Announcing Fresh Laundry: Music From The C-Sides

16 March 2026

Fresh Laundry is a site-specific public art installation dedicated to unearthing Aotearoa music through surprise sonic encounters – in laundromats across Tāmaki Makaurau.

The Fresh Laundry team is now compiling an Aotearoa C-Sides compilation: a collection of unreleased songs from only NZ artists. This album will be played on repeat through five of their specially designed/built Washing Machine Jukeboxes, installed in laundromats across the North, East, South, West and Central of the city during NZ Music Month (1-31st May).

What’s a C-Side?

Not an A-side. Not a B-side. It’s an unreleased song that you’ve written and recorded, that you love – but don’t know what to do with.

Genre doesn’t matter. Length doesn’t matter. Everyone’s got a c-side and that’s the music we’re most interested in – the stuff that would otherwise never be heard. Only the song title will be displayed while playing, but you’ll be credited as a contributor to the installation.

Why laundromats?

Laundromats are liminal, anonymous, ‘waiting’ spaces that suspend time in an unusual way. Time there feels both wasted and productive, and people are generally more receptive to what is put in front of them.

The act of doing laundry in a laundromat feels both private and public, individual and collective; and the specific conditions of laundromats are highly conducive to artistic discovery, which is something we want to harness. By planting these washing machine jukeboxes, this project offers an opportunity to all sorts of people to discover a rich tapestry of C-side Aotearoa music in ordinary settings. A private moment of discovery experienced alongside others in a public space.

For more information and eligibility criteria check out the Fresh Laundry website here.