Wai means water or flow in Māori, is aqua in Spanish and To' in Navajo. Te Hunga Wai Tapu (the group of people for whom water is sacred) consisted of: Ian Clothier (curator), Dr Te Huirangi Waikerepuru, Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, Jo Tito, Craig Macdonald, Julian Priest, Sharmila Samant, Leon Cmielewski, Josephine Starrs, Andrew Hornblow, Darren Robert Terama Ward, Johnson Dennison, Andrew Thomas, Dugal McKinnon, Sophie Jerram and Gordon Bronitsky. Aerial imagery courtesy of Land Information New Zealand.
There were five components to the Wai project. Te Iarere (communication across vast distances) involves data from a tree in Opunake, New Zealand Aotearoa. Tree voltage, temperature and light were measured. The live data readings control audio played in the exhibition space. Ian Clothier created Te Iarere. Andrew Hornblow made the custom data sensors. Julian Priest and Adrian Soundy authored the web interface (for a previous project The Park Speaks). Darren Robert Terama Ward is a Maori musician who plays self made traditional instruments and Andrew Thomas is a Navajo musician specialising in the flute. Ward and Thomas created the audio files controlled by the data readings.
Refreshing this web page plays the sample of audio again.
Pou Hihiri is encapsulated in vinyl graphics, contains woven LED’s and has an audio component. Created by Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, Craig Macdonald made the Pou graphics, Julian Priest and Tom Greenbaum custom built the electronics, with audio by Dugal McKinnon and Sophie Jerram. The Pou Hihiri tells a story of the potential of the universe to exist in many possible states, emphasising the universe as a womb of creation.
Video is the third component. Indian video artist Sharmila Samant exhibited The Wasteland, an exploration of water in Aotearoa New Zealand. Jo Tito, a contemporary Maori artist with strong interests in science made two videos of Wai (see still frame above), which play in between The Wasteland and Ruamoko. Ruamoko is made by the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences in New Zealand Aotearoa, and explores both Maori and Western scientific views of earthquakes and volcanoes, the result of of flow phenomena in the Earth.
Julian Priest contributed Sink, a model of anthropogenic ocean acidification. Sink is a conceptual work, a kind of thought experiment which would actually work if started up. Carbon dioxide exhaust gasses from a model airplane engine are piped into a tank containing a shell in fluid. Carbonic acid would be formed, increasing acidity, which over time would dissolve the scallop shell. This forms a kind of poetic statement of the degradation of natural resources as a result of human activity. Given our input to the atmosphere of carbon dioxide gases, there is a sense in which Priest's experiment has already begun.
The fifth component is an animation and audio work by Leon Cmielewski and Josephine Starrs. Projected onto the floor, the words of Te Huirangi Waikerepuru - Puwai Rangi Papa - appear to grow out of the mountain landscape of his home – Taranaki Maunga (Mount Taranaki). Papa refers to Papatuanuku, associated with Earth Mother and also 'to stand and turn' - revolving Earth in the words of Dr Waikerepuru.
List of works
Te Iarere (communication across vast distances) 2012
Puka Tree, data sensors, internet, audio.
Ian Clothier, Andrew Hornblow, Darren Robert Terama Ward, Andrew Thomas. Internet interface by Julian Priest and Adrian Soundy.
Pou Hihiri (the womb of the universe) 2012
Vinyl graphics, LED and audio.
Te Urutahi Waikerepuru, Craig Macdonald, Julian Priest, Tom Greenbaum, Dugal McKinnon and Sophie Jerram.
The Wasteland 2012
Video.
Sharmila Samant.
Wai I and II 2012
Video.
Jo Tito.
Ruamoko 2012
Video.
Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences Aotearoa New Zealand.
Sink 2012
Shell, aeroplane motor, brine, fuel, tubes and pipes.
Julian Priest
Puwai Rangi Papa 2012
Audiovisual animation.
Leon Cmielewski and Josephine Starrs
External links
Wai opening
Held at dawn following Maori custom and included a Navajo component.
Dawn opening invitation
Images of the installation
