Goff: Get interactive with CBD artwork
You’ll have to be careful where you step while exploring Auckland’s new waterfront area.
An art installation has been uncovered along Quay St, featuring woven safety webbing secured across an opening in the deck suspended above the water.
Artist Tessa Harris (Ngai Tai ki Tāmaki) said the work – named Kōrimurimu after seaweed native to the Waitematā – recalls a time when fish were abundant.
“We wanted to highlight the decline of seaweed in our waters, a principal food source for many fish species now also in decline.”
Mayor Phil Goff said it was an interactive piece, and urged Aucklanders to visit the upgraded downtown space and “lie on the flax-like surface, breathe in the sea air, look up to the sky and hear the movement of the tide below”.
The work, using traditional Māori weaving techniques, was a collaboration between the council, Auckland Transport, co-designers Isthmus, Airey Consultants, Cookes and mana whenua.
Programme director downtown Eric van Essen described the work as “a beautiful and intricately made piece”.
“It might even prove to be the most popular element of the new space.”