(Im)possible Promenade

What: Discover impossible things hiding along the Rotary Walk.

Sarah Jane Blake has created a trail of surreal, augmented reality curiosities that respond to and question human’s relationship to nature and the surrounding Tamaki Estuary environment. Inspired by games, toys, miniature theatres, and wonder rooms the curiosities ask us to play and perhaps imagine alternative futures.

A hamburger floats above cows, in the historic stockyards, speaking of the now suburban landscapes and a call to shape the future. A boat house, adapted to rising seas, harks back to a simple life where consumerist desires were kept at bay and we lived in full feeling of the elements. A door, signed ‘nature’ leads us in both directions to the same site questioning the dualism entrenched in our systems.

Download the map and locate the stops along the path, then scan the QR codes or click the links on your phone to open the door into a strange and wonderful world.

Where: Our walk is discovered along the Pakuranga Rotary Walkway between Kerswill Place and Wakaaranga Creek Reserve and can be done in either direction.

How:
1. Using your phone camera scan the QR codes on the map (or click the link).
2. Click the link to launch Zappar  (you may need to give it permission to use your camera)
3. Point your phone camera just off the path, where the images feel good to you
4. Zoom in or out till they are the right size
5. Click ‘Place’ and turn the volume up
6. Keep an eye and ear out for other walkers and cyclists while moving around and mind the edge

Who: This walk is suitable for all ages.

Difficulty: Total walk is 8km along concrete paths and board walks and can be done in easy stages or by bicycle. Walking time: 1 hour 20 min

What do you need: You need a mobile device that can scan QR codes and connect to the internet. Animations can be accessed via a web browser or the Zappar app.

Access information: This walk is wheel friendly.

Created by: Sarah-Jane Blake is an experimental artist, performance designer and deviser who began working in augmented reality during the early days of Covid-19. She is interested in how new technologies and art can find alternative ways of seeing and explore different dimensions of creative thought. She once lived on a boat and wrote a whimsical ship’s log intermixing fact and fiction.

Thank you to Bruce Kendall from the Tamaki Estuary Protection Society