Now that the police have raised their concerns about the local hoons who, like moths, are attracted to the light from this ‘GOLD COAST’ sculpture, Council is seriously reconsidering the future of this enigmatic work. Apparently this highway precinct is seen as an excellent place for vehicular highjinks, as the lighting is good enough for the local lads to take videos of their burnouts and put them online. So it is that the police have become involved in matters of art; and Council has decided once again to remove the public sculpture.
Now one would usually come to the artist’s defence in these matters, but the work has inherent problems that have been discussed in https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2019/01/gold-coast-dazzle-removed.html. One could argue that, while being a good idea, the artwork has problems that are almost impossible to overcome in its current location. In the midst of this kerfuffle, the artists themselves have raised their voice to defend the qualities of their work. One can sympathise with their plight, but it is difficult to understand how they are unable to see the problems that are greater than the hooning issue.
The work has no relevance to all the thousands of people driving past it every day. This might mean little if the work was not located in the centre of the highway at the border of the Gold Coast, unmissably proud and dominant. All that the passing traffic sees is a stack of yellow light poles of varying height during the day, and a pool of light at night. That this sculpture might read ‘GOLD COAST’ in sparkling lights at night from the passing train, if one happens to look at the right time, is a fact that is just not evident to those on the freeway who have to drive by the muddle of poles and wonder 'What?' and 'Why?' Little wonder that there is much concern when it is discovered that this artwork cost $2.1 million.
The other issue of address has to do with the obvious mirrored reading of the sculpture from the motorway: it clearly 'faces' two ways. The form gives every indication that, once one has been told that it reads ‘GOLD COAST’, that it does this on both the east and the west; but no - the reading is unusually only one way in spite of the split form - from the east.
So, in spite of the artists’ vision of a starry sparkle, and the very pretty image that the night-time photograph from the train line provides, the basic problem with this public work is that it has a very obscure public presence with its puzzling clutter of very public poles. The work misses the very point of its existence, being there saying ‘GOLD COAST.’ Why is this declaration so secretive?
One has to be concerned with the artists who continue to promote their vision, as though there were no issues with their work. One frequently sees artworks that are ahead of their time, as the cliché goes; works that are not understood or are misunderstood: but it seems foolish to try to argue about qualities of an artwork that unfortunately has serious contextual problems with its identity.
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Brilliant visions are not enough; they have to be constructed and brought into this world, and reveal their qualities in spite of all of these challenges. Louis Kahn spoke of the creative process of going from idea, to facts, and back to ideas:
A great building must begin with the unmeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed and in the end must be unmeasurable.
One could suggest that this ‘GOLD COAST’ sculpture has failed to address the facts, the things ‘measurable,’ and in doing so, has destroyed the idea, the 'unmeasurable' matters in the desired everyday experience.
Sadly, one can agree that the work should go: the challenge now is to know what to do with it. Might there be a future for this clever piece beyond becoming scrap? This is the matter that the artists can turn their mind to. The sculpture might be able to truly sparkle if the facts are all addressed. Arguing in a ‘passionate defence’ that the work is ‘welcoming’ and ‘mysterious’ seems to be a way of using words to address the obvious problems, an attempt to explain them away; but there seems to be a basic misunderstanding even here: things ‘welcoming’ are rarely ‘mysterious.’ The facts of the vision need to be addressed, not excused. There is no joy in being kept in the dark by a sculpture that floods the highway with light.
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The articles:
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Learning from Las Vegas is a 1972 book by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour. Translated into 18 languages, the book helped foster the development of postmodern architecture. (Wikipedia)
28 March 2023
And now MOMA is involved! - see:
The New York-based designers Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano issued a public plea to councillors to keep the lights earlier this month.
The Architecture and Design curator at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York (‘senior curator Paola Antonelli’) urged council not to let personal opinions sway its decision.
Has this senior curator seen the work, or is she responding to the pleas of her American colleagues?
This artwork has serious problems that cannot be explained away with words, or as a matter of ‘personal opinion.’ One could liken it to presenting the Mona Lisa to be viewed end on, and suggesting that this would be ‘welcoming’ and ‘mysterious.’
If MOMA thinks that this sculpture is such a masterpiece, then perhaps it should purchase the work for its collection, paying the $2 million plus for it, overcoming Council's problems with this piece of public art.
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3 APRIL 23
One has to point out that the reading of the 'GOL . . ' in this image is only possible when one stops, gets out of the car, and looks back against the flow of the traffic. Might the American-based designers have forgotten that we drive on the other side in Australia? The image below this one shows that the traffic flow can read, at best, only the mirror image of the message.
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