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A timeline... Colours of our History

Victoria Park Viaduct Column project

The Victoria Column Project ‘Colours of our History‘ is an initiative from the Public Arts team of the Auckland City Council and fully supported by the Victoria Park Alliance (responsible for the building of the tunnel) and sponsored by Resene, to transform a dominant structure in the Auckland landscape into a prominent artwork that can be experienced by a wide audience.

A competition by invitation resulted in a shortlist of three proposals being presented, with the preferred scheme chosen by the Auckland Public Arts Panel and supported by the Victoria Park Alliance

The brief called for the design to be sympathetic to and a celebration of the rugged aesthetic of the columns, which reflect the pragmatic history and engineering functionality of the structure. To transform such structure into more than the sum of its parts the work ‘Colours of our History‘ aimed for an intervention that is simple and clear, with the potential for multiple readings, based on a strong underlying concept.

Concept

It was important that the idea behind the work relates strongly and directly to this particular site, which is a popular public park enjoyed by a wide audience; from the passing motorist, the cricket player, the skate boarder to the jogger, strolling families with children and the more art conscious viewer.

Visitors and users of the park will be able to read the work from nearby as well as from afar.

It makes a bold gesture which could stand up to the power of the structure and offers an enjoyable experience on an abstract experiential level at the same time responds to more detailed interrogation.

The work consists of a coloured disc painted on each column, running for 25 columns each side of the Viaduct, 52 columns in total. As they progress along, the discs rotate around the columns, rise and fall slowly, and change colour in a sequence which reflects the historic use of colour in our occupancy of this country.

The key points of the concept and its development:

1. Form

The discs adjust to suit their ‘host’ columns: each disc reaches half way around the column, its diameter matching the circumference of the column.

The discs rotate clockwise around the columns, shifting in plan 45 degrees from one column to the next, allowing for maximum readability from any given position in the park and as a work as a whole.

The form of the circle is a universal symbol of unity, wholeness, connectedness, inclusiveness, and also relates to the sun, moon and stars. Planetary movement is suggested by the rotation and rise and fall of the discs. This might remind us of the cyclical rhythm of the universe and how it can guide us, as it did the early Maori and Pakeha navigators finding their way here.

2. Colour

The flow of discs along the columns creates a timeline of a selection of colours of our history based on a colour pallet broadly representative of 8 identified periods. I tapped into research done by, and took advice from a number of people, including conservation architect Ian Bowman, Maori advisor Pita Turei and Resene colour consultant Angela Fell.

The colours chosen reflect a sensory interpretation of the academic research, with banks of colours representing the following 8 periods: Maori, Early Colonial, Mid-Victorian, Late-Victorian, Dominion Years, Post War, Pacifica and Contemporary/Multi-Cultural. It suffices to say that with a limited number of columns available a selection of colours was made which were most representative of each era. The Maori colours being the exception, for rather than representing a specific era or choosing a more generic Maori pallet, the advice was to link the colours more directly to the site itself; red pohutakawa, black earth, blue night sky, white fish bone and green kuta reed.

The historic phases start on the northern end of the Viaduct, (the seaward end reflecting the point of arrival for Maori waka and our maritime heritage) and move southwards towards the original coastline, finishing just beyond what will be the Rob Roy Plaza.

For a simple pure form to create the impact that matches the large scale of the Park and become more than the sum of its parts, repetition was chosen to establish a rhythm and a journey: experientially, wherein colour pulls the viewer through the colonnade of the viaduct, and conceptually, by offering a pathway through the colours of our history and the possibility of contemplating our place in a context beyond the scale of the Park.

The colours used are:

› View the Colours of our History colour collection

So now as you drive, walk, cycle or jog on by, take time to enjoy the colours of our country

With thanks

I would like to acknowledge the Victoria Park Alliance and the Public Arts team of Auckland City for recognising the possibilities inherent in the columns of the Victoria Park Viaduct. All column colours are finished in Resene paints overcoated by Resene anti-graffiti finish.

• View original artist statement
• Examples of some of Miriam's other work

By Miriam van Wezel. 2011

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