Australasia’s largest lightwall, The Lightship, is set to launch its 2025–26 season next month, illuminating Auckland’s waterfront with its contemporary art platform and a bold new series of works commissioned from six emerging and established artists from Aotearoa and Australia.

Presented by Port of Auckland and curated by Simon Bowerbank, Director of Whangārei Art Museum, this year’s season is shaped by the curatorial framework Thresholds & Crossings - a timely meditation on the forces, flows, and tensions that define life at the edge of land and sea.

Projected onto a 110-metre-long, 13-metre-high structure made up of nearly 8,500 individually programmable LED lights, The Lightship transforms a functional part of the working port into a striking platform for public art.

Photo credit: The Lightship -  DJCS

A light in the dark: Public art for an uncertain world

In a time marked by cost-of-living pressures and mental health concerns, The Lightship offers an accessible cultural moment for the public.

It reconnects communities through creativity, delivering a powerful visual experience in the public realm at a time when art, optimism, and shared inspiration are most needed.

Photo credit: The Lightship - Clinton Watkins

What: The Lightship launches 1 September 2025 with a new work by Esther Stewart, on display until 26 October 2025.

Location: The Lightship is located on Quay Street at Port of Auckland, wrapping around the Bledisloe Wharf car-handling facility

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CONFIRMED ARTISTS AND INSTALLATIONS | THE LIGHTSHIP 2025 - 2026  

Installation 1 | 1 September – 26 October 2025 | Esther Stewart (Melbourne, Australia)

Known for her crisp geometric forms and architectural collaborations, Esther Stewart explores space and perspective through abstract painting and design. She has collaborated with architects on site-specific projects and worked with Valentino to translate her signature patterns into fashion.

Installation 2 | 3 November – 28 December 2025 | Jess Johnson (Roswell, USA/Auckland, New Zealand) & Simon Ward (Tauranga, New Zealand)

Internationally acclaimed for immersive installations combining drawing, animation, and VR, this duo builds intricate cosmologies and transforms them into multisensory environments. Their 2018 VR work Terminus was commissioned by the National Gallery of Australia and exhibited across Australasia.

Installation 3 | 5 January – 20 February 2026 | John Ward Knox (Karitane, New Zealand)

John Ward Knox’s practice shifts fluidly between painting, sculpture, installation, and site-specific work. Conceptually driven and materially varied, his projects explore fragility, perception, and the passage of time, often using unconventional processes or structures to reframe the viewer’s encounter with an object or space.

Installation 4 | 2 March – 24 April 2026 | Jack B. Hadley (Auckland, New Zealand)

Hadley blends sculpture, design, and engineering to create playful, anthropomorphic works that challenge the boundary between utility and art. Drawing on influences from architecture, toys, and commercial display, his pieces combine industrial materials with a refined sense of form and character.

Installations 5 & 6 | To be announced in 2026

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As a port based in the heart of the city, The Lightship looks to  contribute to Auckland’s cultural life, offering a contemporary art platform that reflects Port of Auckland’s ongoing commitment to giving back to the place it’s proud to call home - delivering a striking visual experience for Aucklanders and visitors alike, while shining a light on creative talent from both sides of the Tasman.

The full programme for The Lightship will run from September 2025 to August 2026, with the first commissioned artists confirmed as Esther Stewart, Jess Johnson & Simon Ward, John Ward Knox, and Jack B. Hadley. The final two artists will be announced in the new year.

Launched in 2020, The Lightship is a car-handling facility by day, and a large-scale digital canvas by night. Visible daily from dusk until dawn, each artist’s work will reach commuters, ferry passengers, visitors, and waterfront pedestrians - offering a powerful intersection of infrastructure and art.

The infrastructure was purpose-built with this vision in mind. It provides both emerging and established artists with a rare opportunity to create large-scale, site-specific works that engage with Auckland’s urban landscape and the harbour it overlooks. 

To find out more about The Lightship, or upcoming artist installations, visit www.thelightship.co.nz.