New Zealand waves goodbye to divisive giant hand sculpture

Did you know that for the past five years, there’s been a towering figure looming over the capital city of Wellington in New Zealand?

He’s a silent guardian. A watchful protector. A dark kni – no, wait, that’s Batman.

He’s a hand sculpture.

His name is Quasi. He has the cold dead eyes of a killer. He was created by Melbourne-based New Zealand artist Ronnie van Hout, who used steel, polystyrene and resin to craft this bodyhorror gem / monstrosity based on his hand and face.

And in case you were wondering, the name is a reference to Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” – hence the male gender people have given him.

Perched on two fingers on the roof of the City Gallery, his looming days are soon to be over, as Quasi will be removed by the end of this week and taken to a new home.

“This is either a great day for Wellington or a terrible day for Wellington and there’s not much view in between,” said Ben McNulty, a Wellington city council member.

“I’ll personally be pleased to see it head somewhere else for a change,” the city’s mayor, Tory Whanau, told AP. “I think there’s a strong feeling of relief.”

Quasi was first introduced to the world in an art gallery in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2016. It proved polarizing, but was still installed in Wellington three years later.

“He arrived and I won’t say the city unanimously hated him but I reckon 80% were like, ‘What is this monster? What have we done?’” McNulty said. “But I think that over time there’s been a bit of a softening, there’s sort of a pro-Quasi group, which I consider myself part of.” 

Quasi is to be lifted from the roof by helicopter on Saturday, when the giant hand will travel to an undisclosed location in Australia, the gallery said.

“Everything comes to an end eventually,” van Hout told AP. “I am sure it will be missed, but even Lovecraftian nightmares have to return to where they came from, and now you only have an absence to reflect on.”

The news has sparked debate online, with many responding with glee, dismay and even some saying that the Quasi curse is soon to be lifted.

“He’s going to The Hague,” wrote one New Zealander on X.

A new member of the UN’s International Court of Justice? Stranger things have happened.

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To swing back to our Dark Knight blunder, which doesn’t seem so silly now – Maybe Quasi was the hero Wellington deserved, but not the one it needed right now. So they hunted him. Because he could take it. Because he’s not their hero.

He’s a silent guardian. A watchful protector. A really big face-hand.

Additional sources • AP