Learning Quarter Micro Sites
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.
Learning Quarter Micro Sites location map and profile descriptions (PDF 2.8mb)
1 Signposts (blank)
Site: 1, 3, 6, 7 and 18
Artist: Thomas Finn Stewart
Location: Governor Fitzroy Place, St Paul Street, Symonds Street, Alfred Street, and Wellesley Street East
Materials: Wood, paint
Five white signposts invite interpretation. Signposts (blank) aim to emulate a common public object.
When rendered completely white, and with text and imagery stripped away, these objects cease to retain their utility as place makers. Their purpose becomes vague and questionable.
2 Lost, Found
Site: 2
Artist: Xu Li
Location: Ledges along AUT D Building on St Paul Street
Materials: Super Sculpey, wires, foil, paper, acrylic and resin
Discover a secret world of small-scale naïve sculptures and figurines painted in simple colours. They are arranged to be interactive with each other and with their location.
Xu Li has been inspired by the dream world and her work prompts us to ask “have you had a dream?” Everything that happened in that dream was so real and reasonable, but when you woke up you started to suspect that you’d lost some of the dream. Nevertheless, if you are willing to stop and take notice, it is there just waiting to be found.
3 The view upon ascending/descending a concrete stair
Site: 4
Artist: Anthony Phillip Cribb
Location: Walkway next to AUT WM Building, connecting St Paul Street and Mount Street
Materials: Steel, MDF and found materials.
A wall-mounted steel sarcophagus that contains a number of miniature landscapes that can be seen through small viewing portals.
The reduced scale of the miniature encourages interiority on the part of the spectator. Using this theory as a framework, Cribb seeks to create a Micro Site that offers the spectator a transcendent view past the everyday.
4 stickup
Site: 5
Artist: Taarati Taiaroa
Location: Walkway connecting St Paul Street and Mount Street
Materials: Existing steel poles, electroplated copper, steel sleeve, "heritage green" paint.
Three existing tree props refurnished with a polished copper-plated surface exposed to the elements which will naturally oxidise over time.
The props stand under a 120-year-old Pohutakawa tree. They have out-grown their original function of supporting the branches and as a result present ready-made sculptural forms. Their once unnoticed presence highlighted their original 'heritage-green' colour's effectiveness in blending landscape and architecture in day-to-day life, amongst a busy traffic intersection and pedestrian walkways.
5 Fairy Bright Eyes
Site: 8
Artist: Ryan Monro
Location: Hanging off the University of Auckland gymnasium near 24 Symonds Street.
Materials: Brass, crystals, metal fixtures, chain, stainless steel wire
A chandelier hangs over an alleyway. At first it symbolises luxury and hope but as it degrades over time it becomes a symbol of dystopia.
Rarely seen in the present day, and never seen hanging outside on a busy city street, Fairy Bright Eyes is a correlation for viewers to think about. It is an object of a utopian history. Once regarded as a social statement, the chandelier is now a somewhat clichéd metaphor; a failed ideal. Over time Fairy Bright Eyes will degrade, the atmosphere of the city will diminish its original appearance. By expressing principles of hope and belief, it is a symbol of utopia, which will slowly turn into a symbol of dystopia.
6 Signs for Mechanics Bay: NO SWIMMING, LOOKOUT, and BEACH ACCESS
Site: 9, 10 and 11
Artist: Asumi Mizuo
Location: Alten Road Reserve and Anzac Avenue
Materials: Street signs
Signboards installed on existing lampposts show the way to the now-reclaimed historic coastline of Mechanics Bay.
The artwork is not the signboards themselves. The signs are an indication of the significance of the past and the change in this area of Central Auckland.
The signs highlight the issues between the city and its history. Some may not recognise the underlying significance; the signs will provide an opportunity to ponder on the seemingly disconnected relationship with land, water and people in the Auckland CBD.
7 -.- (dash-dot-dash)
Site: 12
Artist: Trenton Garratt
Location: Kitchener Street, opposite Bacon’s Lane
Materials: Keyhole, LED light
A flashing keyhole in a white door. "Dash-dot-dash" is Morse Code for "k"; an abbreviation for OK. The keyhole presents literal and symbolic evocations of security, secrecy, privacy, mistrust, mystery and the acquisition of knowledge.
The door leads to a series of tunnels built as air-raid shelters during World War II. Garratt is interested in that historic moment of a people's pragmatism driven by fear and aggression that lead to the building of these tunnels as a shelter. He investigates the tunnel network and its relationship to the current activities above in the presence of the public parks, the New Zealand High Court and the University of Auckland.
8 Wihaan
Site: 13
Artist: Tessa Laird and Tiffany Singh
Location: Alten Reserve, Constitution Hill
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.
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