185 Empty Chairs

Christchurch will now be remembered for the terrorist attack on it's mosques, today two weeks ago, but the city has had more of it's share of violence this decade.
On 22 February 2011 a massive 6.2 earthquake shook the city, causing widespread damage across Christchurch and killing 185 people.

Local artist (and boinero) Peter Majendie arranged 185 empty chairs that he had painted white on the site of the demolished Oxford Terrace Baptist Church, creating an unofficial memorial for the 185 individuals who died in the earthquake.

The day after the installation, the local newspaper The Press reported that the artist's intention was for the memorial to stay for a week. However, it has become a major tourist attraction now. Installed at the day of the earthquake's first anniversary, it preceded the official earthquake memorial—the Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial—by five years.