Black Swan - Commission 3 Coming Soon!

[Melanie]

Miles Thurlow is the third artist to be commissioned for the Imagine Porty Prom project by public arts trust Big Things On The Beach.

The commission will be launched on 31st July 2010 so get that date in your diary and make sure you come and have a look and contribute your thoughts and feedback. It will be an interesting one!

[wangi]

So, 13 puggies in on the beach - the "opening" is 2pm Saturday with artists talk at 3.

But they're down there now blinking away - here's a small sample of 3 from the 13:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lkindness/4836127992/" title="Puggies by Lee Kindness, on Flickr"><img border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4149/4836127992_c875aeb1da.jpg" width="500" height="411" alt="Puggies"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lkindness/4836122404/" title="Blink blink by Lee Kindness, on Flickr"><img border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4124/4836122404_250230e045.jpg" width="500" height="374" alt="Blink blink"></a>

http://www.bigthingsonthebeach.org.uk/
L/

[Bob Jefferson]

[wangi]

That's pretty surreal! Shame it wasn't darker do the lights added to it.

[Bob Jefferson]

Not for the first time, I note that other people's pictures and movies are often more interesting than 'the art' they depict. I suppose the artist would wish to take the credit for this 'interaction' but I'm not sure that they deserve it.

My contribution, if I could be bothered, would be to attach a laminated piece of card to each machine that read 'Give Us Our Money Back'.

[wangi]

Ach now Bob - art acting as a catalyst is exactly what it's about.

And if you're to moan about extravagant waste of money in Edinburgh there's much bigger targets. At least this is money being spent here.

[Bob Jefferson]

If Johnny's Amusements had left them on the beach, they would have been charged with fly tipping. When does it become 'art'? When it is produced by an 'artist'. But it's a no-win situation, because if people say it's rubbish then BTOTB say that it is intended to be controversial and this is exactly the response they had hoped to provoke.

My conceptual response, 'Give Us Our Money Back' challenges the artist, the art establishment and the Scottish Arts Council. Or am I attacking the gaming industry, which has ruined thousands of families in the name of 'amusement'? Or perhaps it refers to the greed of the capitalist banking industry that has created the current world crisis? You might not like it but at least it's free.

[SoupDragon]

[wangi]

[Bob Jefferson]

I like this:

[Bob Jefferson]

So much so, that I've given up on the idea of making my own film because I don't have the time or the technical skills to come anywhere near it. It's pretty much the film I had in my head, other than the soundtrack. I wanted sounds that were made by the machines themselves and the quest for that led me into the mad, mad world of fruit machine emulators and ultimately to an episode of Tim Pickup's 'Audio Adventures in Science, Pseudo-Science and Nonsense' in which he orchestrates a number of classic fruit machines in a version of the jazz masterpiece 'Hobo Ho' by Charles Mingus.

[Melanie]

So, Black Swan has inspired others to respond to it and make their own pieces of work. Isn't that fantastic?

[Bob Jefferson]

Aaaaaaaaaaargh!

[Puerto bella]

Interesting view in our street - being put out there by my neighbour saying Black Swan was a waste of money and that it cost £50k.

Dont know about the cost and whether she's correct - what do other folk think? Is it a case of the emperors new clothes or is there value in all public art no matter the cost?

[Maria]

[dan1elb]

[wangi]

[Puerto bella]

[Puerto bella]

[Maria]

[wangi]