Queenstown has a new lakefront sculpture, 'Wakatipu Vessel' by renewed New Zealand artist Virgina King. I went to have a look at it, by day and by night to see what I thought.
It is striking by night. Spotlights are set into the ground to send light up the stainless steel columns and illuminate the large vessel that docks atop the four central columns. Lights are also set inside the six laser cut stainless steel freestanding columns that surround the central form, animating the structures that are plain grey in the daylight.
Wakatipu Vessel is in Omer Park, along the Lake Esplanade on the Glenorchy side of the Steamer Wharf complex. The form's peaceful, statuesque disposition suits it's position in the park just outside the busy part of town.
Wakatipu Vessel is in Omer Park, along the Lake Esplanade on the Glenorchy side of the Steamer Wharf complex. The form's peaceful, statuesque disposition suits it's position in the park just outside the busy part of town.
Nighttime: Beautiful. Excellent lighting makes the most of the structure.
Well aligned for the fusspots among us.
The Waka (Maori canoe) structure on top is cleverly designed so that viewing from each end makes the other look curved upwards, whereas it's actually symmetrical. The Maori used to travel by waka up and back along Lake Wakatipu to get Inanga Pounamu from the Dart and Routeburn Valleys. Inanga Pounamu is a whitish nephrite jade (greenstone) especially valued by Kai Tahu, the Southern Maori. The Waka in this sculpture is parallel with this section of the lake, pointing the way those journeys would have taken no that long ago. The waka hoe (Maori canoe paddles) and European style oars outlined in the peripheral columns reflect the historical importance of Lake Wakatipu as a passage for both Maori and European travellers.
The upmost structure appears just as much leaf as it is waka. Negative shapes have been laser cut to leave a leaf-vein pattern in the steel sheet.
The upmost structure appears just as much leaf as it is waka. Negative shapes have been laser cut to leave a leaf-vein pattern in the steel sheet.
| The thick stainless steel sheets have been tidily laser cut and spot welded. The surface has been brushed to finish. Good choices for a public sculpture. It appears idiot-proof, a necessity for art in our towns. A skilled climber or people working together could probably climb up and into the structure. It appears that it would withstand that without damage. I don't intend to encourage anybody to try, but that's the kind of thingI think about when looking at art. There is minimal landscaping on the ground around it, with rocks concreted into place and tussocks between the rocks and columns. |  Detail of one of the peripheral columns |
At this stage it's still surrounded by 'caution' tape, stakes and orange netting. The brushed stainless steel, although structurally a good choice, is dull and is unremarkable against the hotels and concrete infrastructure around it.
According to the newspapers it was 'controversial'. What public sculpture is ever not controversial? The controversy was over this one being funded $200,000 by the Queenstown Lakes District Cultural Trust without public consultation. But how interesting could a public sculpture would be if it had to gain the approval of a majority of the public before proceeding? And how durable would the structure itself be if funding was cut to whatever was leftover in the council's budget? I support the presence of public art, both old and new, and I also think the commissioning of it should be overseen by people who have good knowledge of contemporary art rather then by consensus of the general population.
According to the newspapers it was 'controversial'. What public sculpture is ever not controversial? The controversy was over this one being funded $200,000 by the Queenstown Lakes District Cultural Trust without public consultation. But how interesting could a public sculpture would be if it had to gain the approval of a majority of the public before proceeding? And how durable would the structure itself be if funding was cut to whatever was leftover in the council's budget? I support the presence of public art, both old and new, and I also think the commissioning of it should be overseen by people who have good knowledge of contemporary art rather then by consensus of the general population.
By day: not so nice.
Public art must serve multiple functions, including consideration of it's physical setting, it's cultural and historical setting, withstanding the human and environmental forces that will be applied, manifesting good design, but also, importantly, pushing the boundaries of our visual and cultural sensibilities. I am a little disappointed that this one did not represent a new direction in the artist's work or manifest a visually precarious creativity. If this was conservatism on the part of the artist or of the commissioning committee, I don't know, but I would have liked this scultpure to take more risks.
The jagged edges of the vessel reflect it's mountainous background as well as the edge of a leaf.
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