Affinity sculpture takes shape in inner city (+ video)

Installation of the Affinity light sculpture - which aims to raise awareness of Alzheimer's disease - is under way at Rotorua's City Focus.

Spanning 13m x 13m, the interactive installation will be lighting up the inner city from Monday until April 23.

Renzo Barriga-Larririere, Design Director at Amigo and Amigo, the firm behind the sculpture, was overseeing the construction today.

"We really lucked out with the weather," he said.

"We have two days to erect it, then that evening we get to do all our electronic trouble shooting."

Amigo and Amigo designed the sculpture in collaboration with creative technology agency S1T2.

"Originally it was designed for the Vivid festival of lights in Sydney in 2015. We built it to raise awareness for Alzheimer's disease," he said.

The sculpture depicts the complexity and connectivity of the human brain representing the rapid-fire transmission of messages between neurons.

"We also recorded testimonials from Kiwis with dementia, and their families and as you move through you can hear them in a soundscape," Mr Barriga-Larririere said.

The sculpture wowed thousands in Auckland when it made its first New Zealand appearance last year and Mr Barriga-Larririere said he was excited to bringing it to Rotorua.

"We love the New Zealand public, they're so curious and happy to see what's going on."

Mr Barriga-Larririere said members of the public were curious about the sculpture as they were putting it together.

The team are hard at work putting together the Affinity sculpture in Rotorua's City Focus. Photo/Stephen Parker

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Two locals, who did not want to be named, had stopped to enjoy the sunshine and eat their lunch as the sculpture took shape.

"I'm definitely going to come back once it actually opens," one said.

"We came into town today, and when we saw it, it was the first I'd actually heard of it."

Her friend said he had seen it in the paper.

"I thought it would go higher up," he said.

Mr Barriga-Larririere explained they were setting up the base pods first.

"There are going to be 114 points of interaction," he said.

"As you touch these bottom spheres the light shoots up through it. The more people that are interacting with it, the more colourful it will be."

Affinity coming to Rotorua is made possible by the support of its premium sponsor, health and care company Bupa. Support has also come from Rotorua Lakes Council and Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust.

Mr Barriga-Larririere said it was all part of making Rotorua a dementia-friendly city.

The sculpture will officially be up and running from Monday.

Affinity includes:
4200m of RGB LED strip-lights
80 different colour combinations
114 input sensors
48 connecting arms
79 polymer spheres