Read, view and then vote!Wel­ling­ton: A City for Sculp­ture
edited by Jenny Harp­er and Aaron Lister, pho­to­graphy by Bruce Con­new
Pub­lished by VUP in asso­ci­ation with the Wel­ling­ton Sculp­ture Trust.

(RRP $50.00, Vic Books price $45.00)

Don’t have time to vis­it, engage and pon­der the mer­its of the sculp­tures YOU can vote for in the Second Annu­al Wel­ling­tonista Awards? Buy this book, sit down in front of the com­puter and per­use to your heart’s con­tent.

This is much more than a book of pretty pic­tures of sculp­tures in Wel­ling­ton. Whilst some of Bruce Con­new’s pho­to­graphs cap­ture the fea­tured works in bril­liant sun­shine, oth­ers are shown against grey or misty skies – an accur­ate reflec­tion of Wel­ling­ton’s change­able weath­er.

The essays in the book vary in qual­ity, and some assume spe­cial­ist know­ledge of Wel­ling­ton’s urb­an design his­tory, but those want­ing to find out more about any of the issues dis­cussed will be well served by the non-intrus­ive foot­notes, which sup­ply ref­er­ences for fur­ther read­ing.

Whilst par­tially fun­ded by the Wel­ling­ton Sculp­ture Trust, the book does appear to be genu­inely inde­pend­ent and the con­trib­ut­ors aren’t afraid to be crit­ic­al when they believe it’s neces­sary. The book provides frank dis­cus­sion of the polit­ics and per­son­al­it­ies that have decided which artists and sculp­tures gain approv­al and fund­ing, how sites are chosen and main­tained (or not), and what the future of pub­lic art in Wel­ling­ton might be. Oth­er con­trib­ut­ors cri­tique the works them­selves, and provide an over­view of the pub­lic responses to vari­ous pro­jects and how these per­cep­tions have changed over time.

This book fills a gap in the cul­tur­al his­tory of Wel­ling­ton, provid­ing his­tor­ic­al and con­tem­por­ary con­text for Wel­ling­ton’s pub­lic art – includ­ing sculp­tures which have now been removed from pub­lic sight. Maps are included, so you can go vis­it the works dis­cussed. The best use for this book – oth­er than send­ing it to non- or ex-Wel­ling­to­ni­ans – is as a guide to appre­ci­at­ing the sculp­tures and oth­er pub­lic art of Wel­ling­ton, and the people – artists, pat­rons and pub­lic ser­vants – who’ve pop­u­lated our urb­an space with their vis­ions.

The above was a great piece by guest con­trib­ut­or Kar­en Mcleod, many thanks Kar­en. If you want to con­trib­ute or merely let us know some­thing, send an email to james@wellingtonista.com

Anoth­er review over at Beat­ties Book Blog