Previous projects

Sentinel

Artist: Tyler Jackson
Dates: Until 18 June
Where: St John’s Lawn, Whairepo Lagoon

Te Whanganui-a-Tara-based artist Tyler Jackson’s Sentinel is a five-metre monolith that comes alive between dusk and dawn in response to the surrounding environment. 

A charred timber cladding contrasts with LED lights inset into the sculpture’s body. These change colour according to an internal computer programme and sensors which detect nearby movements and changes to temperature and humidity, giving the pillar an unnerving omniscience over its surrounds. The luminous beacon continues Jackson’s ongoing exploration into creating lighting devices to engage with participatory approaches of perceiving light and colour.

Tyler Jackson is an artist, curator and founder at play_ station artist run space. He graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Massey University in 2016. Recent exhibitions include AURORA, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, 2022; SENTINEL, Waiheke Sculpture on the Gulf, Auckland, 2022; LIGHT-HAUS, play_station, Wellington, 2020; Modulating Monolith, SCAPE Public Arts Season 2019, Christchurch, 2019, and Waiheke Sculpture on the Gulf, Auckland, 2019.

Read a commissioned essay about Sentinel by Angel C. Fitzgerald (14MB PDF).

For more information visit @tylerjackson.space 

Supported by the Wellington City Council’s Public Art Fund. 

Habitat for Life

Artists: Manju Tomar, Ruth Robertson-Taylor
Where: Miramar Prison Garden, Mount Crawford Prison, 1 Main Road, Maupuia

Artists Manju Tomar and Ruth Robertson-Taylor have been working as resident artists at Miramar Prison Garden creating sculptures from locally sourced cow manure. Their exhibition Habitat for Life features a series of new sculptures designed to be homes for local wildlife. The mysterious and organic artworks have been installed to create a sacred space which celebrates non-human life within the historic site of the gardens.

Instagram: @habitatforlife.nz

Mana Tipua Tuku Iho

A collaborative art performance led by Louie Zalk Neale
Wellington waterfront
4 - 5 February 2023

Takatāpui on the shoreline cast thick ropes out to our whanaunga in the ocean, and Hinemoana accepts the tī kōuka, allowing its strength to sparkle under her skin.

Ngā taura hononga, ngā taura marore, ngā taura kaha, ngā taura takatāpui.

You know that thin fibres can carry a mountain when twisted together in a miro.

This was a free outdoor performance exploring the taonga of the tī kōuka (cabbage tree) through Takatāpui, transgender and LGBTQI+ perspectives. This 90-minute performance included waiata, kapa haka, experimental performance art and sculptural installations made from tī kōuka fibres. Audience members were welcomed to watch the performance unfold or to participate through waiata and learning to extract tī kōuka fibre.

See Louie Zalk Neale's Instagram for more information.

Harmonic Tree

Andrew Laking
Begonia House, Wellington Botanic Gardens
29 September - 11 October
 
The Harmonic Tree is a new artwork / musical instrument designed by Andrew Laking. It resembles an exotic plant, with steel strings, percussive fruit and berries. Beneath the surface it houses an array of audio effects processors, all adjustable by tending to twigs, branches and other parts of the tree, enabling an operator to create electroacoustic soundscapes.

Special thanks to Joel Vinsen for advice on audio componentry, and to everyone who helped with the construction: Monique Tongue, Jen Eccles, Leda Farrow, Aimée Storm, Luke Scott, Jared Lewis, Stephanie Quennell, Mika Turnbull, and Harriet Trubshaw.
 
This work was made with support primarily from Wellington City Council’s Public Art Fund, with additional assistance from Creative New Zealand and Toi Whakaari. Thanks also to Wellington Botanic Garden ki Paekākā for hosting the work.
 
For more information visit: www.loemis.nz/harmonic-tree

Lockdown Laundry

Katja Starke

3 August – 6 September, various libraries

During July artist Katja Starke travelled all over Wellington to capture peoples’ experiences of the Covid-19 lockdown using her trusty typewriter. Wellingtonians shared their unique and personal perspectives of lockdown with Katja, then hung them out to air on the Lockdown Laundry washing line for others to read. Now, the entire collection of lockdown stories will come together in a roving display at some of Wellington’s central and suburban libraries.

You can hear more about Katja’s project in her interview with Jesse Mulligan on Radio New Zealand.

WOULD YOU LOOK AT WHAT GOES UP.

Elisabeth Pointon

Saturday 25 July 2020, 12.30pm

City Gallery Wellington is taking to the sky with one of artist Elisabeth Pointon's aerial banners from their current exhibition What Goes Up – featuring banners and documentation from the artist's year-long trilogy of works in 2019. The banner will soar over Cuba Street and the general city centre area for approximately 30 minutes.

For more information visit City Gallery Wellington website.

This project and flyover are supported by Wellington City Council Public Art Fund and Airbubble Aerial Advertising and Banner Towing.

Chevron Hassett: One Thirty

16 November - 7 December 2019

Artist Chevron Hassett presents a photographic series of five Naenae locals installed on buses routed from Naenae to Wellington city.

Chevron Hassett ( Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu, Pākehā), grew up in the Lower Hutt suburb of Naenae, where he used to graffiti buses - his first creative and subversive public works. Harnessing this spirit, the artist now sites portraits of young people from Naenae onto buses, representing the mana and potential of Naenae. In creating this project, Hassett asked his peers to choose sites important to them, 'where their hearts felt full' around Naenae, where they grew up.

Now, Hassett launches these images on their own journey as they traverse routes on five buses from Naenae through to Wellington city during December 2019 and beyond. This project, One Thirty, - named for Naenae's bus route - features images of Journey, Nesi, Wasa, Grace, and Chevron himself.

One Thirty is shown in conjunction with Chevron Hassett's Toi Pōneke Visual Art Residency exhibition Home is where my heart will rest, 16 November - 7 December 2019.

Chevron Hassett (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu, Pākehā), was born in 1994 in Lower Hutt, Aotearoa.

Hassett uses still and moving image to explore concepts of whanaungatanga, tikanga māori and kaupapa māori operating across ancestral and urban landscapes. His practice spans community projects with youth to contemporary art projects and writing. He achieved a Bachelor of Design (Hons) from Massey University, Wellington in 2016. In 2017, he won the Nga Manu Pirere Award from Te Waka Toi/Creative New Zealand. Hassett is also currently showing work as part of Strands at The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt, until 22 March 2020.

The Weight of Information

17 November - December 2018
Thomas King Observatory, Space Place, 40 Salamanca Road, Wellington 6012, New Zealand -41.28461, 174.76781

The Weight of Information is an artwork by Julian Priest based on a very small satellite that is scheduled for launch into Low Earth Orbit on Nov 17th 2018. The TWOi satellite is a tragic hero who has made it into the heavens only to be pulled back down to Earth by gravity.
TWOi collects information from its sensors and immediately deletes it, in an attempt to ascend by forgetting. In the inaugural art/science residency at the Thomas King Observatory at Space Place, Julian Priest will transform the building into a public ground station to track the satellite's progress in a series of public events.

See Julian Priest website for details and opening times.

The Weight of Information is supported by Wellington City Council's Public Art Fund and Museums Wellington.

Eat My Culture

1-24 September 2018

Eat My Culture aims to make visible the nuances of cultural relationships by partnering New Zealand artists of Asian, Pasifika and Māori descent with Asian restaurants and takeaways in Central Wellington to create shop-front window art installations based on their interactions.

Eat My Culture presents the following collaborations:

• Dylan Herkes with Golden Gate Takeaways 1 - 24 September
• Ross Liew (Oscar Low) with R & S Satay Noodle House 3 - 24 September
• Simon Kaan with Big Thumb Chinese Restaurant 7 - 24 September
• Salome Tanuvasa with Grand Century 7 - 24 September
• Steven Qian at Ozeki Restaurant 7 - 24 September
• Bhavesh Buthadia and Abhi Topiwala with Great India 7 - 24 September
• Madelin Cheng with Regal Chinese Restaurant 20 - 24 September

Supported by Wellington City Council's Public Art Fund

Asian Aotearoa Arts Hui

AAAH Public Art Projects
3-23 September 2018

AAAH2018 Artists Billboard Campaign

This series of posters created by Kerry Ann Lee, Kim Lowe and Ant Sang, have a dual purpose of being artworks in their own right and also used to promote AAAH.  Keep an eye out for these striking works pasted up around Wellington City.

AAAH 2018 Artist Billboard Campaign

AAAH2018 Artists Billboard Campaign is proudly sponsored by Wellington City Council Arts and Culture Grant, and Public Art Fund.

MAUSINA

Wednesday 19 September 2018, 3-3.45pm (rain or shine)
Parliament grounds
Free

Selected by Wellington City Council’s Public Art Panel to commemorate 125 years of women's suffrage, Māori women artists of internationally acclaimed theatre company MAU join with women from Wellington's Pasifika communities for a performance ceremony in the grounds of Parliament.

Directed by Lemi Ponifasio, Mausina pays particular attention to community, family, nature and the potency of female existence. Combining Te Reo and Pasifika languages, Mausina expresses adaptability and resilience and turns a mirror to the turmoil of the modern world.

For more information see: MAU Wahine facebook.

Chinese footprints: A walking tour of Wellington's history

1-3pm Sunday 16 September

3-5pm Sunday 23 September

Lynette Shum (Oral History Adviser) and historian Nigel Murphy have created a walking tour that traces Chinese histories through central Wellington. The rich history of the Chinese in Wellington is largely invisible to the casual observer, yet if we look beyond the surface, the past begins to reveal itself. This 2-hour walking tour points out sites of significance for Wellington's Chinese community including businesses, eateries and Haining Street's 'Chinatown'. The tour concludes with a pot of Chinese tea at the Poon Fah Association clubrooms.

Chinese footprints: A walking tour of Wellington's history

Supported by Wellington City Council's Public Art Fund

Political Cutz 2017

By Barbarian Productions and Maverick Creative.

When: Monday 4 to Saturday 9 September 2017
Where: Public Trust Building, 131-135 Lambton Quay

Political Cutz is a pop-up hairdressing salon/cafe/lounge offering free haircuts in exchange for political and civic dialogue. It's a unique and engaging project that seeks to energise the public in the lead-up to the General Election and make politics great again!

Incursion

By Shaun Matthews

When: 10 March - 7 April 
Where: Otari Wiltons Bush, Mt Victoria Town Belt, Wellington Botanic Garden and Te Papa’s Bush City

Weeds ‘take over’ central Wellington’s parks and green spaces in Incursion, a series of large photographic images on fabric by Shaun Matthews. Hung high amidst the trees and bush, Matthew’s images ‘smother’ the plants behind them to remind us of the huge and devastating impact weeds have on our native ecosystems. 

Shaun Matthews
Shaun Matthews - Instagram

Puawānanga - Stars of the Forest

When: June 2017
Where: Corner of Tory and Vivian streets.

During Matariki the stars, specifically the rising of Puanga mark the beginning of the New Year. In whakapapa and in Māori cosmology, puawānanga (Clematis paniculata) is the daughter of Puanga and Rehua.

Artists Angela Kilford and Aliyah Winter connect earthly and celestial realms in their temporary billboard project throughout June. The artists create a constellation of puawānanga blooms celebrating the close connections between all things through whakapapa.

Puawānanga - full whakapapa chart (27 KB PDF)

Political Cuts

1 – 5 September, i-SITE Visitor Centre, 101 Wakefield Street
Times: 10am – 4pm, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday; 11am – 6pm Thursday

Political Cuts is a pop-up hair salon offering cheap coffee and free professional haircuts to young people in exchange for political discussion in the lead up to the general election.

This non-partisan, conceptual performance art project targets a younger (and potentially disengaged) audience in an attempt to give them a platform to engage in political discussion in a fun and theatrical way.

Each cut will be shared online with a personal summary of thought by the newly coiffed / caffeinated visitor.

For more information:
Political Cuts - Barbarian
Political Cuts - Urban Dream Brokerage 

Shine

Jhana Millers

The first verse of Rihanna’s song "Diamonds" is translated into various languages, recorded from passers-by, then replayed through speakers attached to structures along Wellington Waterfront.

No Stone Unturned

Angela Kilford & Elijah Winter with Te Roopu Raranga o Manaia

Opening night:  6pm, Wednesday 2 March 2016

No Stone Unturned is an opportunity to explore ecology and diversity in the city through a series of walks led by artists Angela Kilford and Elijah Winter. The project questions how we value different types of knowledge. The artists employ whakapapa (genealogy) and raranga (weaving) to explore the connections between people and place.

No Stone Unturned will occupy a 20ft container at the Performance Arcade, where a collaboration between the artists, participants and the Manaia weavers from Hikoikoi, Petone, will take place. Here the dialogue started in the walks will continue through learning and making.

Walks exploring the ecology of nearby streets

• depart the Performance Arcade
• daily, 3–6 March
• 11am–1pm and 5pm–7pm
• maximum of 8 participants per walk 

The walks are free and operate rain or shine. Cancellation may occur during high winds. Participants can book on a walk by emailing: angelakilford@gmail.com

Take part or watch harakeke (flax) weaving with the Manaia weavers

• daily, 3–6 March
• no previous experience required

Extend Yourself

Kemi, Niko & Co.

A Rolleston Heights Summer Residency 2015/16

Head to the hills between Mount Cook and Brooklyn and discover a series of interactive public artworks designed for and in collaboration with the local community. Extend Yourself combines science, play and art to offer new perspectives on our natural backyard.

In association with Imagine My City, a pilot project by the Nature Through Arts Collective.

Keminiko 

Remembrance: We Remember

Appleton Park will be the site for the WW100 public artwork, Remembrance, created by international art and design collective Squidsoup.

This interactive work is made up of over 860 light poles that bend and move in the wind. Each pole represents a Wellingtonian who lost their life between during the Gallipoli campaign of World War 1. Remembrance invites the public to visit and remember the great suffering that many regions across New Zealand suffered through the loss of so many young men and women.

Supported by the Wellington City Council Public Art Fund and Massey University.

Remembrance: We Remember

Miniature Hikes

September 2014 – March 2015

Tucked into each of their natural environments, these small sculptures were inspired by Department of Conservation (DOC) huts and New Zealanders’ experiences of the backcountry. Playful in nature, they were made from locally salvaged materials, including wood, flattened tin cans, and plastic sheeting. 

Drawing on their public art project in Rolleston Heights, the artists will similarly enabled the public to contribute through logbooks and other interactive components. Each site responded to its location and community in Aro Valley, Breaker Bay, Mount Albert, Mount Cook, Mount Victoria, Owhiro Bay, and Matiu / Somes Island.

Welcome to Miniature Hikes - Kemi & Niko & Co

Kemi Niko & Co - Facebook

Outdoor Public Art - Light Boxes - Huts of Welling Town

Rainscape

February 2015

Part of The Performance Arcade 2015, Rainscape transformed a shipping container into an interactive and immersive environment in which people could change the weather with their movements, without getting wet.

Combining bespoke and open-source software development, projection, special effects and sound, Rainscape harnessed and shared the possibilities of digital technologies. In doing so, it precipitated our consideration of weather as both a personal and universal phenomenon that is outside our control, yet directly affected by our patterns of behaviour.

Rainscape was a collaborative project, and included visual artist Debbie Fish and software developer Lisa Taylor.

Athfield Tower

February 2015

For 1 week following the public memorial service for Wellington architect Ian Athfield, the replica turret and sculpture Athfield Tower remained sited on the lawn of Civic Square - a fitting backdrop that showcased his contribution to Wellington’s cityscape. Using the black marker provided, a range of people, from family, colleagues and students to inspired street artists remembered ‘Ath’, creating a dynamic public memorial and artwork.