Wellington A City for Sculpture - Vict. Uni. Press

Wellington A City for Sculpture

Launched by Wellington’s Mayor
Kerry Prendergast
4.30pm Friday 2 Nov
Adam Art Gallery, Wellington

eds. Jenny Harper & Aaron Lister
Photographs by Bruce Connew
2 November 2007
9780 86473 5706
paperback
270mm x 210mm
NZ$50

For decades the Beehive has served as Wellington’s primary visual icon, its circular design neatly symbolising the functions and identity of New Zealand’s capital. But as Wellington has grown and diversified, public sculpture has assumed at least some of this responsibility. Neil Dawson’s Ferns, an aluminium globe whimsically suspended over the Civic Square in 1998, has a talismanic presence, and Cuba Mall’s Bucket Fountain has splashed its way into the city’s heart.

Wellington: A City for Sculpture is both a celebration of the dynamic presence of sculpture in the city’s streets and parks, and an informative and sometimes provocative examination of how it has all got there and what it all means. Sculptures do not magically materialise in prime public spaces, and this book pays full credit to the host of individuals, agencies and corporations who – albeit driven by a range of often competing agendas and visions of the relationship between art and urban spaces – have done so much to enliven our daily environment.

Stunning new photographs by Bruce Connew capture more than forty sculptures in all the moods Wellington has to offer. In addition, archival photographs show a few works that have been lost, and a couple of significant moments in sculptural history. Maps make them easy to find. The result, designed by Sarah Maxey, is both a visual feast and a unique record of the twenty-first-century city’s fabric.

Wellington: A City for Sculpture is a book to be treasured by locals and visitors alike.

For further information about this new book, for reproduction-quality photographs and to contact the editors, contributors or Bruce Connew for interview/comment contact:

VICTORIA UNIVERSITY PRESS PO Box 600 Wellington NZ • p: 04 463 6531 • f: 04 463 6581 e: www.vuw.ac.nz/vup publicity director Heather McKenzie • publisher Fergus Barrowman

ENDS

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