All you need to know about the city's Matariki light art trails

The best way to explain this to start with is a map. It's simple! There are two trails, Tūhono and Tūrama. Both start in Te Komititanga. Tūhono goes east through Britomart's Takutai Square and along Beach Road to Te Tōangaroa. Tūrama runs up Queen Street to Aotea Square, with diversions into Elliott Street, Lorne Street and Airedale Street as well. 

Arama has created a series of patterns (including those below, which can be seen on panels on Te Ara Tāhuhu) inspired by tukutuku panels and carvings in Tumutumuwhenua, the whare tupuna of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. The light installation in Takutai Square animates and projects these patterns across Te Rou Kai, the fountain and 16 sculptural stones by an earlier generation of Ngāti Whātua artists in Takutai Square. As the patterns play out across the ripples of the water, a soundscape plays, featuring reminders of the waterfront and forest that existed here before the city was established. 

The light projections in Takutai Square play a seven-minute sequence that restarts every quarter-hour from 5pm-10pm from Thursday 19 June to Wednesday 9 July. 

These projections - also created by Arama Tamariki-Enua in collaboration with Angus Muir and Catherine Bell - use related iconography to the images you'll see in Britomart, but deployed in a different way. 

Once you're in the park, you'll see Te Mātahi o te Tau, a work by Tyrone Ohia in collaboration with Angus Muir Design. This work is a beacon to mark the rising of the Matariki constellation, making connections between the woven cross-hatches of woven tukutuku panels and the star shapes found in the night sky. A colourful animated lightshow flows through the strands, taking us on a journey through Te Iwa o Matariki (The Nine Stars of Matariki), in the correct order of their whakapapa (lineage). The lights undulate at different speeds, flowing, beating and flashing. At points, it carries the green energies of harakeke (flax), in the next instant a calm flowing river, and then the warmth of a fire burning. 

From Te Komititanga, you can wander up to the intersection of Fort and Queen Streets, where you'll see Te Wehenga, a uniquely designed and crafted waharoa denoting the place where the waters of Waitematā and Wai o Horotiu merged. Like the rest of the works on Queen Street, Te Wehenga was created by artist Graham Tipene, along with Ataahua Papa and Angus Muir Design. One side of the waharoa refers to Tangaroa and the marine life in the Waitematā, while the other is an acknowledgment of Tāne Mahuta and the ngahere (forests) that once lined the valley. 

These include the birds Kawau Tikitiki (known in English as a cormorant), Kāhu Kōrako (hawk) and Manu Korokī (below), representatives of the many birds who once lived in the forests and wetlands of the area. 

The river sustained and enabled settlement of this area, and the valley is thick with ngā tapuwae o ngā mana o te whenua (the footprints of local tribes), embedded into this space over time, testament to the richness of local resources and strategic importance of this location. Alongside these tūpuna (ancestors), this valley and its river were also the domain of Horotiu, a being of both physical and metaphysical dimensions. Horotiu is recognised variously by Mana Whenua as kaitiaki of this area, and also as taniwha (fabulous monster) within this, his domain. Despite the historic covering over and containment of Wai o Horotiu, this river still flows and dances beneath our feet, and retains both mana and mauri, albeit compromised significantly by our contemporary urban form and lifestyles.

Elliott Street is home to Taurima, a series of whimsical light art pieces by artists Lissy and Rudi Robinson-Cole, best-known for their crocheted Wharenui Harikoa. On Lorne Street outside the Central Library you can see Te Reo Māori words rendered in neon by Ataahua Papa and Angus Muir. And on Airedale Street, check out Te Huinga Tai - The Gathering of Tides, an installation by Poi Ngawati and Angus Muir.