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