Raised up Sky

As part of AUT’s artist residency 2019, Joseph Michael will create the first ever life-size digital reconstruction of New Zealand's largest known living kauri tree, Tāne Mahuta, located in the Waipoua Forest in the Northland region.

The project crosses traditional boundaries between Science and Art, allowing the interplay of information, data and scientific tools to inform the Artwork. In turn the Artwork is helping to inform critical forest management and forest ecology decisions, as well as providing a digital archive of these significant cultural and historical heritage sites.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to expand our knowledge of one of NZ’s most treasured species, we need to think deeper and understand the consequences of our actions toward the natural environment,” Joseph Michael

Joseph is working in conjunction with AUT’s Associate Professor Barbara Bollard, School of Science and her team, who will be studying the trees from a scientific perspective at the same time. Joseph is collaborating with Te Roroa iwi and the Department of Conservation and is supported by Radio NZ and Creative New Zealand.

Special thanks to the team at Envivo for their expert assistance during the scanning process! (Nathan Cossar from Envivo capturing scans in the forest below).

Digital Renders - 2020 - Funded through Creative NZ.

Tane Mauta - Scan data previews: May 2019

Please note: Coloration (with reference to all of the point could imagery ) we apply various effects to show elevation or highlight specific elements within the forest. They are for artistic reference and do not represent scientific findings.