New five-storey sculpture for central Christchurch to be installed by end of year

A $275,000, 16-metre tall steel artwork will be installed on Worcester St in central Christchurch by the end of the year.

Artist Sēmisi Fetokai Potauaine hopes that his new sculpture, called Vaka 'A Hina, will become "a new homing beacon" for the city due to its scale and location.

The sculpture will be visible from many blocks away thanks to its location at the northern end of Rauora Park, a new public space that stretches five blocks from Armagh to Lichfield Sts to the east of the city centre.

Potauaine said the sculpture's distinctive angular shape was inspired by the Tongan folklore story of the goddess Hina and her journey to the moon in a vaka, or canoe.

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"The theme of this work is transportation and movement and unity, which is movement together in a certain direction," he said.

Potauaine said the shape of the sculpture was also an allusion to a "lightning strike".

The sculpture was commissioned by SCAPE Public Art, which organises a festival of public art every year. Scape executive director Deborah McCormick said no public money was used to fund the sculpture, which will be the 15th permanent artwork they have commissioned in the city.

She said the project would be funded with $50,000 in grants and sponsorship and $70,000 raised in a public appeal launched this week. Christchurch company John Jones Steel was covering the cost of materials, construction and installation.

McCormick hopes the artwork, which will be the equivalent to about five storeys in height, will become a new landmark in the city centre.

"It is our hope that people will use it as a landmark and meet people there," she said.

"The 16 metre height means it will be able to be seen from a number of vantage points in the city. The site was chosen because of the wonderful view down to the Port Hills."

The artist, who was born and raised in Tonga and educated in Auckland and the UK, said the artwork had been in development for some time, but the theme of unity had become more relevant in the wake of the Christchurch terror attacks.

"We had been planning this for quite some time, but it seems relatable in terms of the theme of bringing people together and the idea of unity."