Art

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by ggopher

That thingy cost $470 000. Whatever it is suppose to be.

Check out the artist’s rendering, it includes people strolling along the side of the road and sitting on the grass. That looks so pleasant.

http://www.calgary.ca/CSPS/Recreation/Pages/Public-Art/96-Avenue-NE.aspx
The artists are not even from Canada, they are located in Berlin. If they are going to fund art they may as well try to use local artists. Although I agree not everything needs to be done by a local.

I would like the city policy to also apply to increased aesthetics of bridges and other infrastructure. The point of the policy is to avoid ugly concrete bridges, but the architecture on the West LRT is awesome, it doesn't need a ring or a fish slapped on the side.

The ring would have been interesting to fabricate. I saw it driving across the new stretch of road there a couple weeks ago, and figured that the main reason for it would have been to create a circle around downtown for vehicles entering Calgary from the North. If that is the case, perhaps we haven't given it enough of a fair shake. Would love to see how it looks coming in from Airdrie, and if indeed it frames the skyline from that vantage.

[Calgarian]

I just made the mistake of reading the comments section on an article about the blue hoop and I have to say it's amazing how many people want to spin this into an anti Nenshi campaign, despite the fact that he said he thinks its stupid and a waste of money.

Does anyone actually like the hoop?

[5seconds]

I have a better appreciation for the ring after reading that post about it. I think the thing that bothers me most is the lights at the top. If it was just a pure ring, I would like it much more than this. It really looks like the lights were an afterthought (might not be) that was stuck up there to fulfill some safety requirement.

When I first saw it I thought the entire thing might also glow like a neon ring. I was disappointed.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by 5seconds

I have a better appreciation for the ring after reading that post about it. I think the thing that bothers me most is the lights at the top. If it was just a pure ring, I would like it much more than this. It really looks like the lights were an afterthought (might not be) that was stuck up there to fulfill some safety requirement.

When I first saw it I thought the entire thing might also glow like a neon ring. I was disappointed.

Yeah if it had a light ring as part of it people might think it was cool, but the lights on the top are just awkward.

[Calgarian]

Interesting article by the company that actually built Traveling Light.
http://heavyindustries.ca/travelling-light-it-isnt-easy-being-blue/

[RyLucky]

Actually, as I've been thinking about the blue ring this week, my opinion has evolved. I now like it more than initially. Here's what I wrote earlier:

Personally, I would have preferred the equivalent value of trees/shrubs, but I appreciate that the artists were trying to go for simple art that can be viewed from a speeding vehicle. Unfortunately, this example feels like art for the sake of art. Maybe it evokes thoughts of a wheel, or a wagon wheel, or a window, or transportation, or completion of a journey, or trade, or commerce, or industry, or aerospace, or bicycle handlebars, or insect antennae, or purity amidst polluted chaos, or taking time to look around in a fast-paced life. If the point is to get people talking about the purpose of art and the role of the public sector in facilitating art, then clearly it's a success. However, even if it is an expression of genius, I think that it is important that the public accept public art, and if art is not accessible and is not perceived as an expression of local voice, the public will not accept it, as is the case for this piece (at least so far).

Perhaps even the act of writing that forced me to think about it more. It's definitely striking and highly visible. The cost sounds like a lot, but as someone pointed out (I think it was Suburbia), most people have no clue what things cost. Including myself in "most people", I'd estimate the price is probably equivalent to a block or two of planter medians, curbs, and streetlights, all of which are so normalized that they are hardly even appreciated. So yeah, the blue ring is growing on me. It's different. It's rare that a piece of public art can stimulate so much community discussion around the axiology of art. Of all the places that we go in our lives, driving on Deerfoot is when probably when we are the most braindead, misanthropic, and in want of meaning. This kind of art might be good for us once in a while. What do you think?

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by RyLucky

Actually, as I've been thinking about the blue ring this week, my opinion has evolved. I now like it more than initially. Here's what I wrote earlier:

Perhaps even the act of writing that forced me to think about it more. It's definitely striking and highly visible. The cost sounds like a lot, but as someone pointed out (I think it was Suburbia), most people have no clue what things cost. Including myself in "most people", I'd estimate the price is probably equivalent to a block or two of planter medians, curbs, and streetlights, all of which are so normalized that they are hardly even appreciated. So yeah, the blue ring is growing on me. It's different. It's rare that a piece of public art can stimulate so much community discussion around the axiology of art. Of all the places that we go in our lives, driving on Deerfoot is when probably when we are the most braindead, misanthropic, and in want of meaning. This kind of art might be good for us once in a while. What do you think?

Glad to see you kept an open mind. I like it for pretty much the same reasons. It makes you go 'what the hell is that' on a normally boring drive. Jars you from reality which I find good art usually does.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by 5seconds

I think the thing that bothers me most is the lights at the top. If it was just a pure ring, I would like it much more than this.

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Yeah if it had a light ring as part of it people might think it was cool, but the lights on the top are just awkward.

Having only commented about it after having seen it in person, I know that its location is in the place of a light standard. The light on top is functional, as it is the correct place for the streetlight pole that would have been there had the loop not been. It is also this that has dictated the height of the loop.

Think of it like the Peace Bridge in that it is not just a non-functional piece of art, but is an artistic version of what is required. Unfortunately for the loop, it is many times the cost of the normal post (not sure what they cost, but I'm guessing the loop was at least 1000% of that), whereas the Peace Bridge would have only been perhaps 25% more than a trestle bridge with a square cross-section that could have met the basic functional criteria.

Personally I don't really mind it. The high cost was because they chose to build in Calgary (which is like pouring sidewalks in Montreal, if ya' know what I mean).

[Spring2008]

The art pieces at 6th and 10th

http://instagram.com/p/hbhY8SCBMM/#

http://instagram.com/p/hbii1YiBN1/#

[Chadillaccc]

Totally weak. :/


Love the new render though.


http://instagram.com/p/hbii1YiBN1/#

[O-tacular]

Less awful than I expected but still really blah. Looks like Lamb is in his Zwan phase.

[suburbia]

I was driving by the 'traveling light' installation a few days ago at night, and realized that it is only in the dark that this installation makes sense. Off to one side of the base there are three lights that shine up towards the ring, and as you drive by in the dark, the light races around the loop. Was interesting and more engaging than when you see it during the day.

[kw5150]

The loop is such a canadian cop-out in terms of final product. I any other country, they would not have had that STUPID light standard pasted to the top. It cancels out any artistic lighting intention that the artist initially had.

SAFETY FAIL. I like the idea, just dont like the canadian outcome. This blue loop should glow from hundreds of metres away and should be a landmark. The orange lights all around it destroy the intention.

[artvandelay]

I like the 6th & 10th (aside: anyone else think 6th & Pacific would've been a better name?) pieces. Some of you hipsters need to realize that this is Calgary and we love our western heritage!

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by kw5150

I any other country, they would not have had that STUPID light standard pasted to the top.

You do realize that there needs to be street lighting there, and that the loop actually acts as a light standard?

Originally Posted by kw5150

This blue loop should glow from hundreds of metres away and should be a landmark. The orange lights all around it destroy the intention.

Uhmmm ... have you actually seen it at night in person? What orange lights are you talking about?

I agree that it would have been cool to have it lit better, but on the other hand it would have defeated the 'traveling light' concept completely.

A thicker and twisting ring would have been nice also, but that would have added significantly to the cost.

Personally I'm not sold on this installation, but I'm not as down on it as the social media mob either.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by kw5150

The loop is such a canadian cop-out in terms of final product. I any other country, they would not have had that STUPID light standard pasted to the top. It cancels out any artistic lighting intention that the artist initially had.

SAFETY FAIL. I like the idea, just dont like the canadian outcome. This blue loop should glow from hundreds of metres away and should be a landmark. The orange lights all around it destroy the intention.

Actually if you read about it on the designer's website that pasted on light standard is very intentional. It's supposed to invoke handlebars or antennae or something. Very deliberate and not a cost cutting measure at all.

[kw5150]

Yep. just drove by the other day, at night.....and barely noticed the lighting. The orange glow from all the other lights is distracting. Yes, I realize that canadians "think" you need to have light on every square inch of ground and it need to match the street lights. Dont people realize that better lighting on the actual scultpture (which I like) would have sufficed to light up the "dark spot?". The antennae (dual light standard) is stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid......anyway, the dark spot was only dark on paper.......in actual life, the whole area is brightly lit.

Instead of the light standard "pasted" onto the top of the ring, I would have just done a bunch of LED surface mount lights at underside of the top of the the ring shining down on to the street.

Love the ring, hate the light standard on top.

Originally Posted by suburbia

You do realize that there needs to be street lighting there, and that the loop actually acts as a light standard?



Uhmmm ... have you actually seen it at night in person? What orange lights are you talking about?

I agree that it would have been cool to have it lit better, but on the other hand it would have defeated the 'traveling light' concept completely.

A thicker and twisting ring would have been nice also, but that would have added significantly to the cost.

Personally I'm not sold on this installation, but I'm not as down on it as the social media mob either.

[kw5150]

The light standard is ugly, the ring is cool.

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Actually if you read about it on the designer's website that pasted on light standard is very intentional. It's supposed to invoke handlebars or antennae or something. Very deliberate and not a cost cutting measure at all.

[Doug_Cgy]

I actually don't mind the art pieces. I pictured far, far worse...

[Spring2008]

They look cheap. Guess I can't complain cause overall that plaza does look really good.