This rolling line of white seating meanders along the ground and through space in Waitematā Plaza. Its basic form is a park bench; there's a seat to sit on and a back to lean against. But unlike most conventional park benches, this line of seating stretches into multiple sections, the line rising and falling with high arches and sharp turns. The curved and unconventional design offers a place to relax, where viewers can also admire the ribbon-like shape as it makes its way along the plaza. At night, the artwork is lit by LED lights, transforming the work with a soft glow.

*Long Modified Bench Waitematā Green* was originally one of three temporary sculpture projects commissioned to celebrate the reopening of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in 2011. By Danish artist Jeppe Hein, the work was sponsored by the Edmiston Trust and unveiled on the gallery’s L-shaped Edmiston Sculpture Terrace, then relocated in August 2015 to its current location.

Benches have featured in Hein's work since 2000, becoming more complex over time, and this the first work to utilise light.

When the work was unveiled at the reopening of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, curator Natasha Conland noted how Hein’s benches, "invite curiosity and a desire for exploration. But the principles of the common bench remain — they are go-betweens in spaces of leisure and work, or urban and park-side settings."

Long Modified Bench Waitematā Green

Nature, science and art combine to create this dancing kinetic sculpture by Phil Price. The large, wind-activated artwork is made up of 16 pod-like discs, which move on their own and together. Even in a gentle breeze *Cytoplasm* is constantly in motion, much like the work’s namesake: cytoplasm is the gel-like substance within living cells that carries out life's processes and gives cells their pod-like form. Taking centre stage on the waterfront at Viaduct Harbour, this artwork is perfectly positioned for people to interact and admire; the silver pods even light up at night.

Price draws much of his inspiration from the physical world. Like a flower is perfectly designed by Mother Nature, the artist’s sculptures are also highly engineered, their organic shapes re-imaginings of the natural world. Wind-activated sculpture has been his focus since the early 2000s and Price is now regarded as a leader in the art form.

*Cytoplasm* was originally exhibited in 2003 at Sculpture on the Gulf, Waiheke Island. It was purchased by the Auckland City Sculpture Trust, gifted to Auckland City and installed in Waitematā Plaza in December 2004.

Cytoplasm

This waharoa (gateway) design depicts Māui and his elder brothers who were responsible for fishing up the great fish, Te Ika-a-Māui (New Zealand's North Island).

Māui hid in the hull of his brothers' fishing boat, and he was found when they dropped anchor in the sea where they planned to fish. Māui pulled out a strong line with a hook his grandmother Muri-ranga-whenua had given to him to use. The hook was made from an ancestral jawbone and Muri-ranga-whenua had predicted that Māui would one day become a great fisherman. That day Māui pulled up the greatest prize of all, the North Island.

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and the America's Cup Village commissioned artist Blaine Te Rito to carve this waharoa as a gateway to the America's Cup Village. The Village was developed in preparation for Auckland hosting the America's Cup in 1999-2000.

Waharoa

This artwork tells an abstract sound-story about the connections and interconnections between the sea, geology and humans, located at the start of Wynyard Crossing pedestrian bridge between Karanga Plaza and Te Wero Island. It is one of a pair of artworks alongside [*Silt Line* ](/artworks/3194)  – a nearby architectural work, leading down to the water's edge from Karanga Plaza.



Shearer created a soundscape inspired by mineral structures, as a metaphor for processes that affect land formation, geological strata, culture and communities. The sound operates on 10-minute time loop every six hours, that matches the ebb and flow of the tide. Within the 10-minute loop, an ongoing wave of sound washes over the listener, with sections of sound that build, reach a peak and then recede.



This public art project was one of a series of commissions for the new North Wharf promenade leading in to Auckland's Wynyard Quarter. Shearer has described the work as, "an aural map of… ancient general histories and specific recent histories".

Jeppe Hein

Long Modified Bench Waitematā Green

"A curved and unconventional line of white seating stretches up and around Waitematā Plaza, lit with LED lights by night."

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