15 June 2010

But is it art?

| johnboy
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Shopping trolleys

Down where Sullivan’s Creek enters the ANU lurks the great shopping trolley collection.

Well they had to end up somewhere didn’t they?

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Mr Evil said :

What a truly wonderful artistic statement on the brutality of the modern world.

I love how the artist has managed to catch the humanity of the situation with the cunning use of the trees, thrusting ever skyward – onwards and upwards – as if trying to escape the doom and destruction of the crushed and broken shopping trolleys that surround them.

And yet, I sense that there is a political side to this work too: note the white pipe, which appears to be reaching out to the trolleys like a true hand of friendship from the Far-Right. But, the question we all must ask ourselves is, “Can it be trusted?”.

And note too, the solitary trolley to the left, singled out from the pack and left all alone to be trampled and crushed under the wheels of this harsh, heartless and cruel world.

yes, mssr evil, and note that the whole tableau is played out in shadows, suggesting a murky truth lurking unstated among the decay and refuse; perhaps questioning the very nature of life and its inherent unknowability, as if we were simply dark matter comprising the whole but not able to self-identify, so losing our identity to the capitalist marketing tools of the bourgeoise…

Each one costs a few hundred dollars, and when they’re not recovered that price gets funneled right back to the rest of us in the form of more expensive groceries. Shopping trolley thieves suck.

What a truly wonderful artistic statement on the brutality of the modern world.

I love how the artist has managed to catch the humanity of the situation with the cunning use of the trees, thrusting ever skyward – onwards and upwards – as if trying to escape the doom and destruction of the crushed and broken shopping trolleys that surround them.

And yet, I sense that there is a political side to this work too: note the white pipe, which appears to be reaching out to the trolleys like a true hand of friendship from the Far-Right. But, the question we all must ask ourselves is, “Can it be trusted?”.

And note too, the solitary trolley to the left, singled out from the pack and left all alone to be trampled and crushed under the wheels of this harsh, heartless and cruel world.

Pathetic.

I lived in Cambridge, UK for two years. When the dredge barge went past the Pike and Eel it’d have about four-times that quantity of mangled bike frames on it.

Must try harder!

CanberraCreative7:17 pm 15 Jun 10

I bet the ANUSA is stockpiling them so they can claim the rewards from the 1800 Trolly Collection number. Have to fund o-week somehow.

its a masterpiece….

Well let’s be fair here, we don’t know how much it cost to ‘construct’. It clearly is not public art though, because it is not ugly enough. Also it looks like a couple of usable castor wheels and a good bit of pipe there, so it’s not nearly useless enough either.

Clown Killer4:07 pm 15 Jun 10

All that crap has been dredged out of the gross-pollutant trap on Sullivans Creek. It costs the ACT Government about $100,000 a year to have the traps cleaned out three or four times a year. I would imagine that whoever’s contracted to clear the trap would also be responsible for carting the crap away.

thy_dungeonman4:02 pm 15 Jun 10

So they pulled them out of the creek so they could put them…. on the side of the creek?

No – it didn’t cost nearly enough to be public art.

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