Presenting a blank canvas
Nature abhors a vacuum, and municipal governments abhor empty public space. If there’s a field, then there should be a public park, or a building, or a highway running across (going nowhere fast). If there’s money in a budget, it must be spent. One thing that always raises a polemic is art in the public space.
Quebec City is beautiful. A timeline of efforts by public and private, where things stay for years, nay centuries to astound. Sometimes, the will to build gets a bit out of control and we end up with things like roads to nowhere, but with enough dynamite and mechanical effort even the worst can be altered. Metamorphosed, if you need a fancier word. Take as a case in point the famous ramps from the lower town to the upper town, that have allowed rapid egress for the fifteen minutes of rush hour for several decades now. A portion was removed over the last two years (reference the road to nowhere) but part of the structure had to be left up for reasons clear to any kid who has ever constructed an arch from sand and Lego.
The city held a competition for “something” to fill a void, and the winning idea was announced to the taxpaying public this week. Quite apart from the projected cost of close to a million dollars, there’s one small flaw that hasn’t been addressed. First, the artistic conception.
Ignore the cars; they’re dynamic and will disappear in seconds (according to the artistic conception). I’m more worried about those white bubbles, composed of an alliance of concrete and fibreglass. Not to play Cassandra, but art invites art, and we have a thriving community of taggers (graffiti as art). Given that the highway will provide ready access to the public, day or night, and that the city plans for the bubbles to be lit internally, how long will the work of art maintain its pristine white appearance? Could we be satisfied with a cheaper canvas for the urban artist? Just a thought.
