in the name of art

Category: Let's talk

Post 1 by sugarbaby (The voice of reason) on Friday, 29-Jul-2005 8:06:29

Today an artist will turn off a tap which has been running at the House Galary in Camberwell, in South London, for a month. The artist, Mark McGowan put on the exhibit to highlight the amount of water wasted in this country. He had intended to leave the tap running for a year but Thames water threatened him with legal action if he didn’t turn it off. In one month, he has wasted 800000 gallons of water, and he’s done it all in the name of art. Not only that, a computer anallyst from America is now going to buy the tap and sink for £1500. so, has the concept of art gone too far? Can we basically now do whatever we want and call it art? After all, we’ve all seen or heard of some of the entries and winners of the turner prize, or is art just a personal thing, can what is seen as a pile of horse excrement to one really be seen as art to another? any thoughts?

Post 2 by Grace (I've now got the ggold prolific poster award! wahoo! well done to me!) on Friday, 29-Jul-2005 9:43:10

It truly seems to that with all this water running forth in the name of Art that perhaps there could have been some previous prethot before the work got underway and the water funneled as it were into a source where the water would have been Welcoming, such as a nearby Garden of various plantings, perhaps with the Garden done in an Artistic Arrangement with the harvest of said garden going to benefit say for example a soup kitchen for the homeless/needy or perhaps to use in a school lunch program. Connie in favor of "The Arts with a Purpose"

Post 3 by Puggle (I love my life!) on Friday, 29-Jul-2005 13:25:08

I'm with cg on this one. what ie creative or artistic about a running tap? this really winds me up because here in australia we've been in a drout for to many years to recall now. Water is a necessity ofr survival, and should be valued much more highly than it is, and not taken so much for granted.

Post 4 by Texas Shawn (The cute, cuddley, little furr ball) on Friday, 29-Jul-2005 14:28:02

sounds like another artsey waste of resorces.

Post 5 by Goblin (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Saturday, 30-Jul-2005 9:06:29

Puggle I think the artist would possibly agree with you ..the running tap is a statement about the wastefulness of the human race and I think he has a point...

Post 6 by Resonant (Find me alive.) on Saturday, 30-Jul-2005 11:51:33

And making statements about our wastefulness is all very well, but man. Water's precious! Not to be just poured down the drain, as it were. And that particular style of art smacks of arrogance and self-indulgence to me, but I don't really know anything about the visual arts. The equivalent in music and literature annoys me to the back of beyond though.

Post 7 by sugarbaby (The voice of reason) on Saturday, 30-Jul-2005 17:05:35

absolutely, oh yeah let's highlight water wastage by pouring the best part of 100000 gallongs of it away over a year, because let's not forget, that the intention was to run this exhibit for a year, but it was cancelled when thames water threatened legal action.

Post 8 by Goblin (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Monday, 01-Aug-2005 11:49:10

Maybe that is what he was trying to get across in a clumsy and abstract way...

Post 9 by Puggle (I love my life!) on Tuesday, 02-Aug-2005 1:58:16

what ever he was trying to get across, his way of going about it was rediculous and they should sue him anyway for beeing a nob.

Post 10 by Goblin (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 02-Aug-2005 10:08:54

absolutely I've seen news reports of the drought in Australia and it looks dire...have you had any relief yet..we had a drought here but its hardly worth talking about

Post 11 by sugarbaby (The voice of reason) on Tuesday, 02-Aug-2005 10:17:33

we don't get real droubts here - if they utilised their rain water here properly there wouldn't be shortages.

Post 12 by Goblin (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 02-Aug-2005 10:46:18

absolutely I've seen news reports of the drought in Australia and it looks dire...have you had any relief yet..we had a drought here but its hardly worth talking about

Post 13 by Manwe (The Dark Lord) on Tuesday, 02-Aug-2005 11:19:14

crazy, totally crazy it is. What some people call art is just totally beyond me.

Post 14 by Goblin (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 02-Aug-2005 11:48:08

Correct me if I'm wrong, but is this the same numpty who went around scratching expensive cars, as a protest about the effect of the car on the enviroment...it sounds like the kind of stunt he would pull...all this modern alternative art, give me a Turner or a Vettriano any day...only j/king..

Post 15 by Godzilla-On-Toast (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Saturday, 06-Aug-2005 17:36:35

It seems if somebody calls something art, then it is art. If you scream into a tape machine for a preset amount of time, give it a title, make copies and distribute it somehow, then that is art. Then other people can hear the piece and try to derive great cosmic meanings out of what is nothing but somebody screaming so they can pretend that they're smarter and more enlightened than the rest of us. See what I mean? LOL!