Midnight Sun was unveiled at a special event in Tauranga on Tuesday. Photo / Sam Hartnett
Midnight Sun was unveiled at a special event in Tauranga on Tuesday. Photo / Sam Hartnett
An immersive new artwork has given life to the former Willow St bus shelter.
Created by New Zealand artist Sara Hughes, Midnight Sun was unveiled at a special event in Tauranga on Tuesday.
Comprising 96 individual panels of glass together creating a total of 260sq m, the artwork is suspended above the former Willow St bus shelter and wraps around the wall and front of Tauranga Art Gallery to Wharf St creating a beautiful corridor of coloured light for central city-dwellers.
The Willow St shelter has been at the centre of a spate of anti-social behaviour affecting bus drivers and passengers in recent months. It has also been a popular location for homeless and transient people to gather.
Tauranga City Commission chairwoman Anne Tolley said the artwork brought vibrancy and warmth to the CBD.
"We hope the people of Tauranga will visit, enjoy – and become the kaitiaki for – this spectacular, accessible work of art created especially for this place."
The immersive artwork has given new life to the former Willow St bus shelter. Photo / Sam Hartnett
Midnight Sun, in development since early 2021 and commissioned by Supercut Projects in collaboration with Tauranga City Council, is an expansive, illuminated outdoor painting that captures the final setting of the sun on the eve of the Winter Solstice.
As a regular bus commuter, Sara Hughes was compelled to create the piece after feeling unsafe in the shelter on a trip to Tauranga years ago.
She also felt an affinity to the site after creating an exhibition for the Tauranga Art Gallery in 2017, Willow, which was about the architecture and history of Willow St.
The artist worked with a local photographer, Anne Shirley, to capture sunsets in Tauranga over a month in June 2021 as part of her creative process.
"The reason I make public artworks is to be inclusive to reach out and engage with people of all ages and backgrounds.
"At its essence, Midnight Sun is about a sunset that never sets, it's about holding on to that feeling you get watching a sun sink toward the horizon. That is a universal experience, something everyone has experienced.
"I wanted to make an artwork for this site to make a difference, my hope is that it will spread a warm glow of optimism," she said.
New Zealand artist Sara Hughes. Photo / Sam Hartnett
Hughes has undertaken several high-profile public commissions including Magma, 2017, a large 500sqm painting in Auckland and a series of striking outdoor works for the reopening of Cathedral Square in Ōtautahi Christchurch from 2014 to 2016.
Her most recent project was being installed on all four sides of the soon-to-open New Zealand International Convention Centre in Auckland.
It will be the largest integrated public artwork in New Zealand.
Supercut Projects director Sonya Korohina, who selected and commissioned Hughes, said "I wanted to enable an artwork that would lift the spirits of our weary community.
"Sara is one of New Zealand's most dynamic artists. Her bright and bold installations activate galleries and outdoor sites around the world. Sara understands how colour and light bring forth emotions such as joy and happiness.
"She transforms grey urban spaces, creating expansive artworks that encourage us to see the world in fresh, new ways."
Midnight Sun artwork. Photo / Sam Hartnett
Tauranga City Council arts and culture manager James Wilson said they wanted people to know that public art was taken seriously in Tauranga.
"We invest in it, we encourage artists, and we commission for work. I'm delighted that this work has engaged local contractors throughout its development and that Supercut Projects were able to secure Creative New Zealand funding to support the work."
Midnight Sun will be free and accessible to everyone. It is a temporary project, designed to be in place for up to two years, and was created with support from Creative New Zealand, Tauranga Art Gallery and Techlight.
Creative New Zealand granted its funds from Ngā Toi ā Rohe, a 2020 initiative established to incentivise local and regional investment in the development and presentation of new local arts activity outside the main centres of Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch.
