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6 June 2011

Te Papa - Mirror Sculptures


Mimetic Brotherhood by Peter Trevelyan is part of an ongoing project by Wellington Sculpture Trust on four large plinths outside Te Papa Museum. Every 22 months the sculptures are replaced by new works - the winning artist is given NZ$25,000 to construct their piece and the work remains in their ownership and can be sold at the end of the period.

There's something about these "blobs" (apologies for not being able to find a more suitable descriptive) that makes you want to find the "hatch" and climb in inside! Looking like four UFOs that have crash landed in unison these have a engaging mystic - as I photographed the blobs I observed a types and ages of people stopping and interacting with the pieces. Touching and staring into the mirrored segments (despite the instructions not to touch - really don't they know that makes us want to touch more?). 

You can see I photographed these on a typical Wellington winter's day - grey, overcast day. It was interesting to see how much light these mirrored "blobs" reflected out. They were like beacons to Te Papa from across the road - hope the next piece chosen is equally striking.  




It's interesting to see how this piece evolved from the original pitch to the actual sculptures:
Artist rendering sourced from Stuff.
While the actual effect is a bit more interesting - the images reflected are more abstract than the mock ups implied. The final shape seems less refined - clunkier with more straight edges and corners. The original pitch also had the four "blobs" moving - it's a shame that this detail has fallen by the wayside (however it is entirely possible they just move a lot slower than my patience cared to observe!).   

Recently, Wellington was named "Little Capital in the World" - in my view The Wellington Sculpture Trust deserves some credit for this recognition. When you start looking Wellington is dotted with these sculptures, making the whole city an art gallery. Here's some of the other works the trust is behind:
From left to right: Cathryn Monro ~ Per Capita (Cnr Tory & Cable St); Mary-Louise Brown ~ Body To Soul (Botanic Gardens); Tanya Ashken ~ Albatross (Frank Kitts Park); Neil Dawson ~ Ferns (Civic Square); Phil Price ~ Zephyrometer (Evan's Bay Parade); Bill Culbert ~ Skyblues (Jervois Quay) 

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