Sound mirrors gift for the park
A Taranaki company that has created contemporary art for some of the world’s most famous galleries and museums could soon have a piece in Ha¯ wera.
Global Stainless Artworks created 77 mirror polished spheres for a sculpture commissioned by Anish Kapoor displayed at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in London as well as a 2.1 metre highly polished sphere for the Monte Carlo casino. It also has a piece at the Guggenheim Museum, in Spain.
The company, based in Normanby, now wants to give two black steel sound mirror domes, valued in excess of $20,000, to the South Taranaki District Council to be displayed in Ha¯wera’s King Edward Park. The only catch is the council will have to pay for the installation, estimated to cost up to $30,800.
It is proposed the sound mirrors, which will be two to three metres in diameter, be displayed in the park near the playground at 65m apart.
Sound mirrors are high quality steel vertical mirror domes that create an acoustic space for reflecting and focusing sound. A person can whisper into one and a friend standing metres away at the other can hear what was said.
At the council’s policy development committee meeting last Monday, members recommended councillors accept the gift and display site subject to the funds for installation being raised through external sources.
Global Stainless Artworks manager Lincoln Raikes said there were two other sound mirrors in New Zealand, one at the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland and another in Dunedin, but both weren’t as big or as far apart as those being donated. ‘‘These should be the best ones in New Zealand.’’