CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 15years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
@Rosie, well aye they don't have warriors brandishing swords on their backs. Indeed all you can see is their heads and necks. It's the sheer scale though, and the mythologising aspect to them, that I find unsettling.
As for nationalism, whether civic or otherwise, the Kelpies have been used as a national symbol of sorts, vis:
I can see how mythologising something mythological could wind people up.
I can verify an encouraging effect of the scrap-metal livestock and totem poles on the Kirkstead-Bardney bit of NCN1.
I've applied for £4,000 to make a 50m high statue of William Wallace brandishing an AK-47 but get this - it'll have the Grangemouth gas flares coming out of the gun barrel!
@iwrats That'd go nicely with my suggestion to turn the Wallace Monument into a sort of water feature clock by having it spurt milk from its tip with the chiming of every hour, except with loudspeakered gasps of "Freedom!" in Mel Gibson's voice instead of bells.
I like the pyramids on the M8 especially when the sheep are pink. Also the teletubby trumpet and The Heids beyongd Coatbrig' they are by David Mach and my favourite Heid is Terry.
@wingpig
We should exhibit these pieces as a pair.
Untitled I, wingpig, 2019. Sandstone, wood, slate, glass, rubber, clocks, milk. On loan from Historic Scotland.
Untitled II, IWRATS, 2019. Poured concrete, steel, copper, iron, brass, miscellaneous hydrocarbons, soot. On loan from private collection.
My suggestion would be "The Barbeque" a 16 hour artistic event held somewhere on the NEPN. I'm sure you can imagine what this lifelike short term installation would entail and why at only £1000 it would represent such good value.
Untitled III, acsimpson, 2019. Beer, warm meat, industrial cider, charcoal, dogs, sweat. On loan from the artist.
Untitled III would actually be a useful tool in helping with engagement, especially if it was hosted at commuting time on a sunny afternoon.
Good intelligent/accessible public art = art that I like.
Rubbish public art appealing to plebs/snobs only = art I don't like.
Untitled IV shall be an installation inspired by the dichotomy between one's willingness to embrace open spaces and public infrastructure and the thought processes that result in despoilment through litter, taking in this case an assortment of glass bottles, metal cans, plastic bags and excrement.
@crowriver - in that context no more than the Forth Bridges, which were the background for the 56/59 SNP MPs photos. They mean "identifiable place in Scotland, plus very dramatic." Different if it was a statue of Wallace or Bruce.
"Forth Crossing - the finest man-made structure in Scotland - discuss."
It's the sheer scale though, and the mythologising aspect to them, that I find unsettling.
Imagine if they had been of Alex Salmond (shudder)!
I have realised that I may have under-budgeted and If allowed would like to bid for extra to fund the bike-b-que. A cargo bike with grill on the front and pedal powered fridge on the back.
Scotland already has a fine William Wallace statue of course:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:William_Wallace_Statue.JPG
This one might be a little better.
Best Wallace statue is this one. Really quite sensitive for a Victorian bronze. Had quite a strong influence on me as a child.
Holy cow, that 'Freeeeedooooom' statue is atrocious.
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The statue was deeply unpopular, being described as "among the most loathed pieces of public art in Scotland"
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turn the Wallace Monument into a sort of water feature clock by having it spurt milk from its tip with the chiming of every hour, except with loudspeakered gasps of "Freedom!" in Mel Gibson's voice
That's far too metaphorical. People want literal. That's why Musselburgh's latest piece is a giant mussel shell.
Perhaps we should photoshop any future SNP-in-front-of-landmark photos we see so that they're standing in front of enormous versions of the DC Thomson character statues in Dundee (or make the SNP representatives all Pontypine-sized and photoshop them into a picture of the Dundee figures). Or replace the giant landmark with a ginormous Scottish Green MSP, for balance.
There is a nice see sculpture of Alexander Selkirk in lower largo. Quite like the William Wallace one up the town in Stirling
There is a nice wee statue of Alexander Selkirk in lower largo. Quite like the William Wallace one up the town in Stirling
One I did earlier (2011).
http://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/the-fifer-who-was-robinson-crusoe-1-153256/amp
Or replace the giant landmark with a ginormous Scottish Green MSP, for balance.
I would pay to see a massive steel Andy Wightman installed as the third Kelpie.
I forgot - there are some scrap metal sheep on the NCN 7 around Stanley. Also a couple of large figured made from old electrical transformers a bit further towards Consett and then a few random sculpture things in Consett itself.
Also on NC7, ‘early’ Andy Goldsworthy -
https://www.sustrans.org.uk/news/volunteers-restore-goldsworthy-art
I would pay to see a massive steel Andy Wightman installed as the third Kelpie.
Third Kelpie already been done.
Kelpies by Bill Kennedy, on Flickr
Expecting politicians (of any stripe) not to be photographed in front of well known / "iconic" structures / places seems hopeful. Unless we institute a "plain neutral coloured walls as backdrop only" policy - everything is political, after all. (Even - well, these days, perhaps especially - walls.)
Meanwhile I have been enjoying the way that other (lesser?) cycling forums get narky with one another about helmets or vehicular cycling, but CCE gets riled up by public art projects.
elitist us?
pelf rollock yurt dweeb
Money and lack of imagination or political anxieties gives you a lot of public art which is a boulder with a plaque. I really would prefer the Wallace Braveheart (with the Andy Murray gob) to that. I can see people becoming fond of it over the years. It's not bland, anyway.
The one I find very moving is the Scottish American WWI relief in Princes Street Gardens.
“CCE gets riled up by public art projects”
“Riled up”
Take that back AT ONCE.
‘We’ have genteel discussions...
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