Future Moto Retro: Imaginary Auckland

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There’s a strange nostalgia that happens when we view the future through a wonky, circus mirror of the past. This is where romanticism and nostalgia explode into a glitter bomb of exciting possibility. Welcome to Auckland in the year 2000, as imagined in 1956 by iconic New Zealand ad designer Bernard Roundhill.

Bernard Roundhill. ‘Rangitoto Spaceport II – Auckland 2050 – “The Ambassadors”‘, 1960. Airbrushed ink and gouache with added brushwork on card.
Bernard Roundhill. ‘Rangitoto Spaceport II – Auckland 2050 – “The Ambassadors”‘, 1960. Airbrushed ink and gouache with added brushwork on card.

Roundhill loved the possibilities of trains, planes and automobiles in 1956. Both then and now Auckland desperately needs these mod-cons. Flying cars aside, we seem to have a plethora of intersecting metal shuttles that shimmer across the CBD and fly over the motorway like well oiled serpents, impatient to fulfill their destinies.

Bernard Roundhill. ‘Auckland 2000′, 1956. Airbrushed ink and gouache with added brushwork on card. Purchased 2000. Te Papa.
Bernard Roundhill. ‘Auckland 2000′, 1956. Airbrushed ink and gouache with added brushwork on card. Purchased 2000. Te Papa.

If glowing neon hopefulness and retro-futurism had a soundtrack, it would be this…

Happy Futuristic Past Hunting…

Te Papa: Nostalgia for the Future

Long White Kid: The Flawless Reign of Bernard Roundhill

About Neon Art and Loneliness

 

 

 

Published by Content Catnip

Digital dawdler, foodie, bookworm, culture vulture, rainbow lorikeet perennially in love with the arts, history and science. Constantly seeking inspiring people, knowledge and places.

4 thoughts on “Future Moto Retro: Imaginary Auckland”

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