Giant aural neon sculpture to light up Wellington’s civic heart

Friday, 26 June 2026

A towering neon sculpture will soon illuminate a prominent vacant site in central Wellington, with artist Sean Kerr selected to create a major new public artwork within the city’s library and gallery precinct.

Kerr, who spent his early years in the Wellington suburb of Melrose but who now lives in Auckland and is an associate professor at Elam School of Fine Arts, said the Harris St sculpture would reference the sounds that music makes.

The sculpture - called Tak Bum Tss Dum Tss Tak Psh Tss Tak Dum Tak Bum Tss Tak Tak Dum Tak Bum Tss Tak Psh Tss Dum Psh - was inspired by his childhood.

Kerr, who is dyslexic, spent time in a library reading room at the site of the sculpture, and would stumble over words he encountered in books. During this period he also unsuccessfully tried to play the side drum, while his father was in the Post Office Pipe Band.

Fittingly, the sculpture - which will be about 3m high and 3m wide - features an assortment of short onomatopoeic phrases that reference the sounds drums make: psh, tss, dum, bum, tak.

A mock-up of the work, which is called Tak Bum Tss Dum Tss Tak Psh Tss Tak Dum Tak Bum Tss Tak Tak Dum Tak Bum Tss Tak Psh Tss Dum Psh.

The words will be illuminated in neon colours and an AI programme will autonomously cycle through different patterns, lighting them up.

The typography will be encased inside a large metal frame, but the sculpture is not opaque. Along with the different lighting sequences, the piece will make synthy, digital-type sounds that move in and out of sync with its lights.

Kerr, who has used text in his art for a long time, said he wanted to interrogate AI through the sculpture - even though he was also using the technology to programme it. As part of a previous show in Whangārei, he used AI to control robotic drums.

In light of environmental impacts, the idea is for the sculpture to be energy efficient and use the same amount of power in five years, as leaving on a lightbulb for 2½ months.

Sean Kerr is an associate professor at Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland, but was raised in Wellington.

Kerr wants the sculpture’s cabling exposed so people are able to see how it’s constructed.

He said the sculpture worked on an academic level, but also had a sense of humour, play and absurdity to it.

Kerr failed to get into art school twice and in the 1980s eventually ended up as a sound mixer assistant for films, working for people including Merata Mita and Leon Narbey - the latter of whom encouraged Kerr to again apply for art school.

(He did and finally got accepted).

“Kerr’s sculpture is resonant with the past and future of the gallery and the nearby Te Matapihi, Wellington Central Library. We know the sculpture will provoke curiosity and make passers-by look up. And we hope it will also make passers-by come inside,” said Megan Dunn, City Gallery Wellington’s special projects curator.

Kerr was awarded $20,000 for the commission.

The work will be created in Auckland and the aim is to have it complete for April 2027. City Gallery is due to reopen this October with a landmark Cornelia Parker exhibition.