Other worlds has arrived in Tāmaki Makaurau.
A series of large-scale globes standing on tripod legs by Ruth Watson inspire us to see the world through different lenses.
Created by Auckland-based artist Ruth Watson, each of the globes in Other worlds depicts different types of mapping or data collection to present an alternative world.
The grey globe is a seventeenth-century worldview of the earth without water, and the teal and tan globe depicts an early 1900s belief that Mars was home to a superior civilisation.
Instead of the conventional colouring of continents, the patterns on the black globe depict carbon sequestration data. Rather than a usual sphere, the white globe depicts European Space Agency gravitational field analysis.
Ruth Watson has a longstanding interest in maps and her art practice questions common western ideas about how places are represented and why.
“I was looking for globes that would be familiar in the sense that someone would look at them and know it was a representation of our Earth, but also different enough to indicate that it wasn’t the world as we usually see it,” Watson says.
The artwork was first exhibited outside Te Papa Tongarewa between 2018 and 2020, courtesy of the Wellington Sculpture Trust’s Four Plinths commissions.
This temporary outdoor exhibition at the Auckland Botanic Gardens is on view from 2 September – 14 October, in alignment with the World Green Infrastructure Congress hosted this year in Tāmaki Makaurau from 3 – 5 September.
Councillor Angela Dalton says the globes provide a new experience of the Botanic Gardens which is a space much loved by Aucklanders and visitors: “The scale is awe-inspiring. They look incredible on such a vast, expansive lawn. Close up, visitors will see some globes are very textural, others are smooth and detailed, and the new tripod stands give Other worlds a sci-fi feeling.”
Other worlds can be seen with another temporary exhibition in the Visitor Centre which shares examples of green infrastructure in design.
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