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TURAMA LIGHT FESTIVAL

Auckland’s new winter festival, Elemental, Albert Park is about to be lit up as never before, as part of the city’s new winter festival, Elemental. It’s the site for Turama, a four-day “living art piece” where installations, stories told through high-tech projections, interactive sculptures and music will fill the park from Auckland Art Gallery to the Princes St merchant houses.

Artist/designer Ash Turner is a pioneering proponent of outdoor light festivals and for Turama, he’s having fun with the idea of kaitiaki birds that have, supposedly having lived secretly in Albert Park for years. These “guardians of the night” were inspired by Bill Hammond paintings and the extinct huia.

Turner is one of about 20 artists and collectives taking part. Their works, all carefully designed and placed to complement the park’s natural environment, are enhanced by home-grown music from the likes of Yuko-zuna and Ed Zuccollo, while movie buffs can chill out in an amphitheatre and watch short films curated by Maoriland. And if bright lights make you hungry, there are food trucks to serve delicious cuisine and mulled wine.

Just the thing to brighten a winter’s evening.

Turama, Albert Park, July 25-July 28. — Dionne Christian