Hector Zamora's reflection on inner city living finds a home in quake-devastated city

Mexican artist Hector Zamora has recently completed the installation of Muegano, a multi-faceted structure hovering above a lake in Christchurch's Botanical Gardens. Originally commissioned for the 6th SCAPE Public Art Biennial in 2010, the installation of the work was postponed in 2011 after Christchurch was rocked by a devastating series of earthquakes that left much of the city and its architectural heritage in ruins. Having survived the 1986 Mexico earthquake, Zamora was sensitive to how Christchurch people might feel about the sculpture's tumbled appearance, but with the passing of time the work can now function as he intended: as a comment on inner city living and urban density.
Image: Hector Zamora's Muegano, Christchurch Botanic Gardens

Hector Zamora's White Noise screened on Auckland's waterfront

Over four nights last week, Hector Zamora's video White Noise was projected onto a building on Auckland's waterfront as part of Move Towards the Light, a series of video and laser projections and light sculptures forming an after-dark art trail from Brittomart to the Wynyard Quarter.

Commissioned for the visual arts programme of the 2011 Auckland Arts Festival, White Noise documents a site-specific installation at Bethell's Beach on the West Coast of Auckland. Zamora invited the public to plant 500 white flags along the coast, creating a poetic 'white noise' in unison with the wind. At some point in the day the installation was politicised with the planting of a single Maori Flag by a local activist, highlighting continuing debates on the ownership of New Zealand's foreshore and seabed - an intervention that was welcomed by the artist.
Image: Hector Zamora's White Noise in Move Towards the Light on Auckland's waterfront

Final night of Move Towards the Light on Auckland's waterfront

Move Towards the Light, a series of video and laser projects and light sculptures running after dark on the Auckland waterfront, ends tonight at midnight. The lineup of artists includes Jae Hoon Lee, Clinton Watkins and Hector Zamora.
Image: Clinton Watkins' Continuous Ship #1 at Shed 10 Queens Wharf

Artists light up Auckland's waterfront

Over the next few days, visitors to Auckland's waterfront will encounter a series of video and laser projections and light sculptures staged at locations between Brittomart and the Wynyard Quarter. The lineup of artists in Reflect: Move Towards the Light includes Jae Hoon Lee, Clinton Watkins and Hector Zamora. The event runs after dark from 26 to 29 July.
Image: Clinton Watkins' Continuous Ship #1 at Shed 10 Queens Wharf

Auckland Art Fair opens next week in the city's new Viaduct Event Centre

The Auckland Art Fair returns to the city's harbour front next week as the inaugural event in the new Viaduct Event Centre. Knight Landesman is the keynote speaker at this year's edition, taking artworld success factors as his subject. "Each year tens of thousands of artists, all over the world, graduate from art schools, but only a very few ever rise to prominence", he says. "How does an artist get known?"

Image: Hector Zamora, White Noise (2011), pigment inks on Ilford paper, 1200 mm x 800 mm, Starkwhite booth 11, Auckland Art Fair.

Hector Zamora's White Noise moves from Bethells Beach to the city

Following the first stage of the project at Bethells Beach, Hector Zamora's White Noise reappears tomorrow to Shed 6, 90 Wellesley Street (from 11.30am) and the Elam projectspace, Elam School of Fine Arts, Whittaker Place. White Noise is part of the visual arts programme for the Auckland Arts Festival 2011. Read more...

Image: Hector Zamora, White Noise (2011), public installation at Bethells Beach, 26 February 2011. Photo courtesy of the artist and the Auckland Arts Festival 2011

Hector Zamora's White Noise at Bethells Beach

Today 500 white flags will be planted in the sand at Bethells Beach as the first part of Hector Zamora's White Noise, a new work for the Auckland Arts Festival. You can participate in the planting of the flags from 10.45am and they will remain in place until 5pm when they will be removed in preparation for the next stage of the work, an installation at Shed 6, 90 Wellesley Street West, which will be open to the public from 2 March 2011.

Image: from the Auckland Festival website for Hector Zamora's White Noise at Bethells Beach. Photo by Simon Glaister