Micro Sites [part 2]

Discover the unexpected with the Micro Sites public art trail.

Micro Sites is a series of 12 small, temporary public art projects by 13 artists that are intriguing, subtle and surprising discoveries for people living, working and walking through Auckland’s Learning Quarter.

The Learning Quarter encompasses Albert Park, The University of Auckland, AUT University and surrounding streets and neighbourhoods.

The Micro Sites project was conceived as an opportunity for artists to create small-scale interventions that run against the grain or interfere with everyday perceptions and experiences of a place or neighbourhood.

Micro Sites is a public art initiative of Auckland City Council developed in partnership with The University of Auckland and AUT University.

8 Wihaan

Site: 13
Artist: Tessa Laird and Tiffany Singh
Location: Albert Park, Strelitzia Grandus (Bird of Paradise) grove, near Bowen Avenue
Materials: Mixed media

A small-scale temple honouring the past, uniting beliefs and initiating new rituals through action and participation.

Wihaan reflects on the sacred and spiritual resonance of the many cultures that currently utilise the Papakinga site of Albert Park, once known by the name "Rangipuke". This work hopes to honour the past and initiate new ritual by uniting beliefs through action and participation aligned to the ancient Asian tradition of spirit worship. The site could be an exhibition, ceremonial or contemplation space and an active public sculpture.

9 Ok Sushi

Site: 14
Artist: Amber Claire Pearson
Location: The lamp posts on the Albert Park footpath that runs between Princes Street and Kitchener Street, behind the Queen Victoria statue.
Materials: Aluminium, electric light

Seven silhouettes, attached to the lamp posts, cast sempaphore shadows at night onto the lawn below.

This work addresses the changing face of cultural relationships between Japan and Auckland since the World War II. The use of semaphore lays claim to the mystery that lies dormant below the grounds of Albert Park where a twist of tunnels echoes the fears of a generation wracked by war. The message hidden in the code suggests that we have travelled a long way since those days, culminating in the tentative understanding that exists between our cultures today.

10 Untitled

Site: 15
Artist: A.D. Schierning
Location: Princes Street - outside University of Auckland library
Materials: Bronze

A bronze plaque embedded in the footpath conveys the properties and uses of the leaves of the Ginkgo Biloba tree, assisting the retention and distribution of knowledge.

Within the area of Auckland described as the Learning Quarter, where the highest concentration of learning and research takes place, stands a tree that itself is a symbol of knowledge. Although simple in its manifestation, this work encompasses concepts as complex as the politics of knowledge. By using a medium (the bronze plaque) that is standard within parks, the artwork is camouflaged as an accepted and everyday part of its setting.

11 Imperceptible Degrees

Site: 16
Artist: Rachel Shearer
Location: Queensland Kauri tree, Albert Park (near the band rotunda)
Materials: Sound system and solar panel

Shhh...listen.

A sound system transmits reverberations symbolising information being transmitted through the roots of the tree to the ether that we breathe. The sounds range from an elemental haka to old air in tunnels made to protect for a threat that never arrived to stories recounted by insurgent birdsong and breathed through the shimmering of the leaves.

The installation’s presence is fuelled by light. The sounds play with and within the existing sound-scape of our supercitied drone of vehicles, voices, construction, rain, wind, shimmering - electronics presenting itself organically.

12 Super-Swing

Site: 17
Artist: Agnes So
Location: Hung below the Wellesley Street East pedestrian bridge, above the footpath that runs alongside Albert Park
Materials: Steel

Super-Swing, a suspended trapeze, highlights the tensions between object, performance and failure. The trapeze, in this situation, is an object out-of-action, situated away from its theatrical context and placed instead in an absurd environment.

The object itself then becomes interesting through its inability to perform its original function. The absence of a literal physical body (acrobat) in which to activate this function is gone, replaced instead by the viewer who, through the process of negotiation, must find another way in which to experience and perceive an object that has failed its fundamental intent.