Chris Booth
Kinetic Fungi Tower, 2017
grape vines, fungi and pole
9,000 x 1,500 mm
A kinetic celebration of the greatest recycler on earth: fungi.
As the fungi eats the vines the stone slowly moves to the ground.
– Chris Booth
Chris Booth wishes to thank the Waiheke vineyards who donated material for this project: Hay Paddock Wines, Kennedy Point Vineyard, Mudbrick Vineyard, Passage Rock Wines, Te Motu Vineyard, Tantalus Estate and Te Whau Vineyard and especially thanks the volunteers who helped to create the artwork.
Supported by Waiheke Aborist and Tree Care.
Chris Booth
born 1948, Kerikeri, Bay of Islands
Lives and works in Kerikeri
Booth has a profound interest in developing a creative language that involves deeply meaningful relationships with landforms, flora and fauna. Social history and engagement with the wider local community, in particular the Indigenous community, are paramount to his art practice.
Chris Booth studied at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch and from 1968 studied with various sculptors in Europe including Dame Barbara Hepworth, Denis Mitchell and John Milne in St. Ives, Cornwall, England and Quinto Ghermandi in Verona, Italy. Booth has created numerous significant land art projects in New Zealand and internationally (England, Netherlands, France, Denmark, Italy, Germany, USA, Canada, Australia, Singapore and the Canary Islands), including publics commission at Storm King, USA, the Sydney Botanic Gardens and the Kröller Müller Museum, the Netherlands. Works in New Zealand include the gateway to Hamilton Gardens and the ceremonial entrance way to Takahanga Marae, Kaikoura.