Art, but not as we know it.

“And meanwhile Tharwa still can’t get a fking bridge.”

Tharwa can get its bridge, VNBerlinaV8 , it’s just in kit-form beside the Barton Highway. Some of the beams are a little bent, but anyone with experience with mechano should be able to put it together.

I agree with the V2 comment – a perfect use of otherwise scrap metal, at very little cost to the consumer, whereas this thing is making somebody with an arc welder and the gall to call this art very rich.

In preference, I think an appropriate investment in native grass seed ($30?) would have given me the idea that there was native grass there better than this.

Oh, and the fact that the sculpture has been painted grey (assuming it is not an undercoat) so that it blends in with the neighbouring power lines was also a masterstroke. Haha… oh dear!

I’m all for a bit of public art and the entrance ways into Melbourne are, by and large, very impressive.

The Canberra effort highlighted here, on the other hand, is a bitter disappointment in my opinion. Even more so if it is actually supposed to represent native grasses. Perhaps it would be too literal or too obvious, but to think the lovely effect possible from actually mirroring the gentle curves of grasses flowing in the wind was neglected for something more akin to a few strands of left over spaghetti is questionable to say the least.

Maybe it was a case of you get what you pay for.

They should have put that V-2 Rocket there instead. Thats something worth looking at.

$750,000 was for all the “art” along the GDE. Perhaps there are some more “beauties” to go.

I believe it’s a constructive attempt to stop you being distracted by the pretty pond and lovely big tree at the bottom of the turn off. Fears were people would be too distracted by the scenery and run off the edge off the cliff.

Or maybe it’s to stop impatient people pulling over into the right before they relised there was now oncoming traffic “oh crap, lucky that steel distracted me from overtaking or I would have run into someone”.

I just hope it was scrap metal cause it looks like it ..

It is crazy, that Tharwa’s bridge remains un-repaired and people die in hosptial waiting rooms, while money is squandered on stuff like this. Yes, we “need” public art etc, but there should be a list with the most important things at the top. Expensive metal girders stuck in the ground…. surely not.

Lets hope they pull it down when they put the light rail in..

And meanwhile Tharwa still can’t get a fking bridge.

Careful Thumper, Ingeeidiot will classify you as a monkey. Be afraid, be very afraid. P.S Ingee I have Full Hospital Cover. Have done for a period probably longer than you have been in your pathetic little existence.

It’s a ******* disgrace is what it is.

A room full of retarded monkeys could come up with something better that whatever the hell this **** pile is supposed to represent.

gnorant? Purile? That’s a bit rich comming from a guy who expects the government to bend over for every little whinging minority when the declaration of a marine park might inconvenience your jolly little fishing trip!

This is why i love riotact 😛

ignorant? Purile? That’s a bit rich comming from a guy who expects the government to bend over for every little whinging minority when the declaration of a marine park might inconvenience your jolly little fishing trip!

This sort of public art is great. Great at flushing retarded little monkeys out who actually believe they have a right on holding an opinion on what constitutes art!

Personally, I don’t like it, but I’d never be stupid enough to suggest that it wasn’t art or that it wasn’t value for money simply because I don’t like it … hospital bed on the other hand, well if you’re dumb enough to not make arrangements for looking after your own health and have to use a public hospital, well you get what you deserve – be grateful for your streatcher in the corridor and stop whinging.

And this was the same Govt which said it didn’t have enough money for schools….

Again, what a waste of money.

Its a $10 attempt at a talking point.

Citylink Melbourne has the Cheesestick, the Ribcage bridge, and the Bolte Bridge.
M7 has the Pyramid of dirt, and the Lighthorse Interchange

Canberra gets the September 11 ‘Steel Fallen From Sky’ attempt….

The other ‘artwork’ on GDE near Belco Way is supposed to represent Bogong Moths I believe. I can’t see it myself but hey that’s what art is supposed to be about – interpretation.

The ‘native grass’ one above is reportedly supposed to cost $250K. I can’t see the money in that either. I reckon, over estimating to the max, the steel would cost $10K, maybe $10K for concrete and site preparation and $30K for misc stuff (bending the steel, painting it, crane hire to install etc). Not sure where the other $200K is.

Presumably, nyssa76, a fair bit of native grass was dug up to install this mighty edifice. At least it thus achieves irony if no other artistic effect.

A typically ignorant and puerile comment Ingee, well done. You never dissappoint. Judging by your input you may be that whinging A-hole in need of brain surgery I’d suggest. Special G, you are right the “Artwork” is crap and a waste of public monies typical of crap Labor Governments.

As long as the cost of it is depriving some whinging a-hole of a hospital bed somewhere then more of it is say!

Apparently it’s meant to represent the native grasses of the area.

What a waste of money.

It was designed to be an accurate representation of what the glenloch interchange will look like once finished.

you can tell someone is going to drive straight into that thing.

It almost looks like a craahed helicopter

It’s for revenue raising.

Drivers travel along the GDE, gaze upon this strange art and end up crashing.

The end result is more police statistics = more funding, more work for local panel beaters and truck drivers.

It’s a win for the economy.

Its Richard Goodwins “Rhizome”, a tribute to the native grasses in the region (or of you listened to Brendan Syth’s critisism, Stanhope’s monument to his own hairstyle).

I’ve heard a quote of its cost being $750K, scary for this crap when I could have blown up one of the substations for the same result.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/15/2091950.htm

http://www.richard-goodwin.com/index.htm

http://canberratimes.com.au/articles/1101343.html?src=topstories

http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/73137/GDE_public_art.pdf

It is supposed to represent “indigenous grasses” whatever the **** that is. The GDE is so busy already that they need 2 more lanes. Why they didn’t build them already is beyond my understanding.

To which flamboyant political crook is that a tribute, I wonder.

Frankly I much prefer the elegant combination of form and function found in the power line tower – its harsh minimalist lines counterpointed by its allusion to giants striding across a landscape at once dwarved by its size and rendered mythic by its internal poetry. ACTEW-AGL should immediately apply for an Australia Council grant.

and what’s the story with the ‘artwork’ further south near Bruce that looks like 4 totem poles and some sleepers arranged in pretty patterns? Phenomenal waste of time/money/effort

The effective cost of the GDE artwork was $0, as they managed to cut costs by doing things like removing one lane in each direction. Afterall, who needs a dual carriage way arterial road when you can have artwork instead?!?