100 Busts
100 Homeless
Te Komititanga Square
"How Many Times Have You Walked Past Me?" is a public art installation featuring 100 busts of people experiencing homelessness, temporarily located in Te Komititanga Square in Auckland, New Zealand. Each bust is 3D-scanned, cast in plaster, and then decorated by the individual it represents. These busts are mounted on cruciform coin-drop bases integrated into the square's paving, inviting passersby to interact by leaving or taking coins, stopping, looking, and thinking. The fragile busts serve as both donation vessels and public monuments.
The installation is situated within the square's "whāriki" or woven welcome mat paving pattern, interrupting foot traffic and forcing engagement. Temporary raised tactile bumps surround each bust for accessibility. After the exhibition, a permanent metal plaque will be installed flush with the paving at each bust's location, featuring a coin slot motif and (with consent) five facts about the person commemorated, serving as embedded memory.
Each bust measures 650 mm in height and includes a top plate etched with "HMTHYWPM" in text and braille, as well as instructions for leaving, dropping, or taking coins. These are not sealed donation boxes but are open and accessible. If a bust is broken, it is scanned again, with the new scan added to its NFT record.
During the installation, "The Red Tent," a temporary structure, will serve as a studio for bust creation, a food and clothing hub for participants, and a symbolic node of care. The project has a timeline from June-August 2025 for bootstrap phase (5 busts completed), an overnight installation in October 2025, public exhibition from October-November 2025, removal and plaque installation in December 2025, and archive/DAO token rollout in 2026. It is designed as an open system where the public contributes coins, the homeless contribute presence and stories, the wealthy contribute funding and stewardship, and the artist contributes structure and risk, making every part visible.
The "How Many Times Have You Walked Past Me?" artwork incorporates NFTs as a core component, directly benefiting the participating homeless individuals. Each of the 100 busts will be linked to a unique NFT that documents its entire lifecycle, from the initial 3D scan to its eventual removal and the installation of a permanent plaque. These NFTs will be publicly displayed in Te Komititanga Square and accessible via QR codes on the busts and plaques. Crucially, the sale of each bust and its associated NFT for NZD 40,000 will see NZD 28,000 directly allocated to an NGO to house, feed, and support the represented homeless subject. Furthermore, a reserved voting token is held in trust for each homeless subject, offering them a voice in the project's future. The 500 voting tokens allow holders to vote on the global replication of the artwork, meaning cities wishing to perform a similar art installation can submit a proposal to be voted on by the token holders. This further emphasises collective responsibility and places more accountability on art owners, making them active participants rather than just owners. Resale royalties from both the bust NFTs (7%) and additional voting tokens (1%) will also benefit the NGO, ensuring ongoing financial support. This integrated system aims to create a transparent and sustained contribution to the lives of the participating homeless individuals.