"The gallery has had an awesome attitude to getting involved and supplying us with the wall," says professional graffiti artist and wall organiser Jonny Wartman.

"It's also a great opportunity for the public who don't usually get to see graffiti artists in action to come into the central city and check it out."

There will be several artists working on the wall including hip-hop artist DLT, Phat -1 and Askew from Auckland, internationally renowned graffiti artist ECB from Germany and local Christchurch artists.

"Graffiti is typically viewed by the general public and the art community as a low art form, but this is a great chance for them to come along and for us to show that graffiti does have artistic merit."

The 70m long graffiti wall will be situated on the Worcester Street boundary of the new gallery site. The artists will kick off at about 12pm and continue through until about 6pm.

Director of Public Programmes for the Christchurch Art Gallery, Ronnie Kelly, says supporting the graffiti wall shows the gallery's commitment to young artists and new art forms.

"The new Christchurch Art Gallery is one of this country's most significant cultural projects," says Ronnie Kelly.

"The new Gallery will embrace all aspects of New Zealand's dynamic arts scene and reflect the innovative and new as well as the traditional and established forms of local art."