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Post by heath on Dec 5, 2005 6:15:15 GMT -5
I will let members here have a guess at what this item is and what significance it has. Taken with Fujica ST605N.  Heath |
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Post by sinedyar on Dec 5, 2005 8:30:42 GMT -5
Well, I would say it's a fountain, with no real significance at all, other than someone's silly idea of art.
Denis
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Post by heath on Dec 5, 2005 8:45:01 GMT -5
Half right.....
It is a fountain.
Now what is the significance of this particular fountain???
Heath
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mickeyobe
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Posts: 7,280
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Post by mickeyobe on Dec 5, 2005 10:00:14 GMT -5
Quite obvious. It's a tribute to the bad taste of the municipal government of whatever city in which it is situated. There is probably a plaque on it somewhere congratulating the mayor and council for being so scrupulous in exhausting the city's treasury without, leaving any tiresome monetary surplus, so they could start afresh in the new year.
It is a classic example of a combined fountain and modern art, designed to have no use or aesthetic appeal whatsoever.
Highly successful I would say.
We have a similar endeavour here in Toronto without the running water. The rainfall is sufficient to cause it to rust.
Mickey
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Post by John Parry on Dec 5, 2005 11:25:54 GMT -5
Commemoration of the Olympics? I think it looks quite pleasant. It would have to be in a warm location. If it was here it would be a horizontal blast of freezing spray at the moment!
John
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Post by herron on Dec 5, 2005 12:39:57 GMT -5
(1) It was made from the bottom half of the UFO...I mean "weather balloon" that crashed (or maybe it didn't) in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947?  (2) It was a giant bundt cake pan that just happened to fit the top of all those spindly little posts? (3) It's a water dish for the largest d**n dog you have ever seen! or (4) As Mickey said, "It's a tribute to the bad taste of the municipal government of whatever city in which it is situated." (we have a similar monument to taste, or the lack of it, here in downtown Detroit) ;D
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Post by vintageslrs on Dec 5, 2005 13:34:24 GMT -5
I think I'm with John on this one......
looks like it has something to do with the Olympics.
Bob
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Dec 5, 2005 14:08:06 GMT -5
Hi, This thread reminds me of something that happened in the UK years ago. One of the people who produce 'sculptures' by welding bits of old metal together made something on an idle day that he didn't know what to do with. So he gave it some title or other, something like 'tribute to an unknown hero' , though that wasn't it, sprayed it black and exhibited it. The art critics raved about it. It sold for some outrageous sum and was put on display. Some years later, the man who made it admitted in an interview what it really was, just a pile of old bits that he happened to have lying around and welded together haphazardly for want of something better to do because he was bored. Know what the art critics said? Did they admit they'd been taken in? Not on your life! They said that although he may not have realised it at the time, this was an outward form of something significant deep in his artistic subconscious that had to be expressed. Geez!! I mean, how much pretentious bu......hit do they expect people to take seriously? Or am I an old hidebound diehard with outdated artistic values living in the past? If so, then I'm bl..dy glad I am!!  . Peter |
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Post by heath on Dec 5, 2005 14:45:59 GMT -5
Commemoration of the Olympics? I think it looks quite pleasant. It would have to be in a warm location. If it was here it would be a horizontal blast of freezing spray at the moment! John CORRECT!!!!!!!!!!! This is THE Olympic Cauldron from the 2000 Olympic Games here in Sydney. It even has gas lines hooked up and is lit regularly. I need to get some shots of it at night. Heath |
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Post by herron on Dec 5, 2005 16:47:00 GMT -5
The art critics raved about it. It sold for some outrageous sum and was put on display. Some years later, the man who made it admitted in an interview what it really was, just a pile of old bits that he happened to have lying around and welded together haphazardly for want of something better to do because he was bored. Know what the art critics said? Did they admit they'd been taken in? Not on your life! They said that although he may not have realised it at the time, this was an outward form of something significant deep in his artistic subconscious that had to be expressed. Geez!! I mean, how much pretentious bu......hit do they expect people to take seriously? Peter, I'm with you on this one (sorry, Heath). Whatever the intent, the artistic merit of something like this fails to impress me. I have an art background, and a degree in fine arts (along with my degree in advertising and an MBA), and I realize that the appreciation of art is a very subjective thing. That's why some people prefer Rembrandt & Vermeer, and others Picasso & Kandinsky. But I also recall some of the "art" exhibits I have seen over the years...like a 10x12 room where the only thing in it was a straight line of masking tape on the floor (the only thing, that is, if you ignored the brass plaque telling you what the masking tape "art" signified). I'm sorry, but I agree with Peter and think it was bu***hit. On the other hand, the fountain is certainly more work than a strip of masking tape, and the designer was obviously able to convince someone that this looks like more than a pie plate on a stack of pick-up-sticks (maybe it was the water and the lights that did it). But then, that's what makes horse racing so interesting, isn't it? A difference of opinion! It's a good photo of the fountain anyway, Heath! ;D |
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Post by heath on Dec 5, 2005 20:12:10 GMT -5
Ron, it is also a piece of history, seeing as it was the Olympic Cauldron lit by Kathy Freeman at the 2000 Games in Sydney. This now stands in a parkland setting in the middle of Sydney Olympic Park,l known as The Overflow. Behind the 'fountain' in the photo is Telstra Stadium, which was the main arena during the Olympics. I live only a stones throw away from Sydney Olympic Park and know the area quite well.
Heath
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Post by Randy on Dec 5, 2005 20:28:43 GMT -5
I like Ron Herron's #1 explanation...I'm into UFOs anyway. The only answer I could come up with would be a diaphram on stilts.  |
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Post by philmco on Dec 6, 2005 9:40:18 GMT -5
Actually I have seen far worse. I must submit a photo of the piece of junk that sits outside our local arena. Except as a contest to photgraph the worst art ever made, I have no real desire to take a picture of it. Now there is an idea for a photocontest.
Phil
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Post by herron on Dec 6, 2005 22:27:10 GMT -5
Heath: I hope I wasn't being offensive.  I realize it is a piece of history, and I didn't mean to belittle it as such. It's just "not my cup of tea" as far as design goes. I much prefer things like the Sydney Opera House, as far as aesthetic appeal. We have some examples of "art" here in Detroit that I can do without...like the "Fist of Joe Louis" at the foot of Woodward Avenue downtown. What a joke!  |
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Post by heath on Dec 7, 2005 0:47:04 GMT -5
Ron, no, you didn't offend me. I know how art can be in the eye of the beholder. Have you ever seen the painting Blue Poles Number 11 (1952) by Jackson Pollock? It was bought by the Australian Government back in 1973 for the tidy sum of $1.3 Million. It is now worth over $40 Million. I still think that a bunch of preschoolers could do better. www.ngv.vic.gov.au/pollock/I don't think the 2000 Cauldron was put there as a piece of art, more as a reminder of the greatest games of all. Now that fist....... It is deffinitely interesting. Does it swing in the wind? If it fell on someones toe there wouldn't be much left of the toe..... or the foot either. Heath |
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I realize it is a piece of history, and I didn't mean to belittle it as such. It's just "not my cup of tea" as far as design goes. I much prefer things like the Sydney Opera House, as far as aesthetic appeal.