What better advertisement for a university for innovation in Peru than a billboard that demonstrates that innovation. The billboard collects humidity and has become a bit of a useful attraction for locals by providing filtered drinking water. I wish more advertisements were this useful, or at least this meaningful.

For more about UTEC's billboard, see the article by BBC.

Auckland is going through an important phase of its planning development over the next few months with the consultation period for the Unitary Plan opening up to the public. Mayor Len Brown's Twitter account reports that the submission period has gotten off to a great start which is unsurprising with the long lead up and building tension in opinions.

If you're an Aucklander, particularly if you are a building practitioner or one with a vested interest and expertise in the Unitary Plan issues, make sure you make a submission as it is the first step to reforming a plan for wider Auckland (under the new 'Supercity' where several councils are now a single council).

Click the image to visit the site ~

A cool little site that is going in parallel to all this is the Alternative Transport Funding project that advises Auckland Council on long term transport issues. Aptly named Keep Auckland Moving, the site is partly a moving infographic with a neat first person birds-eye view of a car going down a road. The 'drive' takes you on many common Auckland driving scenarios, culminating in a forsaken traffic jam where you are invited to take part in a survey.

Along the way, bits of the drivers' thoughts (which many of us will be able to relate to) and some information bites pop up too. It's a much more interactive form of connecting with the survey audience - definitely better than reams of policy text. Have fun and make a submission - transport is one of the largest issues in this city.

Last night I went to 1000 Lovers, a contemporary dance performance by MAP (Movement Architecture Productions) that uses the public space of the waterfront. Amazing, and they also ran the performance twice during White Night (an Art in the Dark event).

Performing at the Gantry at Silo Park.

Using the Viaducts Event Centre as a 3D stage.

The barrier at Karanga Square becomes a platform displaying the 'widow' and 'bride'.

With the advent of 'internet piracy', the music industry is changing and there are some who are embracing new ways to make a living with making music (as well as those who resist of course). A great example is Amanda Palmer, whose style is a mix between punk and cabaret. Personally not my flavour of music but wow, the way she goes about sharing her music is powerful stuff.

Her main game is trust: trusting fans, couch surfing & crowd surfing (which she talks a bit about in her TED talk - showed above, well worth viewing) and allowing those fleeting moments of interaction with people to form that trust. An extremist devotee of trust (compared to most of us anyway), it has served her well. She keeps coming back to one of her jobs standing on the street as an 8-foot bride, kind of like busking for money. Short moments of bonding, the experience of being acknowledged (good and bad), and an apparently steady income taught her this new path of music making.

If she comes to Auckland for a free gig or something, would love to see her work her magic. She also has a very well populated Twitter account which has helped with real time crowd/fan engagement.

Here's a bit of pre-Banksy feminist guerilla art, going against the general wave of the times.

More correctly an aquatic caddis fly larvae, artist Hubert Dupprat sets up these insects to build their cocoon with materials of his choosing. The larva, in the absence of gravel, sand and twigs that is their norm, start decorating their silk cocoons with rather more precious materials: gold, semi-precious metals, pearls, gems...