Sculpture background

Weta Workshop were commissioned to create Tripod (2005) to celebrate Wellington's film and television industry. It is located in close proximity of the Embassy theatre, which hosted the world premiere of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

This towering, threatening monster looms over Courtney Place, waiting to run amok. Richard Taylor of Weta Workshop described "We wanted to pay tribute to the New Zealand screen industry's number 8 wire attitude and ability to create with whatever is at hand,". 

Looking closely, one can see that Tripod appears to be built of a collection of hydraulic pistons and recycled mechanical parts including old camera reels, Nintendo Gameboys, Nintendo 64 controllers, toasted sandwich maker, radio and railway sleepers, with the camera made from an engine block and a hairdryer for the view finder.