Windy Wellington – New Zealands capital celebrates the elements
“Windy Wellington’ is one of my new city’s nicknames. And, in keeping with this, it celebrates the wind. One of the ways it does this is through its public art – I applaud that.
These four kinetic pieces – have two of them producing electricity and / or neon colour, follow the edge of the sea, leading us by road or walkway to the Wellington International Airport.
A couple of years ago I wrote an opinion piece for the arts section, in the Christchurch Press, about one of the new sculptures which I believed did not fit it’s setting. In part I said, of a piece about wheat, installed in an area that had been a swamp . . .
“According to Wikipedia ‘the term public art refers to works of art (in any media) that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the public domain, usually outside and accessible to all. The term is especially significant within the art world, amongst curators, commissioning bodies and practitioners of public art, to whom it signifies a particular working practice, often with implications of site specificity, community involvement and collaboration.’ See more here
Here are photos of the four sculptures. Below is a map showing where they are and a video of them in action and each artist talking about his work.
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- See this video of sculptures in action and each artist discussing his work
It’s just great that Wellington EMBRACES its wind; if you can’t beat it, join in. That’s one of the reasons I tried wind surfing (though I wasn’t very good, at least I gave it a shot)… next one to try – paddle boarding. When it’s a good southerly, it’s really calm in the inner harbour – perfect to step on board from home (hopefully I’ll be better at paddle boarding than windsurfing, but I won’t hold my breath!).