Public Address | Cafe | Speaker: Public art is no place for committees https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/ en-us Copyright (c) 2026 Public Address Ian Dalziel https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335635#post335635 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335635#post335635 – transforming the thoroughfare into something different.
The Other's Way?

]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2015 07:19:59 +1300 Russell Brown https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335628#post335628 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335628#post335628 What’s wrong with having art in an alleyway – and a busy pedestrian thoroughfare at that? It seems a lot more pleasant than having nothing.

It actually works well in that space – transforming the thoroughfare into something different. The buildings provide the frame.

]]> Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:38:53 +1300 TracyMac https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335627#post335627 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335627#post335627 Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:05:07 +1300 Ian Dalziel https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335594#post335594 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335594#post335594 No half-assed art here...
...a donkey in the toilet
it's a Bray New World...
living on Burro'ed Time!

]]> Mon, 16 Feb 2015 12:55:46 +1300 william blake https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335593#post335593 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335593#post335593 Mon, 16 Feb 2015 12:54:56 +1300 Steve Barnes https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335591#post335591 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335591#post335591 Gibb’s thoughts on how he commissions the works is nicely summarised in the first three minutes of Lightening Dreams.

Gibb's thoughts on anything are an anathema to me. Sure, I am concerned about what he has done with our money but more from the perspective of how he got away…

]]> Mon, 16 Feb 2015 12:30:29 +1300 Gabor Toth https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335589#post335589 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335589#post335589 Each public art work should have its own project manager. This is not a job for a committee

Sadly, this is most readily seen in the private sphere rather than the public one though there are private collectors who do defer to committees (though undoubtedly they also choose the members).…

]]> Mon, 16 Feb 2015 12:07:34 +1300 Kumara Republic https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335560#post335560 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335560#post335560 I'm very glad Mr Williams lives in some rainbow lollypop fantasy world where everything is nice and generally inoffensive, but I don't. And no cultural institution with any standards whatsoever should either.

Sounds a bit like 'Disneyland with the death penalty' as William Gibson described it.

]]> Sat, 14 Feb 2015 03:48:13 +1300 Craig Ranapia https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335559#post335559 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335559#post335559 “Our objection isn’t to the t-shirt per se, our objection is ratepayer money being used for what is, at best, an item with little cultural or historic value.”

“In matters of taste there is a higher onus on publicly funded bodies to avoid funding matters of a highly dubious nature.…

]]> Sat, 14 Feb 2015 01:41:41 +1300 Craig Ranapia https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335558#post335558 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335558#post335558 It’s interesting that Henry Moore is used as an example of the artists interest in the spatial relationship to his/her artwork, or Pablo Picaso. These are not famous for building sculpture in context with there placement. They built stand alone artwork.

If that was submitted to me in an art…

]]> Sat, 14 Feb 2015 01:27:10 +1300 william blake https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335557#post335557 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335557#post335557 Keir, These artists are the new regionally relevant ones, I think that's the issue here. The Supercity was created to make Auckland regionally relevant in the Pacific, and localism is history.
Is what is relevant in Hong Kong or Dusseldorf relevant in Mangere Bridge?

]]> Fri, 13 Feb 2015 23:20:51 +1300 Robyn Gallagher https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335555#post335555 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335555#post335555 Between an alleyway! What were they thinking

What's wrong with having art in an alleyway – and a busy pedestrian thoroughfare at that? It seems a lot more pleasant than having nothing.

]]> Fri, 13 Feb 2015 22:47:23 +1300 Keir Leslie https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335551#post335551 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335551#post335551 Fri, 13 Feb 2015 21:07:12 +1300 Ian Dalziel https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335543#post335543 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335543#post335543 cite site specific sights & signs…
They are the reasons for the work and they need to be clearly and unambiguously answered even before any artist is approached.
Nice work – if you can get it – for a social shaman, a diviner or the geomancy boys (or girls) – sibyl…

]]> Fri, 13 Feb 2015 16:53:35 +1300 william blake https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335540#post335540 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335540#post335540 In response to your central premise that the works are selected by committee, I would tend to disagree. The three examples mentioned are each internationally respected artists, I think their projects have been driven to detailed design stage or completion by reputation alone.
Prior to the Supercity these jobs would…

]]> Fri, 13 Feb 2015 15:40:42 +1300 Rich of Observationz https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335539#post335539 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335539#post335539 Fri, 13 Feb 2015 15:05:59 +1300 bob daktari https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335538#post335538 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335538#post335538 Hamish you make it all seem so simple, so logical – we have committees to ensure this isn't so

I sometimes wonder if the "public" are as negative towards art these things get framed... ie how much public money is "wasted" on "insert derogatory term for piece of art"

I…

]]> Fri, 13 Feb 2015 14:38:37 +1300 Sacha https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335537#post335537 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335537#post335537 Fri, 13 Feb 2015 13:43:20 +1300 Kevin McCready https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335535#post335535 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335535#post335535 Fri, 13 Feb 2015 13:26:26 +1300 James W https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335534#post335534 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335534#post335534 Fri, 13 Feb 2015 13:15:30 +1300 Russell Brown https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335532#post335532 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335532#post335532 In related news, this is an actual Taxpayers' Union press release:

Masturbating Nun a Poor Use of Ratepayer Money

In an unusual coalition the Taxpayers’ Union is backing concerns expressed by the morally conservative Family First lobby group regarding a highly offensive t-shirt being displayed at the Canterbury Museum. The…

]]> Fri, 13 Feb 2015 12:58:16 +1300 Steve Curtis https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335530#post335530 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335530#post335530 Before we have PR about the art and its meaning, let the public have a say about the LOCATION.

Between an alleyway! What were they thinking

]]> Fri, 13 Feb 2015 12:56:06 +1300 Public Address https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335529#post335529 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/speaker-public-art-is-no-place-for-committees/?p=335529#post335529 Discussion from blog post.

]]> Fri, 13 Feb 2015 12:56:06 +1300