Wednesday 25 June 2008

Public Yarts

Meet The Public - or rather, THEpUBLIC, the jewel in the navel of West Bromwich, which is finally opening to an eager public a mere two years behind schedule. Without having seen it, I make no comment on the architecture (though I fancy Will Alsop was having a laugh) - it's the condescending cynicism of the whole notion that gets me.. Plonk down an 'arts centre' with a meaningless name in a rundown area and not only will it benefit the population culturally - because, as we all know, having 'access' to the arts, sorry the yarts, does you good - but you will also get 'regeneration'. Look at The Sage... Well, wouldn't regeneration be better served by a few more basic facilities - swimming pool, leisure centre, cinema, even theatre, none of which West Bromwich has - rather than this resuscitated white elephant? And as for whether the arts do you good, I suspect it is only good art that might make that claim - and I very much doubt if the public will be seeing much of that in THEpUBLIC.

6 comments:

  1. I have some experience in this area -- regeneration, arts centres in run down areas, town planning -- and I can assure you that these people can waste money faster than it's printed. I spent three hours in Manchester's art gallery the other week and didn't meet more than half-a-dozen people. There's nothing I hate more than seeing people forced to appreciate art. It's why we're getting so much bad art in the country.

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  2. The perfect rectangle, or not (in theory approx. 1/1.63), modelled on a box of matches. The only Geordie who really benefited from the Sage was a butcher friend of mine, his abattoir came down as part of the redevelopment.
    The new one was light years ahead of the original, thank you Sage. I agree with your comments about the waste of money on "arts" centers, just another way to create more civil service jobs. this was well worth the investment (go to home/museums link).
    Although little Norm Foster was involved, its one of his better efforts, 45mins from Dusseldorf airport. Sage software started in business about the same time as me, 5 minutues away from my plant. Two ex Kalamazoo salesmen, did they pick the right place, right time. A few years ago one of them bought a place 2 miles from me, then built a golf course on it.
    We have been watching the Jays all week, hunting down young chaffinches, the red squirrels are back again, the badger dug out a wasps nest in the ground last night, more repair work.

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  3. If all the money that was ploughed into these new initiatives went into supporting existing situations then we'd all probably be better off. It's all about new....it's just like government really.

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  4. Maybe it's time to think about rescuing art from the "artists."

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  5. And the yarts administrators, Frank...

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  6. i hear that arts funding in this country is now wholly political. i know i've been three times rejected for PhD funding while i've seen people i'd regard as mediocrities effortlessly secure 4 years of funding...it does seem more to do with if your 'art' is about promoting multiculturalism and destroying the native culture, than about whether it's actually any good or not.

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