Wind Wand
Len Lye · Coastal Walkway, New Plymouth
Photo: russellstreet / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0), taken 5 February 2012 according to Exif data, as published on Street Art Utopia.
Wind Wand is a 45-metre kinetic sculpture conceived by Len Lye on New Plymouth’s Coastal Walkway. The district council commissioned it for the new millennium and the Len Lye Foundation built it; its red light was first lit at midnight on 31 December 1999. Source Source Source Checked
Seen Aug 2023 — the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery announced a performance beneath the Wind Wand on the Coastal Walkway for 27 August 2023. The newest dated photograph we found is from 5 February 2012. Source Source Reported
💡 4 things to know
- Built to bendA council strategy reproduced in 2025 says the Wind Wand can bend approximately 20 metres in any direction. Source Reported
- Brought down by a stormRoger Horrocks wrote that it was returned to its place on the shoreline in late June (2001, from the article’s context), about 16 months after it had succumbed to a storm. Source Reported
- X-rayed and relitA Len Lye Foundation report in a February 2022 council agenda says the wand was repaired, repainted and X-rayed, and re-installed on 16 June; lightning had struck its top, and a new lamp was built. Source Reported
- 1,296 red lightsThe council strategy says the wand is made mainly of fibreglass and carbon fibre, with 1,296 LEDs in the red sphere on top. Source Reported
📍 Where it is
Coastal Walkway on the central New Plymouth waterfront, Taranaki, New Zealand. Source Source Source Checked
🗓️ Sightings
- 199931 Dec
Red light first lit at midnight (council)
- 2001Jun
Back on the shoreline after storm damage (year from context)
- 20125 Feb
russellstreet photographs it at dusk
- 201310 Sep
Governor-General’s speech mentions the wand
- 202116 Jun
Re-installed after repair (Foundation report)
- 202327 Aug
Performance announced beneath the wand
Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark records or reports; red stamps mark loss. Publication dates are not camera dates.
🗞️ In the sources
“In New Plymouth the 45-metre Wind Wand was returned to its original location on the shoreline in late June”
“the iconic Len Lye wind wand, installed in late 1999 to mark the new millennium”
“The top of the wand had been struck by lightning some time ago but remarkably, the light (or parts of it) continued to glow.”
✅ The facts
🔗 Related
- Sculptures Worth the Trip to the Coast (8 Photos) — Street Art Utopia
- Govett-Brewster Art Gallery / Len Lye Centre
- All Artwork Files
All sources & image credits
- npdc.govt.nz: Finance, Audit and Risk Committee agenda, 5 August 2025 (PDF, Wind Wand in the procurement strategy)
- npdc.govt.nz: Len Lye Committee agenda, 8 February 2022 (PDF, Foundation report)
- art-newzealand.com: 101 Lye, by Roger Horrocks
- gg.govt.nz: Len Lye Centre foundation plaque speech (10 September 2013)
- govettbrewster.com: Len Lye Storm (2023)
- Wikimedia Commons: Wind Wand, New Plymouth by russellstreet (CC BY-SA 2.0)
- OpenStreetMap: The Wind Wand (map position)
- Image: russellstreet / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0), as published on Street Art Utopia; a 16:9 share version was made from it.
Last checked: 31 October 2026. How we verify art