Parekowhai created a forest of stainless steel trees with truncated, sawn-off limbs surrounded by a garden of real plants. His is a monument to nature lost in the name of progress. This idea is further reflected in the 18 kauri trees planted in Queen Elizabeth II Square, the street space of the Britomart terminal. These living trees provide a counterpoint to the stainless steel trees in the glasshouse space of Mario Madayag's Britomart.

Parekowhai's trees range in height from five to 23m. Their patterned steel surfaces were created using computer-scanned photos of the tree trunks of native kauri, totara and cabbage trees. These were then turned into textured sheets of stainless steel and wrapped around structural and non-structural pillars in the transport centre. The viewer can no longer tell the difference between structural and sculptural columns.

Parekowhai is playing on the boundaries between art and architecture. Indistinct boundaries are also evident in the two photos of a forest in the pedestrian subway. These use light boxes to blend with the advertisements that line the subway walls. The subtle inclusion of art means the viewer may not initially notice it. The artist wants to intrigue us; to make us stop and think; to challenge our first impressions. For this reason, the forest photos can also be viewed from above through a hole in the floor of the café.

Te Ahi Kaa Roa references the idea that keeping the home fires burning is essential for the maintenance of mana (authority) and the right to occupy a place. Burning fires are a potent Maori symbol of connection and belonging to the land. Ngati Whatua are the keepers of the flame for Tamaki Makau Rau (Auckland).

The fire in this work is literal and it erupts from the base material, basalt. Ngati Whatua identifies basalt as the local stone that is integral to its culture and upon which society is grounded. The stone is of Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother and is enduring and immovable. The water represents life and the sea-bed taken from the Waitemata River in early Auckland reclamations. Above all the sculpture represents Ngati Whatua as Tangata Whenua - People of the Land.

When the design was first unveiled it generated widespread debate as to the form such a figure should take. Some politicians voiced their preference for a more traditional tourist image of a Maori in a fighting pose wearing a grass skirt. Macalister's is a more sophisticated design, representing the nobility and dignity of Maori in a majestic figure akin to Rodin's Monument to Balzac in Paris.

Originally the work was erected not far from its present site. It stood in Queen Elizabeth II Square outside Auckland's main post office. Macalister designed the work in a scale relationship to the post office building which is now the grand neoclassical entrance to Britomart transport centre. The sculpture was moved to its present site in 2000 during modernisation of the downtown area.

The artist Greer Twiss is suggesting that humankind redress these wrongs and has designed a device to support injured birds. He has strapped three young birds on the framework, elevated and with wings extended, in an attempt to teach them how to fly again. The birds face out to sea where they belong. On the ladder on the ground, the fourth bird is learning to walk again.

As well as being a storyteller and conservationist, Greer Twiss is interested in the techniques, materials and process of making art. Looking up at this sculpture, the underbelly reveals rough welds and scoring of the surface. In creating a surface such as this, the artist wants to expose the technique and remind us of the physicality of the process. Greer Twiss has devoted his life to working and teaching sculpture in New Zealand. He has taught and mentored many of our finest sculptors.

The urban, architectural reference is clear at this site where the sculpture echoes the long, block-like forms of the buildings that surround it. The window in the title is the cast iron window frame which stands on a 2m-high black granite base. Water flows continuously over the frame, and a window pane is suggested by heat waves sent across the space by gas jets concealed in the frame. Occasionally these ignite and the window bursts into flames. This is controlled by a concealed timing device set in a seemingly-random pattern. The work, like nature, is unpredictable in it's power and presence. The sculptor explores how art can affect people unpredictably, just like nature. The work is particularly spectacular after dark amidst the busy nightlife of the Viaduct Harbour.

This work is a perfect embodiment of art and science. Price honed his skills working with motorcycle designer John Britten in the 1980s. He became interested in exploring how modern materials such as the high performance plastics developed by NASA could be used in art. Cytoplasm is one of a suite of works using similar materials to create moving sculptures that have won awards both in New Zealand and overseas. There is a scientific basis to the theme of the work as well as in its materials. Cytoplasm is the jelly-like material that fills cells and carries out life's processes. It is constantly moving and flowing.

Price describes his work as playing with ideas and forms. For him, art is an ongoing exploration that is never fixed. He is interested in the range of associations that viewers bring to his work. Cytoplasm has been described as a cactus, a sea plant, a windmill, a science fiction creature, and a futuristic tree. In a sense it is all of these. The artist is interested in the viewer's personal response to these strange waving forms.

Sandblasted into the central column is the word Rangitane. The Rangitane was a passenger liner on the Southampton to Auckland route for over 30 years in the mid 20th century. It brought thousands of immigrants from Europe to New Zealand, including the artist's father who arrived in 1939. The words sandblasted on the smaller columns - Tofua, Matua and Moana Roa - are the names of the island traders that sailed the routes to the Cook Islands, Samoa and Fiji carrying freight, fresh produce and people. The form of the raupo reed inset into the column references the fluting on a classical column and speaks of imported European culture. It also refers to the ecology of the region; the wetlands that once thrived in this area before being drained and reclaimed for trade, industry, housing and the nearby Victoria Park.

The sculptor, Denis O'Connor, was born and brought up in this area and his father worked at the dockyards. As a youngster, O'Connor waited at the wharf gates for his father to finish work. His father died at work, on Princes Wharf, not far from the site of this sculpture. Raupo Rap therefore has immense personal significance for the artist. It also stands as a memorial to all the ships and vessels of the Auckland waterfront, those who worked on them, and those whose lives are intricately bound up with this particular place.

In February 2009 the Advisory Panel for Public Art (APPA) endorsed a proposal to re-site Wind Tree in Wynyard Quarter as part of the waterfront redevelopment project "to keep with the original urban intentions of the work".

Jellicoe Plaza was selected as the preferred location and Wraight Associates Ltd and Taylor Cullity Lethlean were engaged to design the sculpture pool in which the sculpture would stand. Michio Ihara was kept informed throughout the process, and has reviewed and approved key decisions along the way.

'Wind Tree' has been restored and waterproofed prior to being installed at its new home. The supporting four pillars are in place and the water feature will be established before the remaining beams and trusses are installed. The full sculpture will not be installed until May, when construction work currently underway in surrounding areas is complete and the cranes required to lift the remaining portions in to place can do so safely. Public seating flanked by native trees and grasses will then be added to provide a place to sit and admire the Wind Tree.

"The sculpture is all look like new and it is really a miracle of rebirth."(Michio Ihara).

View more pictures on the Public Art facebook page and on the Company website.

The sounds operates on a six hour ten minute loop in time with the ebb and flow of the tide. Within the loop there are sections of sound that build, peak and recede delivering an ongoing undulation wave of sound. Rachel Shearer has released CDs with various international record labels and performed live since 1987. She combines her musical experiments with a veriety of sound practices, creating sound installations, composing music for film and working as a sound designer and sound editor.

View more pictures on the Public Art facebook page and Rachel Shearer's website.