A new permanent landmark can be seen standing tall over the Canterbury Plains today, as Neil Dawson’s Fanfare, New Zealand’s largest public sculpture, was officially presented and illuminated for the first time tonight.
Fanfare has progressed through an extraordinary journey over the past 10 years to find its home in Christchurch, the birth city of its notable sculptor, Neil Dawson. This visionary six-storey-high sphere is covered in 1.5 metre steel pinwheel fans and can be illuminated in a spectrum of colours at night. It started life as a celebration piece commissioned by the City of Sydney to ring in the New Year 2005 and was gifted to the people of Christchurch by the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore in 2007.
“I’m thrilled to see Fanfare installed on the Northern Motorway and touched by the huge support the project has gained,” sculptor Neil Dawson says. “I’m amazed at the complexities of such an apparently simple object. Its installation required a collaborative effort from many others, whose design and organisational contributions helped turn a whim I had into a whimsical artwork. I look forward to getting to know the work in its new site and seeing what sort of life it has.”
