Council ready to move mountain

Aotea Square's giant sculpture is getting a much-needed facelift, as Joanna Davies discovers
Terry Stringer originally wanted a bronze statue of a bystander seemingly falling into the water of his iconic sculpture Mountain Fountain in Aotea Square.
"I had never made a sculpture so large, and I thought there was plenty of room for this element," says Mr Stringer.
"But when the piece was set out on the square, I realised that there was not enough space."
For nearly 30 years, the angular bronze artwork has been a ramp for skateboarders and a talking point for visitors to Aotea Square.
In the next two months it will be removed to make way for the square's renovations and the strengthening of the Civic carpark roof.
Mr Stringer says the project will be a great opportunity to do restoration work on the sculpture, such as improving its water pumps and the effects.
"It has been a process that has taken a lot of time, but I'm happy if it puts the sculpture back for another generation.
"But, being almost 30 years since I made it, means it is like working on another artist's creation."
The sculpture, made of concrete layered with bronze sheets, is difficult to take apart.
Mr Stringer says careful planning is needed to move the "mountain", and a lot of the restoration work could be done when it is being reassembled in its new site in the square.
As well as Mountain Fountain, the Sir Dove-Myer Robinson statue by Tobias Smith and the Te Waharoa o Aotea by Selwyn Muru will be moved and stored away until October 2010.
Mr Stringer won the ASB and Auckland City Council's competition to design a fountain for the square in 1981.
It took a year to build.