Australasia’s largest lightwall to light up Auckland

Offered by Port of Auckland and curated by Simon Bowerbank, Director of Whangārei Artwork Museum, this yr’s season is formed by the curatorial framework Thresholds & Crossings — a well timed meditation on the forces, flows, and tensions that outline life on the fringe of land and sea.

Projected onto a 110-metre-long, 13-metre-high construction made up of practically 8,500 individually programmable LED lights, The Lightship transforms a practical a part of the working port right into a placing platform for public artwork.

In a time marked by cost-of-living pressures, The Lightship affords an accessible cultural second for the general public. Aiming to reconnect communities by way of creativity, The Lightship delivers a robust visible expertise within the public realm at a time when artwork, optimism and shared inspiration are most wanted.

Julie Wagener, Common Supervisor Communications, Authorities and Neighborhood Relations at Port of Auckland, says “The Lightship is a light-weight in the dead of night — a beacon of creativity and connection in a time when many are feeling the pressure. The Lightship was purpose-built with this imaginative and prescient in thoughts. It supplies each rising and established artists with a uncommon alternative to create large-scale, site-specific works that have interaction with Auckland’s city panorama and the harbour it overlooks. It’s our present to the metropolis.”

Launched in 2020, The Lightship is a car-handling facility by day, and a large-scale digital canvas by evening. Seen every day from nightfall till daybreak, every artist’s work will attain commuters, ferry passengers, guests and waterfront pedestrians — providing a robust intersection of infrastructure and artwork.

“As a port primarily based within the coronary heart of the town, we see it as each a privilege and a duty to contribute to the Auckland cultural life. The Lightship, as a recent artwork platform, displays our ongoing dedication to giving again to the place we’re proud to name residence — delivering a placing visible expertise for Aucklanders and guests alike, whereas shining a light-weight on artistic expertise from either side of the Tasman.”

The complete programme for The Lightship will run from September 2025 to August 2026, with the primary commissioned artists confirmed as Esther Stewart, Jack B. Hadley, Jess Johnson & Simon Ward and John Ward Knox. The ultimate two artists can be introduced within the new yr.

Simon Bowerbank, Curator of The Lightship, says “The artists chosen this yr symbolize a dynamic cross-section of views from either side of the Tasman. Working throughout portray, sculpture, digital animation and set up, every artist approaches their medium with a robust conceptual focus, whether or not exploring constructed environments, imagined worlds, or the language of type itself.”

Save the Date: The Lightship launches 1 September 2025 with a brand new work by Esther Stewart, on show till 26 October 2025.

Location: The Lightship is situated on Quay Avenue at Port of Auckland, wrapping across the Bledisloe Wharf car-handling facility

Discover out extra about The Lightship or upcoming artist installations right here.