Aotearoa Art Fair Sculpture Trail presented by Viaduct Harbour Grows Significantly in Second Year, Featuring 24 Works
Published: Tuesday 31 March 2026
Auckland, New Zealand - The Aotearoa Art Fair Sculpture Trail presented by Viaduct Harbour in association with Auckland Live is back for 2026. Once again Auckland’s waterfront will become an open-air gallery as large-scale sculptures appear throughout the Viaduct Harbour precinct from Friday 10 April running through until Monday 4 May. Proudly supported by Auckland Council Events and the city centre targeted rate.
Returning for its second year, the Sculpture Trail is free and open to all, and has expanded significantly in scale - growing from nine sculptures in 2025 to 24 works by 19 artists in 2026. Installed throughout the Viaduct Harbour precinct and extending to the Viaduct Events Centre, the trail invites visitors to encounter contemporary sculpture within the everyday urban landscape of the city centre, set against the backdrop of the Waitematā Harbour.
The Sculpture Trail runs alongside Aotearoa Art Fair (30 April – 3 May 2026), extending the Fair beyond the Viaduct Events Centre and embedding it within Auckland’s waterfront.
Artists have responded to the stunning waterfront location, with many works connected to themes of nature, the sea, and the creative traditions of Māori and Pacific cultures.
“The Sculpture Trail is a love letter to Tāmaki Makaurau — to its waterfront, its tides, its skies, and the cultures that have shaped this place”, says Sue Waymouth, Fair Director, Aotearoa Art Fair. “These works don't just sit in the landscape; they speak to it. They honour the sea, the land, the birds returning to our cities, and the extraordinary creative traditions of Māori and Pacific peoples. For the first time, world-renowned international artists feature alongside artists from New Zealand. Coinciding with the Aotearoa Art Fair, the Trail reminds us that art belongs to everyone — and that Auckland is one of the most remarkable places in the world to experience it."
For Viaduct Harbour Holdings Ltd, the initiative forms part of a broader commitment to arts and culture in the public realm.
"After a successful debut last year which resulted in significant footfall increase within the precinct, we’re thrilled to return with a Sculpture Trail that is bigger, more diverse, and more interactive," says Celeste Labana-Clayton, Head of Marketing, Viaduct Harbour. "With more sculptures and a larger footprint along the waterfront, this year’s edition reinforces our commitment to weaving contemporary art into the city’s cultural fabric. It’s about creating moments where visitors can explore, play, reflect, and engage with art in ways that are experiential, playful, and memorable."
Daniel Clarke, Director of Auckland Live says, “Auckland Live is proud to support the Aotearoa Art Fair Sculpture Trail as it brings world-class contemporary art into the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau. By activating our waterfront spaces, including Viaduct Events Centre, we’re helping create accessible, shared experiences that connect people with toi in unexpected ways. It’s a powerful example of how we can open up the city and enrich Auckland through creativity, culture and public engagement.”
Māori and Pacific traditions run through the heart of the Sculpture Trail. Among the highlights Lisa Reihana's ANZAC, presented by Gallery Sally Dan Cuthbert – a Māori Waharoa welcoming visitors to the space – honours Māori soldiers lost in World War II, through kōwhaiwhai and tāniko weaving patterns. Peata Larkin's Ka Mau, Ka Ora, presented by Two Rooms, celebrates the creative strength of wāhine Māori, its forms evoking Aramoana, the pathway to the sea. Reuben Paterson’s Koro, presented by Gow Langsford, brings a light-responsive work encrusted with glass crystals, capturing and refracting its surroundings across the waterfront. Sione Faletau has recorded the sounds of the Waitematā and translated their frequencies into kupesi patterns drawn from tapa-making traditions, and emerging artist A'aifou Potemani's flag works reflect the siapo and vivid fabrics of the Pacific, presented by Fresh Gallery Otara. Anton Forde's carved stones, presented by Föenander Galleries, and Ngaroma Riley's Kapahaka Queen, presented by Tim Melville Gallery, welcome visitors across Te Wero bridge, introducing an interactive element to the trail and inviting them to touch and engage with te mahi poi.
Elsewhere on the Sculpture Trail, Hye Rim Lee’s Gold Rose, presented by DMC Art, transforms a virtual icon into a luminous sculptural form, where cast glass holds a delicate tension between fragility and strength, reflecting her exploration of transformation between digital and physical worlds. From Paul Dibble Studio, Healing a Busy World, presented by Milford Galleries, brings together architecture and nature through flattened forms and a rich green patina, where native birds and kawakawa motifs signal renewal and hope within the urban landscape, presented by Milford Galleries.
At the centre of the Sculpture Trail, a new work by Gregor Kregar presented by Gow Langsford, will be installed in the Harbour. The large-scale sculpture, measuring approximately six metres high, is formed from thousands of interlocking geometric elements in mirror-polished stainless steel. Drawing on the form of a cloud, the structure sits on a custom pontoon and will be lit at night, with its reflective surface capturing the movement of the harbour and changing light conditions. Installed for the duration of the trail, the work brings a more kinetic presence to the waterfront. Alongside Cumulus Structure, Kregar’s T-REX Reflection, looks out to sea like a metallic pet with a big personality.
The international artists participating include French artist Bernar Venet, presented by Gow Langsford, whose large-scale steel sculpture Indeterminate Line brings his decade-long exploration of geometry and form into the public realm, alongside UK-based, Turner prize-winning artist Martin Creed, presented by Lett Thomas, whose vertically stacked metal structures discard function for form, with the work's simplicity framing life's chaos with structure. From Australia, James Rogers’ Overture, presented by Nanda\Hobbs introduces a more fluid, gestural approach to steel, its twisting form drawing on the movement of the sea, while Braddon Snape, presented by Nanda\Hobbs, presents a large-scale, bright yellow, inflated steel work, known for his minimal yet materially responsive approach to site.
New works commissioned for the 2026 Sculpture Trail include Josh Olley’s Blood from Stone (2026), presented by ARTIS Gallery, a giant carved argillite hand, a metaphor for perseverance and tenacity, and Caitlin Devoy’s Benthic Lungs (2026), presented by Jhana Millers Gallery, a silicone dive tank that becomes a container for circulating debris rather than air, exposing the state of our ocean. David McCracken, presented by Gow Langsford, presents a monumental yet restrained work that reflects his enduring interest in balance, repetition and the tension between solidity and illusion. Ben Pearce’s new works celebrate nature, its strength and delicate balance, presented by Milford Galleries.
The Sculpture Trail continues to extend the reach of Aotearoa Art Fair beyond its core programme - embedding contemporary art within the everyday life of the city. Now the largest and most diverse edition to date, the Sculpture Trail winds along the waterfront from the QT Hotel through to the Viaduct Events Centre, where Lisa Reihana’s ANZAC forms a striking threshold into the Fair. Free and open to the public, it offers an accessible and inclusive way to encounter contemporary sculpture within one of Auckland’s most visible and evolving public spaces.
Image above shown is from the 2024 Sculpture Trail. This artwork will not be featured in the 2025 Trail.
