Wind Wonders

Stopped to blip these on the way home but H's Canon doesn't hold a charge long and was flat. Popped out again after tea with my trusty Nikon. This is part of a series of sculptures installed in Wellington over the last few years celebrating our wind. It hums too.

AkauTangi consists of 11 stripe-painted steel poles, each supporting a conical-shaped, colour-co-ordinated, kinetic element which positions itself according to the prevailing wind direction, like an airport wind-sock.

The sculpture also incorporates an aluminium wind-driven tube-flute and five additional harmonic tube instruments in the front cowl section of each kinetic element to produce an intermittent flute-whistle tone, or harmonic, relative to prevailing wind currents and speed.

As a final touch, lighting for the sculpture is provided by a simple LED lighting system, driven by wind speed and incorporated within each conical sculptural form.

The name "Akau Tangi" refers to the sighing sound of the sea at the sculpture's location in Evans Bay.