Mulcahy catches up with The Masters Voice

[First filed: May 05, 2007 @ 11:18]

It’s been nearly a year since we documented the decrepit condition of the City Walk sculpture “The Master’s Voice”.

Today Richard Mulcahy has joined the party.

“The interactive artwork has been speechless for the last few weeks.

“The City Public Art Walking Tour guide describes the artwork’s voices as ‘calling out directly to the passers-by: beckoning, controlling and coaxing’.

“I am ‘calling out directly’ to the Chief Minister to play doctor and ‘coax’ the artwork back to its former healthy ways.

“However, all jokes aside, this artwork is just one example of Mr Stanhope’s inattention to his responsibility for the arts.

It’s possible that this is part of a longer cycle of vandalism on the artwork. Can any civic-ites confirm the chronology here?

We should, however, note that if Mr. Mulcahy had his way there would be a road going over the top of the distressed sculpture.

UPDATED: If Jon Stanhope didn’t have a Richard Mulcahy surely he would need to invent one. The Chief Minister seems to have taken an indecent pleasure in pushing out a media release explaining the situation.

ArtsACT has commissioned strengthened grills to protect the work, and these have been installed. Unfortunately, the damaged movement sensor is of a type that no longer meets the Australian Standard, and a redesign of the whole electronic system has been required to accommodate an alternative type of sensor.

“ArtsACT has commissioned this redesign work in discussion with the artists, Sonia Leber and David Chesworth, and a local electronics firm. When the redesign is complete the new circuitry and components will be installed. Depending on the availability of the components, the artwork could be functioning again within eight weeks.”

Mr. Stanhope then goes on at length about the temerity of an opposition which will destroy a piece of public art one week (still waiting for an apology there) and try and use the vandalism of another work the next week for political advantage.

Here at RiotACT we assume that when the wheels of Government sort out this years old problem they’ll get around to putting carpet back in the Canberra Theatre and maybe getting around to re-opening the library.