Thirty years in the making, Whangārei's Hundertwasser Arts Centre will open on Sunday.
Whangārei's Hundertwasser Arts Centre opens on 20 February, 2022. Photo: RNZ / Sam Olley
World-famous artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser spent his final years living in the Bay of Islands before he died in 2000.
The centre was his last unbuilt design until it finally got off the ground in 2018.
It will exhibit 80 works flown from Vienna, and the centre's chief executive, Kathleen Drumm, told RNZ these include "models, tapestries, graphic works and extraordinary paintings".
More than 550 people have worked on the site on the Hātea riverfront, ranging from tradies to art connoisseurs.
"Some of those people who've brought their skills and expertise were people who were made redundant because of Covid, including an airline pilot, who became one of our most skilled tilers."
There were also hundreds of volunteers before them who campaigned for the centre to win a council planning referendum, and then raised more than $10 million to help pay for it.
Photo: Alexia Russell
Councils added contributions, as did the Provincial Growth Fund, which gave more than $18m.
Pam Tothill helped lead the volunteer movement. She told RNZ it was "sometimes painful, sometimes very difficult".
"But it's amazing what a group of people with vision and persistence and determination and passion can do, and we were supported by our community."
The centre does not stand alone - the world's first public gallery dedicated solely to contemporary Māori art is attached.
Newly appointed member of the New Zealand Order of Merit Nigel Borell (Pirirākau, Ngāi te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Te Whakatōhea, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Apakura) is curating the Wairau gallery.
He is feeling "lots of really very excited energy" and "very buzzy". He said it was "humbling at the same time to be at this point".
Wairau gallery board member Dr Benjamin Pittman (Te Parawhau, Te Popoto-Ngāti Hao, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hau) was a masters student at Elam School of Fine Arts when Hundertwasser visited in the 1970s.
"Everybody thought he was stark raving mad, but I was quite fascinated by not only his clothing and his different socks and things ... It was really quite in your face, but I was fascinated by him talking about grass and things growing on your roof that you could eat, and it was insulation, it was practical, it was free."
So Dr Pittman is one of the many project leaders overjoyed to see Hundertwasser's dream become reality.
"It has certainly been a journey in times of Covid. With so much uncertainty and chaos and upheaval and change."
The centre is also home to the Aqua bar and restaurant, thousands of plants on the roof, and a water fountain.
When doors open on Sunday morning, fees range from $10 for children to $21 for adults, but there are discounts for Whangārei residents and pensioners.
The Hundertwasser Arts Centre on Whangarei's riverbank centre. Photo: Alexia Russell