New sculpture on Wellington's waterfront
A (very) brief history of aotearoa in four sculptures.
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Hawke’s Bay
a (very) brief history of aotearoa
by Kereama Taepa
4 Plinths Sculpture
Te Papa Forecourt
A high-impact sculpture portraying a potted history of New Zealand along with an electronic gaming component was unveiled this week on Wellington’s waterfront between Te Papa Tongarewa and Circa Theatre.
The latest in the 4 Plinths project is a work by Tauranga artist Kereama Taepa. It features four aluminium pieces in pixelated space invaders shapes that depict a Maori meeting house representing Maori habitation; a mitre, representing the missionaries and early European settlement; a crown, representing the Queen and the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi; and the Beehive, representing the current government.
Contemporary technology is further conveyed by large QR codes fixed to the outward sides of each plinth. These take the viewer with a smartphone device to a web-based game in the popular space invaders format with icons similar to the sculptures above the plinths.
The artwork, named a (very) brief history of aotearoa and valued at over $40,000, was selected and commissioned by the Wellington Sculpture Trust coinciding with the start of the New Zealand Festival. It is the fifth in the biennial series of prominent sculptures on the site, named the Four Plinths Sculpture Award.
Sculpture Trust spokesman Neil Plimmer said the trust’s panels were impressed by the interface between the sculpture forms on the plinths and the technology accessed through the QR codes. “This is an interdisciplinary approach by the artist that will reach an audience familiar with using technology to access art and entertainment. But, even without that, the sculpture’s tech-shaped history will have wide appeal.”
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John Daly-Peoples
Fri, 26 Feb 2016
Fri, 26 Feb 2016
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New sculpture on Wellington's waterfront
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