The true cost of Skywhale and do you want to pay it? [With poll]

Deref said :

poetix said :

Cetaceous floater
chewing soft cud of sky krill
blubbered cumulus

😀 Post of the month.

Yep – JB we need a “hipster flanny Mully” on alternate wins as opposed to “deadbeat flanny Mully”. Not based on post numbers, but on quality!

What a freaking waste of money. If this had been unveiled before the election, it would have tempted me to vote for the liberals. This is NOT what I want my taxpayer money going towards. In addition, it makes me sick to listen to the tone-deaf justifications from the Centenary staff. There is no humility, no shame, no ability to listen and say, “Maybe we didn’t get this quite right.” This just compounds their complete refusal to admit that the Centenary celebration on the lake bombed. In what way does this whale represent the centenary? How can you justify $300k when Canberra doesn’t even own it? No wonder most people in Australia hate Canberra – it’s not just the asinine choice to waste $300k on this idiotic balloon that we don’t even own, but the complete refusal to think anything other than they did a really great job on – despite the massive feedback against it. Like I said, it’s enough to make you vote liberal next time around.

I had a dream last night.

Kate Carnell “allegedly” gets on the wine, takes Skywhale for a spin, loses control of it, crashes it into Telstra Tower and then “allegedly” flees the accident scene in a taxi.

The ‘artist’ behind this is obviously taking the piss out of Canberra and has simply inflicted more of the same drivel that she’s been designing for the past 20 years on us – at at our expense – while probably laughing all the way to the bank. And what’s with the old ‘we pay for it, yet the artist owns it’ rubbish being acceptable at all?

Yes, I know $300+ thousand isn’t a lot of money in the overall scheme of things, but added to the rest of the wastage this government has been inflicting on Canberra over the past however many years, it all adds up over time – and is money that could have been used to fund something worthwhile that makes this city better for ALL Canberrans.

Another bite of this oversized cherry to say:

1. Hats off to the clever people at CanMeme – it would be interesting to see the ones they chose not to share with the rest of us….

2. As publicly funded gestures go, this is a classic in the finest ACT traditions – just the right combination of WTF?! with the expenditure of an amount of public funds which is sufficient to be provocative, but without quite providing immediate and incontestable grounds for the tarring and feathering and/or hounding from public office of those responsible.

3. Whale? – it’s a turtle in cuttlefish drag.

And I understand the comments about it being a mere 82 cents per Canberran. But in my household, if we put our funds together we get $4.10. We could buy a coffee for a mentally anguished young person with that. It would matter, it would be a fine thing to do. But when you pool all those 82 cents across all of Canberra you get a sum that has the potential to be meaningfully beneficial in the long term. So decisions about what is done with that kind of money collected from the community have a real ethical context.

From an article in the CT:

Piccinini also defended the balloon’s relation to the capital, stating that while it was ”not actually a work to celebrate Canberra”, the piece and the city were both artificial creations depicting something natural.
——
So, we paid for it, we got no employment benefit as it was constructed in the UK, we don’t own it, we don’t get any say in where it is exhibited, and its not a celebration of canberra at all. Right, I’ve got it. It’s all clear to me now. Hurrah Moby Tits.

*stabs self with a spork*

Anyone got a spud gun???!

Does no one else see the potential for a Guinness world record “Motor Boat”??

Land Rights for Inflatable Gay Whales!

And we’ve always known that Jeremy has an issue with whales, and I once saw him look at his watch during the Monstro scene in Pinocchio, and besides this works out to be only one cappuccino per Canberran per Olympiad, so what’s your problem Jeremy – hmmmm?

Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow……

BelcoMan said :

CanberraMelon said :

vaguely said :

CanberraMelon said :

I love that the Skywhale is generating so much interest….the more people talk about it, the better the legend of the Skywhale becomes!

Discussion doesn’t make it any less s***.

It’s a piece of art…challenge yourself and take a step outside your comfort zone

Then you, and the other 2 people who like it, pay for it!

The continuing ability of the pollies to not understand the difference between people laughing at us rather than with us, still astounds me.

We are. They diverted our taxes from roads and sensible things to this. And we’re happy about it.

They diverted your taxes from arts to filling in potholes and cleaning barbeques. Happy now that everything is nicely aligned with what you agree with?

Where can I buy a Skywhale t-shirt? And maybe a hat as well.

Perhaps a large white elephant with massive hooters would have been more fitting.

At least it’s better value for money than we get from our roads contractors around here. I’m not upset about my 82cents worth.

vaguely said :

How is the current evolutionary state whales going back into the sea? I guess that is the relevance, all those Minke whales getting beached on the shores of LBG.

Life evolved in the ocean. Mammals evolved on the land. Whales are mammals (that’s what the big boobs are all about), and they live in the ocean.

It’s a bit rich for the owner / operator with 338,000 reasons in his back pocket to be marshalling supporters for the CT poll on his FaceBook page(www.facebook.com/GlobalBallooning) !

I felt that unease when I first saw it, but the more I see of Skywhale, the more I like it. Have a look at the artist’s other work. Not always aesthetically pleasing, but wonderfully challenging. The fact that Government normally makes so many boring ‘safe’ decisions, that this art can make it through the red tape and make it out the other side with boobs still attached says something.

$300,000 for ONE flight? And we don’t own it for a collection, or future outings? I actually LOVE the sculpture, but this is outrageous! Where does the cost come from, given that the sculpture will in fact be good for 100 flights? That’s $30 million for the lucky company down south, folks! (VERY interested to know how the tender process was managed ……….. )

Apparently it was made from all the plastic bags that Canberrans were too naughty to use.

So dereliqued right now.

CanberraMelon said :

vaguely said :

CanberraMelon said :

I love that the Skywhale is generating so much interest….the more people talk about it, the better the legend of the Skywhale becomes!

Discussion doesn’t make it any less s***.

It’s a piece of art…challenge yourself and take a step outside your comfort zone

Then you, and the other 2 people who like it, pay for it!

The continuing ability of the pollies to not understand the difference between people laughing at us rather than with us, still astounds me.

poetix said :

Cetaceous floater
chewing soft cud of sky krill
blubbered cumulus

No no, that’s Kim Kardashian in her sofa cover.

Ben_Dover said :

Anyone seen “The DarK Crystal”?

Do I detect a certain similarity to this “original” work of “art”?

Needs more tits.

Anyone seen “The DarK Crystal”?

Do I detect a certain similarity to this “original” work of “art”?

Philanthropic funding of $50,000 – provided by the Aranday Foundation

phi·lan·thro·py

1. altruistic concern for human welfare and advancement, usually manifested by donations of money, property, or work to needy persons, by endowment of institutions of learning and hospitals, and by generosity to other socially useful purposes.

FAIL!!!

“It’s a piece of art…challenge yourself and take a step outside your comfort zone”

So not only do we have this alleged art insulting our intelligence and taste, but it’s bringing the usual barrage of meaningless arty-farty cliché’ out of the closet to.

I want my dollar back.

FXST01 said :

Agh, there she blows.

Blows alright!

That should be sucks!

The artist was on radio this morning, she actually kinda made sense and is pleased with the “discussion” around it and justified its existence quite articulately….

but mind you, I hadn’t had my morning coffee….

but of course all of this discussion and outrage is gonna make everyone go and look at it, which is what they want.

CanberraMelon said :

It’s a piece of art…challenge yourself and take a step outside your comfort zone

Also, if challenging myself means listening to this drivel, I’d rather not:
“My question is what if evolution went a different way and instead of going back into the sea, from which they came originally…”

How is the current evolutionary state whales going [i]back[/i] into the sea? I guess that is the relevance, all those Minke whales getting beached on the shores of LBG.

shauno said :

An orange whale with huge tits what on earth has that got to do with Canberra or any where else for that matter.

If that is not the most accurately observed analogy for Canberra that I’ve ever seen I don’t know what is.

It works on every possible level.

Agh, there she blows.

Blows alright!

CanberraMelon said :

vaguely said :

CanberraMelon said :

I love that the Skywhale is generating so much interest….the more people talk about it, the better the legend of the Skywhale becomes!

Discussion doesn’t make it any less s***.

It’s a piece of art…challenge yourself and take a step outside your comfort zone

Bollocks.

CanberraMelon said :

It’s a piece of art…challenge yourself and take a step outside your comfort zone

It’s not just some random piece of art, it’s meant to be a celebration of 100 years of Canberra.

It look’s like a failed attempt at making a Gang Gang Cockatoo (something that is relevant), they looked at it and though ‘Needs more tits’.

I’m not upset about the amount spent on it, I’m upset that the celebration of 100 years of Canberra has little to do with Canberra.

c_c™ said :

In case you didn’t see the CT article, not, the government doesn’t. Artist owns all rights.

I’ve come around to the whale. My first reaction was a big WTF, but it’s definitely grown on me.

However, this is where I have issues. If it is taxpayer funded public art it should belong to the public. The fact that the artist owns it, yet we will be the ones funding its flights outside of Canberra seems to me a fairly odd arrangement.

johnboy said :

Tim Blair is not a fan:

I’m liking it more and more.

RA, I would be interested to see the stats on comments in the last 24 hours in all discussion threads containing skywhale. Also maybe a comparison compared to other stories in history of just how much chat this has generated.

poetix said :

Cetaceous floater
chewing soft cud of sky krill
blubbered cumulus

Great Haiku.

I love skywhale now. People will talk about this for years, its funny how serious Canberrans are taking this. I will always remember the day Skywhale made the City focus on one thing. It makes me feel like we aren’t in a town facing job cuts and the shite economy that will follow after September. It makes you forget the shit things going on in your life, whatever that is. If even only for a few seconds. Thanks for giving me something else to think about Skywhale.

caf said :

I love the Skywhale, it’s like they decided to well and truly troll all those buttoned-down types who think that the only worthwhile art is staid paintings of worthy old rich men.

+1

There appear to be stacks of people in Canberra who want to model ‘art’ on commercial tv. To those people I the almighty Skywhale says: In your face!

Barcham said :

shauno said :

An orange whale with huge tits what on earth has that got to do with Canberra or any where else for that matter.

Would you have preferred a giant letter C? A big Julia Gillard? An enormous Chicken Gormet?

What would you have made your giant balloon sculpture look like?

If only it didn’t have multiple, hundred foot tits, I wouldnt have really cared. It’s ridiculous in the extreme.
Even something completely boring like a flying parliament house would be preferable. (and that’s saying something).

skywhale rocks almost as much as poetix’s tribute verse… 🙂

Skyfail.

That thing that washed up on the beach in NZ is more attractive.

bikhet said :

We paid for this at all? FFS, the ACT Government could surely do something better with our money!

Like finish the footpath on the corner of Cooyong & Lonsdale St in Braddon!

We paid for this at all? FFS, the ACT Government could surely do something better with our money!

I think Piccinini has successfully taken the piss out of Canberra.

As so many other artists commissioned to do public art have done in the past.

johnboy said :

Tim Blair is not a fan:

http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/this_is_canberra/

The crimes Pope wasn’t long in using it.

poetix said :

Cetaceous floater
chewing soft cud of sky krill
blubbered cumulus

😀 Post of the month.

Spitfire3 said :

When people think of canberra, they think of politicians. “As useless as… “

…tits on a whale?

Just out of curiosity – does anyone know how much the New Year’s Eve fireworks shows cost? (Google wasn’t my friend).

Sydney’s is $6.5m but I get that this isn’t necessarily a helpful figure. Even if Canberra’s is only 5% the cost of Sydney’s, shall we compare 30 mins of ooohs and ahhhs with an image that will stay in the mind for years.

And yes, I would totally buy the tshirt.

This abomination masquerading as art should be ne-named “The Whywhale?”.
The only location suitable for it is the Mount Rushmore Arboretum.

poptop said :

I only hope the ACT Government has copyright or trademark or whatever on the SkyWhale\’s image. It will pay for itself in Tshirt and bumper sticker sales in a week. I\’d buy one for every member of my large extended family.

In case you didn’t see the CT article, not, the government doesn’t. Artist owns all rights.

Or a 50 foot high sculpture of Jim Morrison, astride the Federal highway near Dickson.

John Stanhope, dressed as Jim Morrison, and you have yourself a deal.

Worth. Every. Cent. !!!

I love the Skywhale, it’s like they decided to well and truly troll all those buttoned-down types who think that the only worthwhile art is staid paintings of worthy old rich men.

The more I see it the more I like it.

I only hope the ACT Government has copyright or trademark or whatever on the SkyWhale\’s image. It will pay for itself in Tshirt and bumper sticker sales in a week. I\’d buy one for every member of my large extended family.

Also can RiotACT please employ Poetix to write Haiku on every substantive issue? Love her work.

I’d have to say that, if the rest of Australia didn’t already think of us as a bloated bureaucratic town sucking on the public teat whilst delivering nothing but the bizarre and incomprehensible, now they have absolutely no doubt.

Having said that, the multi breasted boob parrot has made for some hilarious memes and images.

+1. What a f***ing disgrace.

Fyshwick will hire it for sure over the summernatts.

$300,000 = $0.82 per Canberran SSSSSSSHIIT

Guys did you hear they actually TORE DOWN THE HOSPITAL to pay for this?

We NO LONGER HAVE A MEDICAL PROFESSION the Centenary have KILLED everyone over 50

The roads have been REMOVED ENTIRELY we now have to WALK also we must be BAREFOOT in honour of the Skywhale

MAINTAIN THE OUTRAGE

shauno said :

An orange whale with huge tits what on earth has that got to do with Canberra

When people think of canberra, they think of politicians. “As useless as… “

shauno said :

An orange whale with huge tits what on earth has that got to do with Canberra or any where else for that matter.

Would you have preferred a giant letter C? A big Julia Gillard? An enormous Chicken Gormet?

What would you have made your giant balloon sculpture look like?

This is probably the best thing that’s ever happened in Canberra. I think I’ll call my first born Skywhale.

An orange whale with huge tits what on earth has that got to do with Canberra or any where else for that matter.

Lets be honest here its absolutely rubbish and completely stupid to have this representing Canberra. Its got to be a sick joke surely.

Cetaceous floater
chewing soft cud of sky krill
blubbered cumulus

The Canmemes alone justify my $1.

We might have to nickname Jeremy “Ahab” after this.

I’m beginning to like it purely because of how angry it’s making people.

Yawn. How many majestic flying whales do we get for the true cash forked out on Jeremy Hanson?

Jon .. come back ! all is forgiven. Build as many monuements as you like !

The SkyWhale is awesome.

It’s starting to gather its own mythology on Twitter.

#SkyWhaleMyths

vaguely said :

CanberraMelon said :

I love that the Skywhale is generating so much interest….the more people talk about it, the better the legend of the Skywhale becomes!

Discussion doesn’t make it any less s***.

It’s a piece of art…challenge yourself and take a step outside your comfort zone

CanberraMelon said :

I love that the Skywhale is generating so much interest….the more people talk about it, the better the legend of the Skywhale becomes!

Discussion doesn’t make it any less s***.

I love that the Skywhale is generating so much interest….the more people talk about it, the better the legend of the Skywhale becomes!