Another waste of public money

aujopimur

I had a look at the so called piece of art in Emmet Place last night "Cow up a tree". In my opinion another waste of public money, much the same as the Sky Garden. Are those who spend public money in this fashion detached from reality.

Oafley Jones

I really like it.

EyeSight

Oafley Jones wrote: »

I really like it.

so do i. i prefer it to the usual bronze statues. it makes people smile

i would like to know where the money came from, i assumed it was from an art grant or one of those funds from the national lottery. if it came from the council i can see why you would be mad, but if it was from a fund intended for art then i don't see a problem

evilivor

EyeSight wrote: »

Oafley Jones wrote: »

I really like it.

so do i. i prefer it to the usual bronze statues. it makes people smile

i would like to know where the money came from, i assumed it was from an art grant or one of those funds from the national lottery. if it came from the council i can see why you would be mad, but if it was from a fund intended for art then i don't see a problem

City Council Council paid for it. €20,000 which does not include the cost of instalation etc.

They were, I believe, offered the same piece for free for Cork 2005 but declined.

Owen

Got to say I like it too, but AFAIK, the 20k hasn't been paid now in the bad times, it was paid a while back when times were good.

A waste of money was the City lowering the speed limit of certain streets to 30kph. Not only can you not do more than 10kph in the City anyway due to traffic, but the amount of fatal road accidents where speed is the single contributory factor is miniscule - something like less than 4%. Stupid kneejerk reaction brought on by someone making a 'won't someone think of the kids' speech in City Hall no doubt.

SeaFields

Owen wrote: »

A waste of money was the City lowering the speed limit of certain streets to 30kph. Not only can you not do more than 10kph in the City anyway due to traffic, but the amount of fatal road accidents where speed is the single contributory factor is miniscule - something like less than 4%.

And I assume a lot less than that for city centre accidents. Did a lot of walking around the city over the Christmas. The amount of junctions where there is no consideration for the pedestrian is phenomenal. u;re taking your life in your hands crossing at some points. I know people complain a lot about the people crossing through traffic in town but perhaps that could be reduced if money was invested in proper infrastructure for pedestrians.

Dudess

I don't like it but I've no problem with public artwork.

Bannasidhe

Made me laugh during the insanity of xmas shopping. I really like it. Rather the council spent money on that then on expenses for councillors who have no say in how the city is run anyway.

donalh087

I think that this is the guy I'm thinking about - he is an Australian artist living in West Cork.

In World War 11 in Australia, the Australian Government, in an attempt to 'hide' their airports, painted the runways green and made loads of papier mache cows and dotted them around the landing strips to make thm look like herds of cattle from the sky.

This artist now uses big 'cartoon' cows as anti war art and places them in strikingly incongrous places like the centre of New York, the Champs Elysee Etc. as big protest pieces.

I think we should be thrilled. And I don't think we've bought it by the way, I think it's on loan for a few months.

Lets be proud of it.

Sarky

A little detachment from reality is a good thing. People who lack detachment from reality aren't much fun to be around. Heh. Cow up a tree. Ingenious.

trebormurf

World War 11??? Christ last world war I learned about was World War 2. Must've had my head up my arse for the other eight!!

Ludo

trebormurf wrote: »

World War 11??? Christ last world war I learned about was World War 2. Must've had my head up my arse for the other eight!!

Head up your arse during maths also obviously :-)

trebormurf

Well World War 1,2 & 11 would leave 8 other wars my pedantic friend

donalh087

evilivor wrote: »

City Council Council paid for it. €20,000 which does not include the cost of instalation etc.

They were, I believe, offered the same piece for free for Cork 2005 but declined.

Source?

bean_c

I want to clarify something - the Arts Office in Cork City (and not the councilors) made an agreement with the artist - 20,000 for the loan of "Cow up a Tree". This money was used by the artist to pay for shipping of this 6 tonne sculpture (very heavy so shipping was very expensive) and public liability insurance. It is not a waste of public money - public monies are for ALL OF US - art lovers, city dwellers, shoppers, children, students, artists, workers, etc
This was a BARGAIN - for these reasons: 1 the cost is incredibly small compared other public sculpture in Ireland (many works have cost between 34,000 -100,000), 2 it is a challenging piece of art (and art should challenge, should be difficult and should cause us to question), 3 John Kelly is an artist of international renown. He represented by the prestigious Agnews Gallery London. When he was invited to create a piece in Paris in 1999 for a major sculpture fair (52 artists involved) - he stole the show with "Cow up a Tree".
I love the Cow up a Tree and have created a facebook page in support of it
https://www.facebook.com/CowUpaTreeCork

Kold

I don't think it's close to one of the biggest wastes of public money I've seen whilst walking through town.