Te Wheke-a-Muturangi: The Adversary at Waterman’s Cove
Image: Supplied/ Installation from Sydney Festival webpage
by OLGA AZAR
Now, who doesn’t admire an octopus?
Fans of the eight-tentacled cephalopods can greet a giant one at Sydney Festival’s opening celebration
January 5 with “Te Wheke-a-Muturangi: The Adversary,” artist Lisa Reihana’s floating fabric creation
inspired Māori myth.
The Te Aranganui choir will accompany its telling about a seafaring navigator named Kupe, who
encountered the creature and slayed it near Aotearoa (New Zealand), where, legend has it, he was the
first to discover.
Joining the free opening event (no registration required), Muruwari man Matt Doyle will give a Welcome
to Country.
The octopus installation will bob along in Waterman’s Cove near the Barangaroo ferry wharf until
January 28, when the festival concludes.
For a closer look, outdoorsy types can take a kayak tour (on offer from Sydney Harbour Kayaks on January 5
– 28, $89 and up), which leaves from the Maritime Museum and encompasses other harbour sights.
You never know; there may even be a tiny little octopus wandering about.
More information at sydneyfestival.org.au.
