City Rail Link
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Construction art

Construction art
 

The City Rail Link is New Zealand’s largest infrastructure project and also the country’s largest art project.

Establishing partnerships with local artists and groups, the Link Alliance, CRL’s main contractor, has sought to add another layer of vibrancy to communities surrounding the Maungawhau Station, Karanga-a-Hape Station and Te Waihorotiu Station.

Anyone can enjoy New Zealand’s largest art project. The collection is wide-ranging and fun to enjoy, from photographic to structural pieces, art walks, to children’s creations.

Art Walks

Traditionally used to separate the public from construction activity safely, the City Rail Link instead uses its hoardings as blank art canvasses. With most long-term hoarding now in place, there are kilometres of art-adorned hoardings to admire. Hoardings are the art project’s backbone.

To help people near the Karanga-a-Hape Station and Maungawhau Station construction sites navigate the local art installations, the Link Alliance created Art Walks. Designed to highlight hoarding and other local art hubs, you can see the specially designed maps below.

Link Alliance-CRL Te Wai Horotiu Station (Aotea) Art Walk (PDF 2MB)

Link Alliance-CRL Maungawhau/Mount Eden Station Art Walk (PDF 3.2MB)

Link Alliance-CRL Karanga a Hape Station (Karangahape) Art Walk (PDF 14.6MB)

Te Manawa, the heart

Te Manawa means ‘the heart’ in Te Reo. Our Te Manawa location, at 1 New North Road, is a state of the art facility housing a public visitor centre, specialist training facilities and offices for project staff.

It is home to five sculptural reliefs by artists who belong to a homeless collective known as Awhina Mai Tatou Katoa (AMTK). The five artworks hung in the lobby greet visitors to Te Manawa - a place of learning - sharing mātauranga – traditional knowledge and education – with those who view them.

Commemorating Dame Whina Cooper, a national icon

Our tunnel boring machine, named by the public after renowned Māori rights activist Dame Whina Coope constructed CRL’s twin tunnels that connects Maungawhau Station and Te Waihorotiu Station.

Dame Whina Cooper was commemorated on the TBM with bespoke iconography (symbolic artwork) that represented unity, new life, respect and friendship. You can see explanations for each element of the iconography in the image below.

Our popular Art Walks

Auckland Festival of Photography

For 18 years, the Auckland Festival of Photography has celebrated the accessible art medium and highlighted the exemplary creativity the Auckland region offers the world of photography. Since 2020, City Rail Link has partnered with the city-wide festival.

The partnership has helped the festival to further build a city-wide contemporary cultural experience.

Throughout June, exhibitions surround the City Rail Link construction sites to showcase the work of local, talented photographers. Tours guided by the photographers give people deep insight into each exhibition. See highlights from past exhibitions below, including an exhibition by our very own construction photographer, Mark Barber.

Our young artists

When the Te Waihorotiu Station opens in late 2024, the artwork of 4,000 tamariki will line the walls. In 2020, the City Rail Link called for the country’s tamariki to create a piece of art showing where they would take a train if the CRL tunnels were magical and could take them anywhere, real or imagined. The call saw Kiwi kids from hundreds of schools across the country share their masterpieces.

The young artists who contributed will see their creations printed onto ceramic tiles and used as permanent wall linings at Te Waihorotiu Station. A copy will also be given to their school. While we wait to see the inevitably impressive end result, some of the masterpieces are shared on this page

Our Artists

The City Rail Link wouldn’t be New Zealand’s largest art project without many talented, local artists!

We have listed all of the artists who have contributed to the project so far, in alphabetical order and with their website and/or contact details so that you can reach out to them.