teacher, a dreamer, a surfer and a man who can giggle like there is no tomorrow.
And it’s all mingled into a happiness-inducing art project called The Real Pyramid Schemer. It started out as a concept for Auckland Art Week. Liggins teaches architecture at the University of Auckland and he was approached by Deborah White, the Art Week organiser, to see if he or his students were keen to do an installation.
‘‘I had about four put up their hands and we basically had to design something and then make it.’’
Liggins had been working on a series of ‘‘thought bubbles – all those things that you think but don’t think’’.
It was an off-kilter look at life with a healthy dollop of wry humour. And so he took that idea, turned it upside down and had a good look underneath.
‘‘I wanted to be able to create these thought bubbles on the spot, but I also wanted to tap into what’s happening at the moment. I did this parallel artwork that’s basically all the pyramids on top of each other and the top one’s happy, it’s getting everything, and as you go down to the bottom all the workers are getting stuffed through the economy.’’
Capitalism, greed, Trump, politics, poverty and frustration – ‘‘people are working more for less pay and it’s getting harder’’.
It’s all very serious stuff, but Liggins is one of those people who looks for the bright light when things seem a bit drab.
The pyramid, from his drawing, got made into a plywood plainfaced beauty. Inside, it is decorated with historical family portraits photographed at the pyramids in Giza, a Sphinx and a diagram of the pyramid of social classes from 5000 years ago.
There is a hatch cut into its side that flips the pyramid’s face from sad to happy, and a jaunty little flag is plonked on top.
‘‘Free happy art’’ is what that little flag sings and inside is where Liggins sits, on his beer crate, awaiting someone to stop, bend down and look in through the hatch.
He asks the looker-in what makes them happy and their response prompts a thoughtbubble drawing that becomes uniquely theirs.
‘‘I can anonymously connect with strangers – people that are doing the hard work, the grind – have a chat, break their day and just give out some good, happy vibes.’’
He had a big queue at Art Week – 250 drawings over four hours. The most common thing that made people happy? ‘‘Animals,’’ he says. ‘‘So many cats and dogs, which was amazing.
‘‘Food, chocolate and, thank goodness, a lot said family.
‘‘I can anonymously connect with strangers – people that are doing the hard work, the grind – have a chat, break their day and just give out some good, happy vibes.’’ Matt Liggins
Boyfriends, girlfriends.
‘‘I had people tell me their issues and I would just respond with something in a light-hearted way. Everybody deals with their own truths in a different way.’’
It’s about communication and connection. Brought up in rural Manawatu, Liggins loves nothing more than a good old-fashioned, over-the-fence-style chinwag. But it’s something he says is getting lost.
‘‘We have this anxiety or fear or shyness about talking. Having to respond to somebody, off the cuff and relating to people is something that we are getting less and less of.’’
It’s why he’s giving the ‘‘free happy art’’ sign a rest at this year’s Art Week in October and replacing it with ‘‘free happy texts’’.
The Real Pyramid Schemer will morph into Generation Text.
The mouth opening of the pyramid will be latched up and instead of conversation, people will be able to text Liggins inside. He will silently respond with a happy text and a thought about the continual loss of the art of conversation.
‘‘It’s a total play on how we are now.
‘‘People think that if you are open and talkative, you are high on P, or you’re wasted, or you’re drunk. People need to be human again, rather than a twodimensional image on a screen. Hopefully, people will see the silliness and have a laugh at themselves.’’
It’s kind of his motto for life, really: Have a look at the thing, think about the thing, talk about it, connect with it, laugh and then think of a more human way.
It’s how he approaches teaching, what wave in the ocean to catch, his art and how to design homes that people will love deeply.
And it’s why he sits in a pyramid for hours, connecting with random people and maybe joining some dots that will change a person’s next step, or challenge a stagnated thought process. Or he may simply make someone smile.