Hundertwasser - .... but Kawakawa group protests

SOME Kawakawa residents are outraged that Whangarei has "snatched" its legacy by planning a $9.5 million Hundertwasser centre. The celebrated Austrian artist proposed turing the old regional council at Whangarei's Town Basin into a gallery based on his unique style back in 1993 - but the idea was rejected at the time.
Hundertwasser went on to design a toilet block for Kawakawa that has put the tiny town on the map, drawing tourists from around the globe.
Kawakawa resident and former Far North District Councillor Johnson Davis said he felt insulted when he read of the plan in the Northern Advocate on Saturday.
He said Kawakawa had been working towards its own Hundertwasser centre since the artist's death in 2000 and the Whangarei District Council had run roughshod over Kawakawa's dreams.
He called on Far North Mayor Wayne Brown to denounce the Whangarei plan and ensure the centre was built in Kawakawa instead.
Fellow Kawakawa Community Trust member Margaret Wikaire said the trust had been unaware of the plan and the announcement came "totally out of the blue."
Ms Wikaire said the trust was meeting tomorrow and would discuss Whangarei's plans.
Mr Brown wrote a letter of support when Whangarei District Council general manager Mark Simpson and deputy mayor Kahu Sutherland went to Austria earlier this month to get permission for the centre from the Hundertwasser Foundation, saying he supported anything that acknowledged the artist's creativity and links with Northland.
Mr Brown's engineering firm carried out the design work on the Kawakawa toilet block in co-operation with Hundertwasser.
"The communities of Northland have been privileged to share the talents of Hundertwasser with the many visitors to our region and we support all endeavours to further memorialise and acknowledge his creativity and association with Northland," Mr Brown wrote.
But Mr Davis said Mr Brown may not have been aware of the Go Kawakawa programme, which included setting up a Hundertwasser centre. He said all that work would be undermined if the centre went ahead in Whangarei.
Meanwhile, Richard Smart, the guardian of Hundertwasser's legacy in New Zealand, said while some Kawakawa people might be upset, the town had nothing to fear from the project.
"It's inevitable that Kawakawa will be seriously disappointed and hurt by this, that Whangarei is stealing its thunder, especially after Whangarei rejected Hundertwasser's initial plans."
Mr Smart said Hundertwasser was "quietly really happy" that his work was accepted in New Zealand through the Kawakawa toilets, after his designs for stamps, a flag, Te Papa and the regional council building were all rejected.
"Now New Zealand has grown up enough to appreciate it. And while Kawakawa will be disappointed there will be people coming to see the toilets after visiting the centre in Whangarei, it will bring more people to Kawakawa and there's nothing to say there can't be a Hundertwasser information centre there that links to the Whangarei centre."
He said Kawakawa would remain the "core Hundertwasser place" in New Zealand, as it was the site of his former home and the only original architectural project.