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WAITUHI Matariki Public Art Project

Call for Proposals: 

Wellington City Council’s Arts and Events teams are calling for proposals from experienced Māori artists to design a series of flags for this year’s Matariki festival in June. Artists should submit their design along with a written outline of their concept, current CV or artist’s biography and images of recent work by 5.00pm Thursday 21 April.

WAITUHI SITE 
The seven flag poles along the South-side of Frank Kitts Park on Wellington’s waterfront.

BACKGROUND
This year will mark the third WAITUHI project, following on from the first initiated in 2014 – a mural designed and painted by Johnson Witehira and the second in 2015 – a billboard banner designed by Wharehoka Smith. This year WAITUHI will leave the wall behind, move closer to Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington Harbour, and occupy a busy public space as a series of flags.

OBJECTIVES
The aim of WAITUHI is to take the festivities and theme of Matariki to a wider audience beyond the traditional arts spaces of the galleries, museums and theatres, out to the waterfront, to enliven public space with a new artwork that may challenge or humour or give us a sense of pride in the spaces we occupy.

ARTIST’S BRIEF
This year’s Matariki theme is:
Tukua te kupu kia rere, the power of the pen, scribe the word, let the words flow
The artist’s design should respond to this year’s Matariki theme and to the cultural and geographic history of Wellington’s waterfront.
Artists should also consider the following flag-design-principles:
  •   The design should be simple and bold.
  •   It should be designed to be flown, and viewed from either side.
  •   The top left hand corner of the flag is typically the place of honour in a flag. This reflects the fact that the opposite end of the flag wears out first, and is the section that is least visible when the flag is not fully unfurled.
Flags can be rectangular or triangular. If rectangular either:

- the ratio of 2:3 - where the short side is a third shorter than the long side or
- the ratio of 1:2 – where the long side is two times the length of the short side (this is the shape of the current NZ flag).

Note that the measurement of a standard rectangular flag is 1.8m by 0.9m.
 
If you’re thinking of a different shaped flag, the design may need to be approved by the company printing the flags to ensure it can be hoisted and raised on the flag pole. Below are defined parts of a flag which may be useful when describing your design:
 
 
 If you are interested in this opportunity please email, as a PDF, the following information to Wellington City Council’s City Arts and Events team by 5.00pm, Thursday 21 April (contact details below):
 
  •   scale design(s), between 1 and 7, that is one for all seven flag poles or seven different designs for each flag pole or a combination.
  •   written statement (no more than 300 words) outlining what inspired and/or influenced your design concept
  •   current CV or artist’s biography
  •   up to five images of previous work.
The selected artist will be required to provide a print ready design to Wellington City Council’s Arts and Events team who will liaise directly with the printing company to produce the flags.

 
Selection process
Wellington City Council’s Public Art Panel will select the artist. The Panel are a group of arts professionals – Curators, Massey School of Fine Arts Educators – and staff at Council from the Arts, Treaty Relations, Parks and Urban Design teams.
Council will notify the successful artist during the week of 25 April 2016.
 
BUDGET
Wellington City Council will cover all costs relating to WAITUHI including an artist’s fee of $2,500.
 
TIMEFRAME
The flag designs will be printed on fabric and ready for installation on 1 June in time for the launch of Matariki 2016. The flags will remain in place for the duration of this year’s Matariki Festival.
 
CONTACT
For more information please contact Arts Programme Advisor, Katie Taylor-Duke,
City Arts and Events, Wellington City Council on email: Katie.Taylor-Duke@wcc.govt.nz or phone: (04) 803 8021. 

Principal Funder

Annual Strategic Partners