REMEMBER, YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST

 

We were early supporters of the Whangarei Hundertwasser Museum project and were at odds with the dullard Philistines who opposed it, believing that it will rejuvenate Whangarei with a sense of pride and will attract money-paying visitors to help the city's growth.

In a post about it back in 2012 I wrote:

Here's the entire post: MONA

I was pleased to read the Northern Advocate's report on Lonely Planet's view on how the new Hundertwasser Museum is going to rejuvenate Whangarei just as we (and of course many others) predicted.

NOT JUST A PIT STOP - LONELY PLANET

"Whangārei is officially no longer a mere toilet stop on the way to the Bay of Islands — that’s if the latest guide from the world’s biggest travel publisher is anything to go by.

In Lonely Planet’s Experience New Zealand, released this week, the Northland chapter focuses not on traditional hotspots such as Paihia and Russell but on previously overlooked drawcards such as Whangārei and Hokianga.

The book is unequivocal about what has finally turned Whangārei into a tourist destination, putting much of it down to a controversial Austrian it describes as “one of the 20th century’s greatest European avant-garde artists”.

Friedensreich Hundertwasser, who lived near Kawakawa from the 1970s until his death in 2000, designed the Hundertwasser Art Centre which finally opened at the Town Basin in February this year.


“The Town Basin and Hātea River area boasts architectural attractions that move Whangārei from a ‘drive-by’ pit stop en route to the Bay of Islands to a stand-alone destination in its own right,” the book’s Northland chapter proclaims.

The author tracks the convoluted history of the Hundertwasser Art Centre — from initial rejection through to bitter public debate, a referendum and eventual construction — and credits the “long-overdue project” with breathing fresh life into the city’s contemporary arts scene.

The book also piles praise onto the Wairau Māori Art Gallery (“the first public gallery dedicated solely to contemporary Māori art”), Hātea Loop walkway, Hihiaua Cultural Centre, Camera Obscura and the “striking” Te Matau ā Pohe bridge."

          - The Northern Advocate December 1, 2022 

Yah-boo-sucks to those pinheads who opposed it.