Cobblestone Park light boxes

The light boxes at Cobblestone Park are a joint Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington and Wellington City Council venture.

These light boxes are located in Cobblestone Park in front of Victoria University's Faculty of Architecture and Design Innovation at 139 Vivian Street – view on Google Maps

Landscape image of a beach with the night sky and lots of stars showing. — Te Whānau Mārama

Current exhibition

Te Whānau Mārama

Leon Gurevitch

From May 2023 – October 2023

Te Whānau Mārama| Family of Light brings together a collection of astrophotography created by Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington's Dr Leon Gurevitch.

Aotearoa is home to some of the best dark sky reserves in the world. This exhibition showcases portrait astrophotographs from iconic landmarks and areas around Te-Whanganui-A-Tara and Te Waiponamu.

Te Whānau Mārama, literally translates to Family of Light, and refers to celestial bodies – the sun, moon, stars and constellations, as well as phosphorescent light. Successful astrophotography must find balance between capturing the multifaceted lights of our galaxy and trying to minimise the impacts of pervasive artificial phosphorescent light. Careful consideration is given to the locations of Dark Sky reserves, so that sky gazers can see the light of the galaxy unimpeded by industrial scale illumination and pollution.

As well as showcasing large photographic prints, this exhibition uses site maps, galaxy orientations and photographic technical context to show audiences just how close sites of astrophotographic experience are to Wellington. One of these sites is Wairarapa, which has recently become a designated dark sky reserve. Dr Gurevitch aims to create public awareness of these incredible locations while providing an inspiring visual experience.

These light box arrangements use backlight to bring low-light images to life and are best viewed at night. The light box works are displayed in conjunction with the large-scale landscape images exhibited in Te Aro Window Gallery on Dunlop Terrace in May 2023. This photographic collection overlaps with Astrodata: a data visualisation project in collaboration with Yale University Lens Media Lab.

A similar large-scale astrophoto by Dr Gurevitch is also exhibited on glass at Te Herenga Waka's Rutherford House.

Past projects

Ko Wai Au? | Who am?
Hannah Hopewell

Pupuke te Mahara
Bobby Luke

Kia niwha te ngākau
David Hakaraia

Two worlds/ two times
Daniel K Brown and Mizuho Nishioka

Bringing the German Pavilion Back Home
Jessica Wright

Transient Crossings: Embodiment in the Everyday
Stacey Mountfort

Christchurch through the Looking Glass
Ryan McCully

Prefabricated Architecture for a Circular Economy
Gerard Finch

Wai o papa: Waterlands (2016)

Wai o Papa, or Waterlands, is a Deep South project, one of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s national science challenges. This cross-disciplinary project investigates how science, art and design can assist Māori coastal communities on the Kapiti-Horowhenua coast adapt to the impacts of climate change. The images on the panels represented on one side, an estimation of the impact of 0.5, 1 and 1.5 metres of sea level rise on the coast between the Waikawa and Ōhau rivers; and on the other, the mouth of the Ōhau River at the lunar high tide.

Deep South Science Challenge: Dr Huhana Smith, Professor Penny Allan, Professor Martin Manning, Martin Bryant, Derrylea Hardy, Jane Richardson, Professor Murray Patterson, Abdallah Richards, Kevin Cartwright.

A Speculative Future (2015)
By Nicholas O'Connell, Holly Loft, Emma Erasmus, Tom Robertson.

Scraping the Sky: A Retreat Upwards (2014)
By Ben Allnatt, Declan Burn, Winston Dewhirst, and Tom Dobinson.

Digital Futures (2013)
By Simone Crane, Shiping Toohey, Jake Evill, Earl Stewart.

Glamping at Ngapotiki Reserve (2012)
By Jono Coates, Sarah Mokhtar, Daniel van Polanen, Tanya Mazurkiewicz , Michelle Hall.

First Light IN4MS (2012)
By Tobias Danielmeier.