Pupils amazed by alien art installation

Otago Daily Times

22-05-2025

Bringing talk of aliens to the Geraldine Primary School playground with his large art installation are artist Jonti Hubert (right) with his children (from left) Sequoia, 13, Rowan, 19, Willow, 21, and Juniper, 9. PHOTOS: SHELLEY INON
A "moon landing" at Geraldine Primary School has started whispers of aliens.
A large art installation — named simply "epod" — has had its grand opening.
The installation was the creation of Geraldine-based artist Jonti Hubert.
School principal Stu Wilcox said Mr Hubert had been coaching his son's hockey team.
When the two men had stopped to chat one day, Mr Hubert had told him about what he was creating.
The construction had taken over two years to build, but had been in the pipeline since 2019.
When he offered it to the school for an undefined amount of time, Mr Wilcox was thrilled to accept.
Mr Wilcox said the installation fed into the school's developing social emotional programme, Te Āiotanga (tranquillity, calm and peace), which helped pupils identify their emotions and build a "kete" of tools that they could use when needed.
"If a child is in a space of disregulation they can't learn."
After the art installation had arrived at Geraldine Primary School, the play ground had been abuzz with ideas of what could be hidden inside the newly installed ''epod'', with many pupils suspecting aliens.
While Mr Hubert said his creation could be whatever the children or public wanted it to be, Mr Wilcox thought it could provide pupils with an opportunity to reflect and consider how they were feeling.
Mr Hubert and his family — along with Mr Wilcox — had transported the "epod" along the streets on a purpose-built trolley one Sunday afternoon.
Mr Hubert had fixed it under some well-established trees, serendipitously the long ground screws did not hit a single root.
Mr Wilcox said when the children arrived the next day there had been "a lot of talk of aliens".
He said that was the thing he loved about children — instead of going to Google to make sense of it all, they simply made the answer up.
It was not a permanent installation and could disappear as suddenly as it arrived.
Mr Hubert said, "For me it is about practising moments of change ... as time flows from the known to the unknown and back to the known again.
"Nothing is permanent."
They hoped to open the "epod" to the wider community in future.