Town wants tough action against Hundertwasser vandals

By TONY GEE

KAWAKAWA - The Kawakawa community is pushing for tough action against vandals who defaced the acclaimed Hundertwasser toilet building in the town's main street.

The colourful ceramic creation, which was recognised this year as a national work of art when it received Creative New Zealand's premier art award, was recently the target of a tagging attack.

Although the graffiti has now been removed, the local community board is pushing for a tough line to protect what it says is a district and national icon.

The board has asked its parent body, the Far North District Council, to charge the taggers with "defacing or damaging a work of art," instead of just wilful damage.

Board member and district councillor Johnson Davis said yesterday that he understood police had identified the taggers and there appeared to be no reason a prosecution would not succeed.

He is urging the council to seek a penalty for convicted offenders which would involve community work for up to 12 months on a local walkway.

"Neither the community nor the council should accept the mindless defacing of this treasure," Mr Davis said.

"We need to give notice to those responsible that vandalism and desecration of public buildings, especially an icon like the Hundertwasser building, is totally unacceptable."

The toilet block's creator, Austrian artist Frederick Hundertwasser, lived near Kawakawa until his death early this year, shortly after the building was completed and opened.

The building's status was further recognised last month when the project was awarded a $10,000 millennium grant from the Lottery Grants Board.

The money will be used to further enhance the block.

The district council will consider the community board's anti-vandalism call at its next meeting, in Kaikohe on Friday week.