Released: Tuesday 5 November 2019
Council is very excited to see that our forest of Talking Poles in the Tokoroa CBD is taking shape. Eight of the identified 12 poles are now in place.
The concept of the Talking Pole forest was developed to complement the Tokoroa CBD Upgrade project. The configuration of the Talking Poles within the forest was designed by a professional curator and visual design architect.
“Different views of the forest open up as you move within and around it. The layout has been designed so that each pole has a clean line of sight - unobstructed by other poles - from which to take individual photographs. These sight lines will be marked by metal name plaques and each pole will be lit at night from this direction,” said Council’s Project Manager Walter Williams.
“This forest provides a springboard to revitalise the Talking Poles,” he continued. “The forest of Talking Poles is certainly an eye-catching feature visible from along State Highway One.”
Lighting, signage and the heights of each of the poles all formed part of the design phase.
Raukawa (the pou) opens the story, standing northward facing, greeting people who enter into the forest of pou via a footpath. The iconic Chainsaw Man stands proud of the forest and represents our strong forestry history. Te Toko Poutangata also celebrates industry. These three poles bind the other poles together. Collectively the forest celebrates our heritage, history, multi-cultural society, merging of cultures, wisdom and guidance. The Spore pou – by nature disperses and germinates seeding new plants, is the final work in the stand of pou that signifies community growth and the emergence of a community that is vibrating with life.
We can’t wait for the remaining poles to be included in the forest.
ENDS. Words: 290
