Other worlds has arrived in Tāmaki Makaurau.
A thought provoking, wondrous series of large-scale globes standing on tripod legs inspires us to see the world through different lenses.
Councillor Angela Dalton says the globes provide a new experience of the Botanic Gardens which is a space much loved by Aucklanders and visitors.
“The scale is awe-inspiring. They look incredible on such a vast, expansive lawn. Close up, visitors will see some globes are very textural, others are smooth and detailed, and the new tripod stands give Other worlds a sci-fi feeling,” Councillor Dalton says.
This temporary outdoor exhibition aligns with the World Green Infrastructure Congress hosted this year in Tāmaki Makaurau from 3 to 5 September, and will be exhibited from 2 September to 14 October.
New Zealanders might have seen this artwork outside Te Papa Tongarewa between 2018 and 2020, courtesy of the Wellington Sculpture Trust’s Four Plinths commissions.
Creation of Other Worlds
Created by Auckland-based artist Ruth Watson, each of the globes in Other worlds depicts different types of mapping or data collection to present an alternative world.
The grey globe is a seventeenth-century worldview of the earth without water, and the teal and tan globe depicts an early 1900s belief that Mars was home to a superior civilisation.
Instead of the conventional colouring of continents, the patterns on the black globe depict carbon sequestration data. Rather than a usual sphere, the white globe depicts European Space Agency gravitational field analysis.
Ruth Watson has a longstanding interest in maps and her art practice questions common Western ideas about how places are represented and why.
“I was looking for globes that would be familiar in the sense that someone would look at them and know it was a representation of our Earth, but also different enough to indicate that it wasn’t the world as we usually see it,” Ruth says.
The artist proposed the next iteration of Other worlds for Aucklanders to experience. While the artwork was a commission for the Wellington Sculpture Trust, Ruth’s artwork appeals to and expresses ideas that anyone, anywhere can relate to, drawing on the familiar to express the unfamiliar.
Other worlds is exhibited by Auckland Council Public Art in conjunction with the Auckland Botanic Gardens. See here for a recent interview with Ruth Watson by Greg Meylan, the Visitor Services Project Coordinator at the Auckland Botanic Gardens.
Other worlds can be seen with another temporary exhibition in the Visitor Centre which shares examples of green infrastructure in design.
Artist biography
Born and raised in Canterbury, Ruth Watson studied at the Ilam School of Fine Arts in Christchurch, first focusing on painting before moving to a more interdisciplinary practice including photography, video, and sculpture. An interest in maps and its representational methods has been a common thread in her diverse body of work.
In 2004, Watson collaborated with the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics to create the largest map of the universe at that time. She is also the graduate of a science-based course in Antarctica, which inspired a series of artworks across several exhibitions. She completed her MFA at the Sydney College of the Arts, and has a PhD from the Australian National University, where her map of the universe was presented as her final artwork.
Currently based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Watson's journey has taken her from Berlin to Australia, and back to New Zealand. She has represented both Australia and New Zealand on several occasions, and has exhibited in the 9th Sydney Biennale, at the Frankfurter Kunstverein, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, and the Asia Society Museum and Gallery in New York City. She is currently exhibiting with Sumer Gallery in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and is a Senior Lecturer at Te Waka Tūhura Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland.
