Stand back Blue Ring, there is a new piece of public art in town!

[Marsh]

Lol what a piece of shit. So council completely ignored the backlash on how shitty the blue ring was, and picked something even shittier to put up? Fuck I hope all these clowns get ousted in October

[kertejud2]

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Lol what a piece of shit. So council completely ignored the backlash on how shitty the blue ring was, and picked something even shittier to put up? Fuck I hope all these clowns get ousted in October

Council aren't the ones picking.

[spikerS]

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Sounds about right...

Honestly, I *THINK* I am ok with this one. When I first saw this, I immediately thought of death rituals and the importance of the beliefs of the Natives that used to roam the praries. This totally reminds me of a funeral stand or whatever they are called.

Nomadic tribes in the Great Plains region either buried their dead, if the ground was soft, or left them on tree platforms or on scaffolds, and this totally remindes me of that. To hear that this was to pay tribute to the Blackfoot makes total sense to me.

[killramos]

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Council aren't the ones picking.

Council are the only people who can put a stop to this charade, they are responsible as the citizens representatives in municipal government. Just because they aren't the ones checking the box in the committee does not absolve them of responsibility for the city's governance.

I have no idea why we can't just spend the allocation on optional choices that beautify the infrastructure instead of these stupid statement pieces, that by and large have universally backfired in council's faces and we are stuck with until they fall apart.

[kertejud2]

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Pic of said garbage pile?

Unclear if pallets are part of the installation or not.

[lilmira]

I like the pallets. They represent the canadian lumber industry. The orange pylons are also nice.

[nismodrifter]

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Unclear if pallets are part of the installation or not.

Oh boy thanks for the laugh, totally made my morning.

I also liked the cows around town, the blue ring and this are total WTF

[88CRX]

Looks like the construction crew got bored and fucked around with left over piles.

Also wonder how much they paid to drag any big boulders away they found during construction only to then buy these new boulder and install them… fucking ridiculous.

[Seth1968]

How much does this and the blue ring cost? How much is a new MRI machine?

Again, where's the benefit to the taxpayers?

[kertejud2]

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Council are the only people who can put a stop to this charade, they are responsible as the citizens representatives in municipal government. Just because they aren't the ones checking the box in the committee does not absolve them of responsibility for the city's governance.

It isn't just a committee, it is a department. Council can barely get through their meetings as it is, they don't have the time to start micromanaging department budgets and voting on everything that department is doing.

Even if they vote on the final decision, they're still wasting money because if they vote it down, they'll have already paid for the thing they're voting on and just saving on installation. The city isn't going to make artists work on spec (nor should they, otherwise no good artists would ever want to do anything here, which means you'll rarely get anything worth approving, and you're ).

It's a no-win situation for council because it isn't a job they can, or want to do. And they aren't going to scrap the department altogether because the thing people hate more than a bad art project is saying you're scrapping public art altogether.

I have no idea why we can't just spend the allocation on optional choices that beautify the infrastructure instead of these stupid statement pieces, that by and large have universally backfired in council's faces and we are stuck with until they fall apart.

You've got the Blue Ring in which being as talked about as it is, has probably made it more iconic than any other art piece in the city. Hell, it's approaching landmark status with all the attention it gets. Places pay a whole lot more for stuff that gets completely forgotten.

Not sure I can think of anything else that has "universally backfired" and especially not anything that has caused anybody to lose their seat.





EDIT: As for my thoughts, this one is pretty lacking. It's one of these odd projects where had they made it much grander it would be a lot better. It's a crappy sport for a decent installation and it isn't big enough to really have a big impact when you're driving past at 80km/h. If it were 20 towers all along the road it would probably be really good as you drive past.

So I'm saying that if this were a $2.5M installation it would be a better use of money than as a $0.5M installation.

I understand the reasoning for opening it up internationally, but not using local Blackfoot artists for a Blackfoot inspired design is pretty bad optics.

[killramos]

Something being stupid and embarrassing does not make it iconic.

Honestly council could spend a meeting shitting in a bucket and then subsequently taking a 6 month vacation and you would find a way to defend it. Does it not get exhausting having their balls so deep down your throat?

[kertejud2]

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How much does this and the blue ring cost? How much is a new MRI machine?

Can't do much with just a machine which will cost you this art project on the cheap end for something mid-range (but $3M for one the taxpayer deserves). You also have to pay a Blue Ring just to build the room to put the machine in (since you can't just put a giant magnet into any old room). Then there are the operating costs which aren't cheap (hundreds of dollars an hour).

[asp integra]

Oh great, we can't have nice facilities and arenas and field houses, but we can have this crap and the blue ring????????

[kertejud2]

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Something being stupid and embarrassing does not make it iconic.


Honestly council could spend a meeting shitting in a bucket and then subsequently taking a 6 month vacation and you would find a way to defend it. Does it not get exhausting having their balls so deep down your throat?

If you think the council is stupid and embarrassing for allowing crappy public art installations, how would the Blue Ring be considered anything but iconic?

[schocker]

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I like the pallets. They represent the canadian lumber industry. The orange pylons are also nice.

Sorry bud, for those to be included would be another $100k

I am ok with spending money on art with capital projects, but to have no cap is very silly. For them to say, "boy at 1% of $71 mm we came in $210k under budget!" is absurd along with again using non-local artistry (Something to do with the contract being enough that it has to be open tender?). Also that the more expensive the art, the shoddier it looks.

[kertejud2]

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Oh great, we can't have nice facilities and arenas and field houses, but we can have this crap and the blue ring????????

$1.13B for Calgary NEXT according to CSEC.

After giving them the money for this and the Blue Ring (and the Peace Bridge, and the George C. King Bridge, and the Cycle Track, and the mayor and council salaries for their entire three year term) the remaining cost of Calgary NEXT is...

$1.07B



Maybe just have a whip-round at work to cover the rest?

[Seth1968]

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Can't do much with just a machine which will cost you this art project on the cheap end for something mid-range (but $3M for one the taxpayer deserves). You also have to pay a Blue Ring just to build the room to put the machine in (since you can't just put a giant magnet into any old room). Then there are the operating costs which aren't cheap (hundreds of dollars an hour).

Ya, that's fine. My question of the mri was rhetorical.

AGAIN FFS.

What benefit to the taxpayers?

[kertejud2]

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Ya, that's fine. My question of the mri was rhetorical.

Well now you know that MRIs cost a lot more than you think.

What benefit to the taxpayers?

People generally support public art. So the benefit is providing funding to something they generally support. Simple as that.

[bigbadboss101]

Just put an NSX there.

[HiTempguy1]

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People generally support public art

No they don't, what a bunch of assfuckingly pedantic language you are using. People generally support the IDEA of public art. They don't support abstract shit almost EVER. No different than the fucking silver balls in Edmonton.

You do understand that $500k could pay for 2 jobs for 5 years right? Compared to this shit that went to some wealthy trust funder whose life is "art" and has been going to school for over a decade because they aren't paying for it.