If you're in the central city and at a loose end over the holiday season, why not take the time and check out these five pieces of public art sprinkled across the CBD.
1. Wind Tree (1977)
- Artist: Michio Ihara
- Location: Wynyard Quarter
- Background: Created in 1971 as part of the Auckland International Sculpture Symposium, this work first appeared in Queen Elizabeth II Square in 1977 and moved to its current home in the Wynyard Quarter in 2011. The trusses swing in the wind and the pool below reflects light up through the sculpture.
2. Eyelight Lane (2014)
- Artist: David Svensson
- Location: Fort Lane
- Background: 120 metres of luminous neon, visible day and night, it illuminates heritage brickwork and facades as it criss-crosses the space.
3. Karangahape Rocks (1969)
- Artist: Greer Twiss
- Location: Symonds Street Cemetery
- Background: This is a beautifully weathered bronze sculpture merging figurative and abstract forms with its surrounds.
4. Te Ara I Whiti - The Lightpath (2015)
- Artist: Katz Maihi
- Location: Upper Queen Street
- Background: a sassy piece of work intertwining Māori and urban aesthetics; it is a successful partnership between art and urban design.
5. Māori Figure in a Kaitaka Cloak (1964-1966)
- Artist: Molly Macalister
- Location: Quay Street
- Background: created 52 years ago, this revolutionary piece of public art includes the mere, a symbol of peace that demonstrated the changing attitudes of 1960s. Significantly, it was the first public sculpture in New Zealand to be commissioned from a female artist.
