New wind sculpture on Adelaide Avenue - Dinornis maximus

sepi said :

And I think it really suits Woden. Maybe it is a little close to the roundabout, but it shouldn’t be that distracting.

When you think of Woden you think of a giant whirling Kiwi bird?

…not sure what to make of that.

Just quietly I think this sculpture was completed a few years ago, and was possibly looking for a home – it may have come at a good price.

No inside knowledge there, but if you look it up, it was previously located elsewhere, it’s not a newie.

And I think it really suits Woden. Maybe it is a little close to the roundabout, but it shouldn’t be that distracting.

When they put the billboard up on the convention centre people whined that it would distract drivers – it doesn’t seem to have been a disaster.

Well, I think I speak for myself when I say that a ‘Pissed Parrot’ piece would be very well received on the GDE.

*hehe*

sepi said :

And i’m sure it cost less than the 2.5 million they are giving to ACT soccer.
Why not spend that money on infrastructure?

Indeed. 😉

And i’m sure it cost less than the 2.5 million they are giving to ACT soccer.
Why not spend that money on infrastructure?

amarooresident said :

Anything that annoys Steve Pratt is fine by me.

Good point.

Anything that annoys Steve Pratt is fine by me.

*hehe* Isn’t somebody paid to do that already?

; )

I’ll inform the poor people of Canberra that they should all feel much richer due to the wonderful public art we have.

The world would be a poorer place without public art, but it can all seem a bit “let them eat cake” as far as the public perception goes – depending on the circumstances and how tough people are doing it.

I would agree that it also does not help to situate an expensive work of art behind a tacky fence and two whopping great lightpoles.

I think the Rhizome could be quite beautiful in a large paved space or open grassy area.

bigred said :

Should have been a wind turbine.

bigred, great point!
but then, it would have raised “concerns” with the local residents….

It’s easy points for Pratt to trot out the populist line on art. And every new piece gifts another free hit.

But here’s thing thing with the so-called “basic infrastructure” – the list never runs out – there’s always more. So if you were to focus on “basic infrastructure” first, then there would never be any art anywhere.

Now I may not agree with the placement of some of these pieces (use them to break up boring bits not distract people at places they should be concentrating on other things), and they do seem to be tending towards the very expensive, and I think some of them look crap, but on the other hand I’m happy we don’t have a sterile culture-free zone.

It takes a brave pollie to hold the line against cheap populism, so I give Stanhope credit for this.

I actually quite like it too – even though it looks nothing like a Moa to me. It actually looks more like flax waving in the wind, but then I’m just a commoner with no artistic talent, so what would I know!

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy said :

We need to put a generator on it, and connect it to a big neon sign that says “DON’T LOOK HERE, WATCH THE ROAD, DICKHEAD!”, so it can randomly light up when the wind blows.

I just hope that no teenagers kill themselves by crashing into it – or heaven forbid, we’ll all have to endure another episode of “I’m like, just so much more upset and traumatised than youse about Ashlee’s/Crystal’s/Magenta’s/Brock’s/Tyler’s/Guido’s death, and I’m going to bash youse, and sh1t, if youse go anywhere near her/his funeral, and sh1t”.

quite fun to look at when you are a passenger in a car or a bus though

Lovely as it may be, it has moving parts.

If you want it to last like the Sphinx you gotta be building it out of stone.

Possibly you could do something in heavy glass or ceramic…

Anyone know about carbon fibre?

Should have been a wind turbine.

We need to put a generator on it, and connect it to a big neon sign that says “DON’T LOOK HERE, WATCH THE ROAD, DICKHEAD!”, so it can randomly light up when the wind blows.

Personally I like it but agree with many of the posts stating it is distracting. I drove past earlier this week when it was being put up and thought “WTF is that?” No I know WTF it is, I wonder WTF it is doing there!

Negotiating that roundabout at peak hour is tricky enough without having people in front of you slowing down to see where the ‘arms’ of sculpture are now pointing.

I think it is kind of cool!

May change my mind when we find out how much it ends up costing.

I think it creates a great opportunity to all those Year 12 Kids out there looking for some new muck up day challenges around Canberra. The possibilities are endless……….

First student to succeed in getting the principles tie, anybodies undies, opposing rugby team jumper(always a good red herring) hanging off the end of one of those blades would gain immediate legend status.

Another memorial to a closed school.
I propose that there be plaques on all the public art, acknowledging the demise of closed public services.

I reckon Sonic is looking to his legacy … a bit like George Dubyer.

Oops … DO NOT have periferal vision.

Bkluberry and RAGGD obviously do have periffial vision that works. Sounds like World Youth Day advise … “if you don’t ….” – I suppose you have no hair growing on your palms either! Stupid simplicity.

I bet it cost less than the proposed ‘fesibility study into transport down Constitution ave’ but noone is complaining about that.

Anyway – done right, art buying actually increases in value.

It looks silly.

How much did it cost us?

Beautiful thing to hang Sonic from.

for everyones info its called Dinornis maximus- which is a large flightless bird found in NZ its also known as a moa

wiki search gives u this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moa
the artist is from NZ and i think he has his name to the one in bondi
there was an article in the CTs a couple of weeks ago about it and various other artworks.
hopefully it wont cause accidents.
i like it
if we have to have our city all artworked up we may as well have something thats looks impressive.

Looks like a sickle or some kind of vicious guillotine-like blade snapping angrily at something. (Then again, maybe I have seen too many horror movies.)

First impressions I reckon it’s okay. But I do agree some of our less attentive drivers may cause some grief. A bit like the person on my commute home just now that couldn’t decide which of the two lanes to go in, so just drove down the middle of the road … at 30km/h.

FFS!!!

I drove past it at lunchtime, and thought, That’s pretty cool, distracting as it whirls around, but still pretty cool.

I drove past it about twenty minutes ago, and the blades were pointed to about 11 o’clock, and not moving. I liked the idea of a spinny thing, but not so keen on the stationary blades. Less distracting, but… dull.

I like it !

Sammy said :

Is this the first piece of major public art in Woden?

Nope, but Steve Pratt has wiped out all the others.

LOL!

good one sammy!

Is this the first piece of major public art in Woden?

Nope, but Steve Pratt has wiped out all the others.

Driving home last night, I had no idea WTF it was! Thanks for clarifying. I thought there’s gonna be an accident for sure with all the rubber necking going on. Definitely not the best location for it, the lake would have been better. Ultimately, a great concept, only wish it produced some green energy at the same time! Is this the first piece of major public art in Woden?

Oh sorry. Yeah what blueberry already said.

I find it interesting that people blame their bad driving on what’s on the side of the road. If you get that distracted by objects on the side of the road then you probably shouldn’t be driving. No matter if it’s art, a car accident, someone walking their dog, metal grass, or what ever it may be.

I like it, but I think the location is totally inappropriate.

What is the point of art: to look at.

What is the point of driving: to watch the road in front of you.

Case closed.

I like it.

I love public art.

Melbourne inner city is fantastic for the sculptures on many of the corners.

and in the scheme of the ACT budget, these sculptures really don’t cost that much.
People just pick on them cos they are highly visible.

Far more money is wasted on these endless ‘reports’ and ‘committees’ they set up. Some of which never even see the light of day. Not to mention all the advertising this govt is running at the moment.

I don’t like football, but I don’t complain when the govt sponsors it, cos I know some people do like it. You can’t expect the govt to only fund stuff that you personally appreciate.

I like it too but some of the creative insults you guys are coming up with are fantastic 😀

So, it’s a crazy inflatable flailing arm tube man, except slower, and less interesting.

Gold!

Another wonderful addition in ‘Stanhope’s Shitty Industrial Art About Town’ series.

shanefos said :

peterh said :

oh, great. wait for the “what the hell is that??” accident…

Don’t ever go driving in Melbourne then, mate!

hey, if i have an accident there, it isn’t much of a bender, 10 km / year coming out of sunbury to the city, and then roundabouts everywhere!

easier to stop in melb traffic.

jmac said :

I’m not an artistic person so i’m happy for you to fly insults at me and tell me how ignorant i am…but what is it with this government and so called art work along the roads. Can i please ask why can’t we save that money and actually put it to something useful…like duplication of some of our other roads. I would much prefer to drive on a road where traffic flows at a decent pace…then sit in traffic and look at this stuff.

JMAC, if you were to read back through the dim, dark recesses of the Riot archives, you will see the same observation made a great many times. We spend much of our time pondering the spending excesses on the government on rather odd items of public art such as the steel weeds beside the GDE and the tap dancing Al Grasby.

Skidbladnir said :

There was a thing in the CT a whie back about all the art Stanhope had acquired for Canberra at no cost to himself, and where to expect it to be placed.

I can think of a good spot. And it’s not in Woden. Or the GDE. In fact, it’s somewhat intimate to Stanhope – and the place where quite possibly he has produced these works of (somewhat negligible) art.

I’m not an artistic person so i’m happy for you to fly insults at me and tell me how ignorant i am…but what is it with this government and so called art work along the roads. Can i please ask why can’t we save that money and actually put it to something useful…like duplication of some of our other roads. I would much prefer to drive on a road where traffic flows at a decent pace…then sit in traffic and look at this stuff.

So, it’s a crazy inflatable flailing arm tube man, except slower, and less interesting.

I quite like it actually. Woden is a good place for it too because it is always quite windy around here.

Personally, I think that if you can be distracted enough to cause and accident, that easily then you probably should not be driving in the first place.

I hope the blades are bolted on tightly – wouldn’t want one of those bad boys flying off in a strong easterly.

Maybe Sonic’s contemplating a panel-beating-led economic recovery?

Bad art bores. Good art engages. Public art causes car crashes.

Thus, public art wins.

I drove past it yesterday and I initially thought it was some wierd ass clock, then I realised it was some weird ass sculpture and I had spent the last 300 metres not looking at the road in front of me.

Speaking of crumple into the boot of the car in front…

The folk in blue were doing vehicle checks on Northbourne yesterday. Commented to workmate about the woeful traffic control and that they’d cause an accident with all their jumping out in front of people in the far lane. Love the way they wave people in to the side even when there’s another car coming up the outside lane. Of course people figure there’s a cop giving me a direction, so I must obey it, and fail to look first.

So it was not a surprise a short while later to see some poor sod pulling up with the crunched bonnet from exactly that happening.

I like it too. Does it remind anyone else of the big red sculpture that was going to be behind Old Parliament House and celebrate women’s suffrage or something? It was called Fan I think (not Fanny, just to head off the hilarious puns this forum is known for)and moved in the wind … until it was canned – as being too different?

It seems decent enough from the photos however the proof will be when I drive to Woden from Civic Saturday night.

Although this one doesn’t bother me aesthetically, I again renew my opposition to coercive taxpayer funding going to art of such a nature.

I fuggin hate that roundabout already, especially those who slow to a stop when driving south in the left / slip lane. Even for the right lane, you can see for miles if there’s anybody turning right on it – there almost never is, so there’s no need to slow down. Saw the traffic backed up last night and figured it was more of the same, but no, it was people looking at this spastic plastic thing. I thought the new prison was rear ender heaven.

I like the look of it, but yeah, I suspect it won’t be long before the first goober finds him/herself crumpled into the boot of the car in front of them.

Yes Thumper.

For gawd’s sake, won’t someone think of the earless pelicans!

I nearly dropped my mobile and my VB, such was my surprise at seeing an acceptable public sculpture in Woden.

Fortunately cruise control was on …

peterh said :

oh, great. wait for the “what the hell is that??” accident…

Don’t ever go driving in Melbourne then, mate!

I like it (needs some landscaping though). Huge improvement over the rubbish littering the GDE – and that red thing outside the Waldorf Apartments.

I like it.

There was a thing in the CT a whie back about all the art Stanhope had acquired for Canberra at no cost to himself, and where to expect it to be placed.

Distracting? Yes.
Majestic? No.
Waste of time and money that sticks out like a sore thumb? Definitely.

Definitely a GDE leftover.

oh, great. wait for the “what the hell is that??” accident.

why didn’t they put a turbine in it? may have generated some extra power…