Works of Public Art and Taxpayer Costs

[SYZ]

This "thing", or alleged work of art has just been
completed and will be mounted on the forecourt
of our National Gallery, located in the Australian
capitol Canberra—where in fact few people will ever
see it in the flesh.

It's worth (or wasted, depending on one's viewpoint)
$14 million of taxpayers' money.    Seriously?

It's around 4m (13 ft) high, and is a hollow, tapering
stainless steel tube with numerous multi-sized holes
spread over its entire surface.  One critic described it
as a McDonald's bagel cut in half.

Here be it folks in all its bagelness glory, with its creator...




This model provides a clearer impression of its shape...



The Gallery's curator says; "We wanted this work
to demonstrate the ambitions of Australian art".

And the artist Lindy Lee says she "Hopes visitors lean
into what she describes as an 'intimate experience' with
her behemoth new work.   'Ouroboros' is an invitation
to be still, to let go of your habitual thinking and just
experience being intrinsic to this vastness".

  —Shit yeah, why not?  I'm sure we'd all love to
     have an intimate experience with a metal tube.

[airportkid]

... I'm sure we'd all love to have an intimate experience with a metal tube ...

It's amusing (and tragic) that we immediately assume anyone whose tastes are beyond our comprehension are therefore idiots.  Enough people found this artistic venture compelling enough to grant its funding - that you personally are not impressed by it is NOT the scale the whole world must abide by.

[Dexta]

It reminds me of a turd. 2c

[pattylt]

I’m not an artsy fartsy type person but I know and am related to many that are. I do see art I like and I see art I don’t and some I can’t figure out.

While I actually like this, I’m not sure 14 Mil was a good use of the money. Why did it cost that much? Any explanations given?

[Jarsa]

The Australian government should have given the 14 million to me instead.
I could have put it to better use.

[Thumpalumpacus]

De gustibus non disputandum. I'd have to view it in person to figure if I like it or not.

That is awful pricey, though.

[Dexta]

De gustibus non disputandum. I'd have to view it in person to figure if I like it or not.

That is awful pricey, though.

Nearly a month's salary for a Premiership star striker.

[Rhythmcs]

14 million and they get an actual product? Sounds like a steal. Over here we toss 20 million at a nut to investigate werewolves and dinobeavers at skinwalker ranch - call it ufo research.

Now that...is what I call a work of art.

[brewerb]

Does it make sound when the wind blows just right?

[AutisticWill]

I agree with the OP: Worthless.

And to all the haters: not worth the cost, surely.

[Fireball]

Does it make sound when the wind blows just right?

The brown note. 

[airportkid]

... I’m not sure 14 Mil was a good use of the money ...

Right.  Much better to put $14M toward political propa-ahem-advertising.  Or reducing a billionaire's tax bill by $14M.  Or paving over a city park to make a parking lot.

There are of course more constructive uses for $14M than an artwork in a public setting, but the aim is to improve things, not inflict harm.   And who judges that $14M is too much or not enough?  The process that appropriated $14M to that project was not chicanery but a public municipal process that I'm sure involved a vote - that very likely was not unanimous.

[Dānu]

[Inkubus]

This "thing", or alleged work of art has just been
completed and will be mounted on the forecourt
of our National Gallery, located in the Australian
capitol Canberra—where in fact few people will ever
see it in the flesh.

It's worth (or wasted, depending on one's viewpoint)
$14 million of taxpayers' money.    Seriously?

It's around 4m (13 ft) high, and is a hollow, tapering
stainless steel tube with numerous multi-sized holes
spread over its entire surface.  One critic described it
as a McDonald's bagel cut in half.

Here be it folks in all its bagelness glory, with its creator...




This model provides a clearer impression of its shape...



The Gallery's curator says; "We wanted this work
to demonstrate the ambitions of Australian art".

And the artist Lindy Lee says she "Hopes visitors lean
into what she describes as an 'intimate experience' with
her behemoth new work.   'Ouroboros' is an invitation
to be still, to let go of your habitual thinking and just
experience being intrinsic to this vastness".

  —Shit yeah, why not?  I'm sure we'd all love to
     have an intimate experience with a metal tube.

Looks like a failed Klein Bottle to me.

[Minimalist]

No.

Let some rich asshole buy it because they have too much money.


https://www.aol.com/shohei-ohtani-histor...xA75yHoz5e

Shohei Ohtani’s historic 50-50 ball sells for record price of $4.39M at auction amid ongoing lawsuit over ownership

[pattylt]

... I’m not sure 14 Mil was a good use of the money ...

Right.  Much better to put $14M toward political propa-ahem-advertising.  Or reducing a billionaire's tax bill by $14M.  Or paving over a city park to make a parking lot.

There are of course more constructive uses for $14M than an artwork in a public setting, but the aim is to improve things, not inflict harm.   And who judges that $14M is too much or not enough?  The process that appropriated $14M to that project was not chicanery but a public municipal process that I'm sure involved a vote - that very likely was not unanimous.

Fourteen million could have gone to a lot of art…not just one specific sculpture.  That’s where I think they wasted the money.  There are so many great artists that could have made an entire park full of sculptures for that much.  I don’t object to a large chunk of change going to the the arts…just going to ONE art.

[SYZ]

... I'm sure we'd all love to have an intimate experience with a metal tube ...

It's amusing (and tragic) that we immediately assume anyone whose tastes are beyond our comprehension are therefore idiots.  Enough people found this artistic venture compelling enough to grant its funding - that you personally are not impressed by it is NOT the scale the whole world must abide by.

It wasn't so much the awfulness of this purported work
of art that I was objecting to—as much as the huge cost
to the taxpayers  by a government desperate to be seen
as supporting the arts in general.

Lest we be seen as a bunch of uncouth cockies living in        
some wretched antipodean colony.

[Thumpalumpacus]

It wasn't so much the awfulness of this purported work
of art that I was objecting to—as much as the huge cost
to the taxpayers  by a government desperate to be seen
as supporting the arts in general.

Spreading that money around to help struggling artists rather than plopping it onto one work might well have bee a better way of growing art-culture in your country. I figure that this much steel costs some ducats, but populating the park with 14 sculptures commissioned at $1m apiece not only provides more art, but supports more artists?

[Fireball]

My youngest brother used to work for a company that made pieces for some artist. They are solid stainless steel and weigh, of course, many tons. The amount of work required to weld the pieces together and polish the result is extensive, so quite a high price tag.

[Alan V]

And the artist Lindy Lee says she "Hopes visitors lean
into what she describes as an 'intimate experience' with
her behemoth new work.   'Ouroboros' is an invitation
to be still, to let go of your habitual thinking and just
experience being intrinsic to this vastness".

  —Shit yeah, why not?  I'm sure we'd all love to
     have an intimate experience with a metal tube.

I enjoy the fine arts, but typically don't care for works which try to impress viewers by their size.  If they wouldn't impress us as smaller objects, then they likely won't stand the test of time.

[c172]

I went to Bloomington, MN, in the south suburbs of the Twin Cities (same county as Mpls) back in '16 for a medical conference. I wanted to go up to the Cities, in part to go to a WNBA game and in part to check out Spoonbridge and Cherry, a famous piece of public art in MN. It's apparently part of a much larger sculpture garden, and I think something like that is definitely getting my vote for a $14m allocation, but not a single artpiece as explained upthread (though I do really like that piece). 

I definitely believe the head city of a metro area ought to be funding public art (subject to public approval each time) and a grade 6-12 public arts high school (like Pittsburgh, PA's CAPA). Yes, art is very much in the eye of the beholder, but the reasons behind why we like or hate a piece of are can be explained objectively and theoretically, and this discipline needs to be expertly taught, just like anything else. It has to do with communication, which is a hugely underrated and abused tool.

[SYZ]

I went to Bloomington, MN, in the south suburbs of the Twin Cities (same county as Mpls) back in '16 for a medical conference. I wanted to go up to the Cities, in part to go to a WNBA game and in part to check out Spoonbridge and Cherry, a famous piece of public art in MN. It's apparently part of a much larger sculpture garden, and I think something like that is definitely getting my vote for a $14m allocation, but not a single artpiece as explained upthread (though I do really like that piece). 

I definitely believe the head city of a metro area ought to be funding public art (subject to public approval each time) and a grade 6-12 public arts high school (like Pittsburgh, PA's CAPA). Yes, art is very much in the eye of the beholder, but the reasons behind why we like or hate a piece of are can be explained objectively and theoretically, and this discipline needs to be expertly taught, just like anything else. It has to do with communication, which is a hugely underrated and abused tool.

The Spoonbridge and Cherry is far more evocative than our
silly half bagel sculpture.   As one reviewer said; "The surprise
of finding an oversized fruit spooned up in a park, together with
its curved forms and the bright colours, creates a sensuous joy
that makes the work immediately accessible to a wide audience,
including children".

In 1988 it cost $144,000 which means around $272,000 in today's
money—allowing for inflation (currently 4.14%).  Nothing like the
outrageous $14m of our example.

[Rhythmcs]

Yes..but does it make the people who engineered and benefited from that inflation feel better? It's not like art has ever played by the commoners financial rules. The majority of it's value being held in money laundering and tax evasion. I guess all the kids in canberra already have crayons, and it's not like there aren't worse ways for your government to spend en larger sums. I'm entirely certain that the australian government would rather be known for supporting the arts than for supporting it's colonial prison system, for example.

[airportkid]

I enjoy the fine arts, but typically don't care for works which try to impress viewers by their size.  If they wouldn't impress us as smaller objects, then they likely won't stand the test of time.

Yeah, THIS would have been so much better had it been small enough to hang on a bathroom wall.  And everyone complains that the Statue of Liberty and Mt. Rushmore are far too large and would have worked better as sculptures in a room in a museum.

[pattylt]

My youngest brother used to work for a company that made pieces for some artist. They are solid stainless steel and weigh, of course, many tons. The amount of work required to weld the pieces together and polish the result is extensive, so quite a high price tag.

Any chance you could ask your brother what a typical cost for those creations would cost today?

It might give us some perspective as to what high sculpture art costs…and I don’t think it’s 14 Mil.