7 November 2008

More public art at the ACT Public Health intersection

| stereo henry
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[First filed: November 07, 2008 @ 10:16]

What are your thoughts/feelings about the latest installation of public art at the ACT Public Health (west row/alinga st) intersection?

It appears to be a series of 44-gallon drums in different colours… makes me think of shipping containers for some reason…

This place now seems to be ground-zero for average installations (it’s opposite the ‘fragile’ sculpture).

[ED – Well done to the authorities on blocking the view of the taxi rank, who needs to see if there’s a cab before you get there?]

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I’m always surprised too that people who like local contemporary music as well as classical don’t see any value in local contemporary art.

I think art is just less common and people can’t cope with it.

Or maybe different people post here with different perspectives and ideas?

glasscentralcanberra8:18 am 25 Nov 08

I’ve been away and so only just caught up with this post. And as usual it’s an entertaining read – but you guys really are cultural bogans, aren’t you. Not that this is a problem per se, if anything it’s one of the reasons why I read the blog – it always makes me laugh a lot. But I’m surprised, given that you’re so into the scene at The Front, that you’re not on board with Domain. It’s the same demographic, really. No need for anyone to get their nickers in a knot – Domain is a temporary art project, and it’s a ripper event. And soooo much better than some of the permanent public art Stanhope foists on us…

Burness, Heather: to assist with costs of designing and printing a colour catalogue, in 2009 $3,803

I don’t think ‘projects’ that will have little or no public benefit (private art) should receive tax-payer funding. People can use their own money to fund their own private projects; if they aren’t commercially viable without public funding they should not go ahead with them.

Wow. I wonder what kind of accountability there is for the spending of that funding.

PreciousLilywhite said :

http://www.arts.act.gov.au/pages/images/2009%20ACT%20Arts%20Fund%20announcement.pdf

Ellis, Matty: to assist with costs of the recording and mixing of a 14 track album of
original folk-roots music, in 2009. $7,700
Friendly Yen: to assist with costs of recording a studio album, in 2009. $10,000

So, drinks are on them, then?

Someone has got to be “havin’ a larf”

I work in the less fashionable and interesting western side of Civic, and it is nice to get this attention and have something to look at. I saw, from my office window, two workmen wrapping some bushes near the west Civic bus stop, across from the Health Building. Is that an installation too?

There is a joke system for hailing buses at the same bus stop. I saw a lady explaining this installation to some artlovers last week. I also heard last night that a young woman had been using it in all innocence, thinking it was seriously meant to help one hail a bus.

Julian

cloudless said :

There’s a reason it is “ground-zero” for sculpture; it is Domain 2008 – A temporary Public Art Project organised by the ANU School of Art… It happens at this time every year – it is surprising that the Riot ACT hasn’t been up with it…actually, perhaps not surprising.

Well you know, feel free to send in a story on it.

There’s a reason it is “ground-zero” for sculpture; it is Domain 2008 – A temporary Public Art Project organised by the ANU School of Art… It happens at this time every year – it is surprising that the Riot ACT hasn’t been up with it…actually, perhaps not surprising.

Holierthanthou1:45 pm 08 Nov 08

Colourful, commissioning some public art is cheaper way of tarting up brutalistic monostrosities that knocking down and rebuilding. Plus you don’t get rabid architects condemming the rest of the world as philistines for doing so.

I reckon it makes the place look better, not worse. It may not be the best art around, but it does improve the space (I’ve only seen pics though). I hope they organise some drummers to do some creative performances there during peak foot-traffic periods 🙂

I’d really like to see some money spent on graffiti artists to make the Belconnen area between the shopping centre (Westfield) and the bus interchange look a lot better. Some decent stuff covering those awful raised walkways and their supports would look unreal, and completely transform the place. It wouldn’t even cost that much.

Same thing for those concrete jungles in and around civic.

canberra towie10:42 am 08 Nov 08

Pandy said :

I personally like it!!!!!!
It hides the heroin addicts from street view.

LMFAO In that case i can think of a lot of other place in civic where they can put 44 gallon drums LOL

I know I shouldn’t, because it doesn’t make sense, but I like it.

It makes me smile.

I think it looks cool

Jonathon Reynolds12:08 am 08 Nov 08

shanefos said :

However, the CAVE people that frequent RiotACT are always going to find fault with this sort of thing, regardless of the artists’ intentions.

Oh boy… the cave dwellers are going to have a field day with the pointy spikes (art installation) that will soon be gracing the linear park (between the BigW and Coles blocks) in the Gungahlin Town Centre.

I personally like it!!!!!!
It hides the heroin addicts from street view.

Though come to think of it they also commissioned it infront of one of the worst intersections in Canberra, it’s always fun to watch the 4 way traffic jams in the middle during the day as well as all the near misses. To think that they could have spent the money installing traffic lights there instead..

I was thinking it must be stanhopeless’ first decision made after the the Greens announced they would support him. No doubt there was some nasty liquid in them at some point, they must have dumped it in the lake somewhere.

The drums make me happy.

Man With The Plan6:05 pm 07 Nov 08

What a surprise. Stalinhope gets another term so he buys more public artwork.

Can be.

I have no gripe with grants for public art. I do have a gripe about the closed shop arrangements for deciding who gets the grants.

It would be nice to see at least one arts project a year to be a Peoples Art Project, selected by people who are not part of the “Arts Community”.

If Hamish and Andy can create to People’s Chip, can Canberra do less than create a People’s Art Work?

Pommy bastard4:55 pm 07 Nov 08

astrojax said :

real art inspires debate – seems this fits the bill, eh? 😉

Painting yourself bright green and standing naked in the middle of Garima place yelling “I am a teapot” would also inspire debate but is it art?

blah blah blah my tax dollars.

^ Poolroom.

real art inspires debate – seems this fits the bill, eh? 😉

PreciousLilywhite3:17 pm 07 Nov 08

Thanks for the inspiration Sepi.
Have found the artsACT link with a list of this years grants / art answell as info on how to get involved.

http://www.arts.act.gov.au/pages/images/2009%20ACT%20Arts%20Fund%20announcement.pdf

for all those interested.

blah blah blah my tax dollars.

shanefos: Apparently it’s determined by committee.

Pommy bastard said :

NoAddedMSG said :

Was anyone actually paid for it though? If it is part of an art school end of year display, then the artists probably weren’t paid for it and all this rage about your tax dollars is being wasted.

If it’s an end of term display, it gets; 2/10 must try harder, go look at some real art.

Pray tell, what is “real art”?

Pommy bastard2:21 pm 07 Nov 08

NoAddedMSG said :

Was anyone actually paid for it though? If it is part of an art school end of year display, then the artists probably weren’t paid for it and all this rage about your tax dollars is being wasted.

If it’s an end of term display, it gets; 2/10 must try harder, go look at some real art.

Taxpayer funding takes many forms, not just piles of cash being shovelled down willing artists’ throats.
Even if it wasnt a struggling art student, they now have thousands of people seeing their stuff everyday.

Maybe Steve Pratt did it, now that he has some time on his hands!

Was anyone actually paid for it though? If it is part of an art school end of year display, then the artists probably weren’t paid for it and all this rage about your tax dollars is being wasted.

I have no problem with public art, I have problems with hideous taxpayer-funded public art without accountability or oversight.

This one is an example of why I dislike the latter.

Methinks a change of career is warranted. If someone can get paid for that, I’ll find a 5-year old and set them to work with fingerpaints on some ACT Government walls. Or maybe a sculpture …

get organised and set up the retirement fund now, folks.

When I first glimpsed at it in the photos above, it made me think of ‘happy pills’. Fitting considering it’s proximity to ACT Health.

Then I found out they were drums, which kind of ruined it.

I’ll echo some above posters in saying that I’m a big fan of ‘graffiti’ art.

On private walls through voluntary agreement of course 😉

what’s in the drum’s, poptop? why, that’s the art, sir…

Dont get too excited. The sign on this one say’s its temporary.

Pommy bastard1:11 pm 07 Nov 08

sepi said :

Nothing to stop anyone being an artist if they want to. It’s not usually a well paid career though.

But arts grants are open to everyone to apply, so go for it if you can do better.

The more art around the place the better I think.

Any art about the place would be better, instead we get this ludicrous “public art”. The empty oil drums, the rock egg cups and the scrap yard(on the GDE), the broken clock on Yarra Glen, how much more of this waste is going to go on, and all on our tax dollar too.

The bridge there could certainly do with a lick of paint.

PreciousLilywhite12:40 pm 07 Nov 08

Actually, the more I look at those drums, the more potential I see in them to be the framework for a much greater and more meaningful art project.
I’d go right in there and ‘fix it’ but I have too much respect for public property and the artist involved.
Or perhaps the artist has deliberatly left them like this to tempt us all??

stereo henry said :

if the ACT government were serious about ‘beautifying’ the civic centre and attracting people to the area they should commission artists to paint civic laneways as opposed to putting on crap like ‘grooving in garema’

Yep. That’s pretty lame.

PreciousLilywhite12:20 pm 07 Nov 08

And that is money well spent, justbands.

stereo henry12:20 pm 07 Nov 08

if the ACT government were serious about ‘beautifying’ the civic centre and attracting people to the area they should commission artists to paint civic laneways as opposed to putting on crap like ‘grooving in garema’

Um, isn’t this stretch of road used for a public art display by students at the School of Art around this time each year? Remember the sign that read “ALINGA STREET – ELEGANT STAIR…” and the Tupperware that was put on streetsigns a couple of years back? I seem to remember the same comments being trotted out on riotAct each time over the last couple of years that this display has occurred (around November). If so, then it only lasts for a couple of weeks. So those of you who hate it need not worry. Those of you who fear that you won’t be able to find the taxis hiding behind the art (honestly?! wtf?) also should be happy that in two weeks the taxis will be in plain sight again.

And those of you who ask “how many hundreds of thousands of dollars did this cost” should get a grip.

We do pay for some of it…mostly the stuff that looks ok.

stereo henry12:13 pm 07 Nov 08

Yeah it is, but we don’t pay for it and, from what i’ve seen around the country and the world, it’s got to be better than what we’re seeing come out of the public coffers here

Street art isn’t public?

stereo henry12:10 pm 07 Nov 08

definitely more street art and less ‘public’ art

PreciousLilywhite12:09 pm 07 Nov 08

The kind of art I like involves spray cans and lotsa colour and I know a lot of people take offence to it.
I would particularly support seeing a lot more stencil art around town.
It’s not all about the money, either. Its about the expression. Im sure there are alot of artists in town who would just like the space to display.

A highlight of colour in a drab concrete jungle. I say more of it!

jakez said :

shanefos said :

“[ED – Well done to the authorities on blocking the view of the taxi rank, who needs to see if there’s a cab before you get there?]”

What’s the point of your question?

Personally, I think the public art displayed around the West Row/Moore St/Alinga St intersection is a good thing. Anything to brighten up what is normally a fairly dull and lifeless place.
However, the CAVE people that frequent RiotACT are always going to find fault with this sort of thing, regardless of the artists’ intentions.

So people who don’t like a particular piece of art that you like, or people who don’t like art being funded through the point of a gun, are automatically cave people?

You sir, are a bloody idiot.

+1 jakez. Nice reply, beat me to it. I actually like some of the other public art being installed around Canberra, inluding the crazed windmill on at the end of Adelaide Ave. and the native grass on the GDE. I do think though that this latest effort is an amaturish blight. Maybe it’s an attempt by the greens to get into the public art area by insisting on the use of recycled materials!

Colour is better than concrete.

What’s in the drums?

Nothing to stop anyone being an artist if they want to. It’s not usually a well paid career though.

But arts grants are open to everyone to apply, so go for it if you can do better.

The more art around the place the better I think.

neanderthalsis11:38 am 07 Nov 08

Lily white, Letting your juices flow in public could lead to a charge of public indecency or at least a few licentious and lascivious comments from passers by.

PreciousLilywhite11:31 am 07 Nov 08

I’m very jealous that my creative juices aren’t allowed to flow in public. There is nothing more I would like to do than drop a big juicy art turd in public, get paid for it and command attention and comment on it 🙂

shanefos said :

“[ED – Well done to the authorities on blocking the view of the taxi rank, who needs to see if there’s a cab before you get there?]”

What’s the point of your question?

Personally, I think the public art displayed around the West Row/Moore St/Alinga St intersection is a good thing. Anything to brighten up what is normally a fairly dull and lifeless place.
However, the CAVE people that frequent RiotACT are always going to find fault with this sort of thing, regardless of the artists’ intentions.

So people who don’t like a particular piece of art that you like, or people who don’t like art being funded through the point of a gun, are automatically cave people?

You sir, are a bloody idiot.

Pommy bastard11:22 am 07 Nov 08

It’s a pile of crap. Why the hell would any sane person call this art? Is “public art” a new term for “look what I can get paid for and get away with!”

I passed it yesterday, shame I didn’t have my drumsticks with me. How long before the first person gets busted for giving it a bit of the old Keith Moon on them?

Whoever authorised this should be out of a job forthwith.

Mrshmellowman11:17 am 07 Nov 08

I like it
it is nice to see that we can have some interesting art around the place even if it sometimes looks like a Uni Student prank
I am still not sure the milk crates on the pole wasn’t some drunks waiting too long for a cab!

neanderthalsis11:09 am 07 Nov 08

Come on, it’s not art. Someone just dumped some old 44 gallon drums so they didn’t have to pay a tip fee.

Should have just gone to a Drum Muster collection point.

“[ED – Well done to the authorities on blocking the view of the taxi rank, who needs to see if there’s a cab before you get there?]”

What’s the point of your question?

Personally, I think the public art displayed around the West Row/Moore St/Alinga St intersection is a good thing. Anything to brighten up what is normally a fairly dull and lifeless place.
However, the CAVE people that frequent RiotACT are always going to find fault with this sort of thing, regardless of the artists’ intentions.

PreciousLilywhite10:52 am 07 Nov 08

There are also other new pieces across the road from this. They include something called ‘Nobules’ (i think) that looks like bushes wrapped in net. Also some art stuck under the stairs that go up near the ‘fragile’ box. All pretty average IMHO.
Will try and get some pics up.

Oh, and…

This place now seems to be ground-zero for average installations (it’s opposite the ‘fragile’ sculpture).

Our fragile sculptures are now also known as new office buildings.

Looks like a prank I reckon. A pretty good one too.

stereo henry10:39 am 07 Nov 08

Why not? It worked for Snowtown…

neanderthalsis10:38 am 07 Nov 08

Perhaps we are looking at innovative solutions to declining care standards and staff & bed shortages: bodies in barrels.

*I saw that on Sunday… sorry folks

I saw rhat on Sundat on a rare sojourn into that part of town. This installation looks cheap and nasty. How painting 44 gallon drums and piling them between columns of a brutalist style building is consider art is beyond me. My kids bring home better artwork from Pre-school and kindy.

How many hundreds of thousands of dollars did that cost?

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