When Joseph Michael became an artist nearly two decades ago, the tools of his trade included paper, ink and screens for printmaking; today, he's more likely to use ground-penetrating radar, drones and immersive augmented reality.
Michael is on the cutting edge of art and science, perhaps best known for his 2017 full-scale 360֯ projection Antarctica: While you were sleeping which enveloped the outside of Auckland War Memorial Museum with images of icebergs complete with surround sound of the loud noises that they make.
Time spent working films like The Hobbit honed his skill for combining art, science and technology. Now he is set to dazzle crowds at Auckland's new light festival, Tūrama starting on Thursday.
The current AUT artist in residence, he and a team have created Hōpara, which could well be the most immersive walk in the woods many of us take. Filmed at Waipoua Forest in Northland, it is the first life-sized digital reconstruction of New Zealand's largest-known living kauri tree, Tāne Mahuta, and other significant kauri in the area.