Whangarei under colourful art attack

Whangarei is succumbing to a burst of colour before a controversial referendum. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Whangarei is having an art attack before a controversial referendum next week.

Walls, letterboxes, windows, fences and even hedges around the town and district are sporting the trademark Hundertwasser colour blocks, wavy lines and minarets.

While artists are happy to put their hand up and admit to their work, no one is admitting there is a co-ordinated campaign to paint the town "H".

The people behind various activities with Hundertwasser-inspired themes say it is a movement, not a cohesive campaign - the artwork is just an idea that is catching on. The latest and largest is an 8.4-metre long mural on the wall of a building facing Dent St, across the road from the building supporters want to see re-made into the Hundertwasser Wairau Maori Art Centre. That work was designed by Tauranga-based artist Simone Anderson and painted by local people.

The art attacks do, however, appear to be aligned to a slick promotional campaign that includes the "Colour Our City" parade-cum-street party organised by Prosper Northland Trust, the group wanting to resurrect the Austrian architect's plan for the unused Town Basin building.

Tomorrow's celebration comes days before the postal voting referendum, which will run from Thursday to June 5.

Prosper Northland spokesman Barry Trass told the Northern Advocate last week the parade the trust had organised was only loosely linked to the Hundertwasser building proposal.

Mr Trass said the trust was not solely concerned with the Hundertwasser plan and the idea behind the parade was to highlight Whangarei's colour and character.

"We just wanted to have a parade that celebrated living here and gave people a chance to express that," he said.

Mr Trass said Prosper Northland was not involved with another pro-Hundertwasser group, called YES!

A YES! press release being circulated by email and on Facebook calls for Whangarei to be transformed into a "city of colour in the last week of lead-up to a binding public referendum".

The press release, from the loose group of volunteers who support the Hundertwasser project, refers readers to the YES! website it manages.

In reply to queries from the Advocate, a representative of the group confirmed that YES! is entirely different from Prosper Northland Trust and there are no people from that trust involved.