Hastings apple-art installation vandalised at the weekend

Hastings' apple core art sculpture has been vandalised and left broken. Photo / Warren Buckland

Hastings’ ever-turning wooden apple core with a $25,000 price tag has been vandalised.

While the top half of the popular sculpture on the roundabout of Heretaunga St and Warren St continues to spin - the bottom half has been broken and sits on the ground.

Local artist to assess damage done to apple-core installation . Photo / Warren Buckland

A Hastings District Council spokesperson confirmed the vandalism, with “some of the wooden spiral damaged”.

The offenders were captured on CCTV, and the information was passed on to the police, the spokesperson said.

The art work is being assessed by local artist and the apple’s creator Fish Aberadi for repair.

In September last year the council bought the apple core art piece from Aberadi for $25,000 and placed the sculpture in a few different spots in the CBD.

Council earlier said it was a perfect fit for the district given the importance the fruit has in the Hawke’s Bay economy.

The dynamic work was built out of 1930s recycled matai from the Willams & Kettle building in Ahuriri.

Maddisyn Jeffares became the editor of the Hawke’s Bay community papers Hastings Leader and Napier Courier in 2023 after writing at the Hastings Leader for almost a year. She has been a reporter with NZME for almost three years and has a strong focus on what’s going on in communities, good and bad, big and small. Email news tips to her at: maddisyn.jeffares@nzme.co.nz.