Dublin in-Spire-ing? / Rogers makes Newsweek / new way to help Kurtz / oligarch adds to his Arsenal (Wednesday 19 September 2007)
The Dublin Spire – a viable alternative to the World Trade Center Memorial?
compiled by Emma O’Toole
Does the Spire of Dublin point out what’s wrong with the World Trade Centre Memorial or can these monuments even be compared?
In a recent article on the online Slate magazine, architecture critic Witold Rybczynski considered that it “would have been better if the World Trade Centre Memorial had been more like the Dublin Spire – uplifting and inspiring, but also mute.”
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| Dublin's Spire; image held here |
The Dublin Spire has in recent years gained its power from its engineering and not from its symbolic value. The spike, erected in 2002, impressively rises over four hundred feet high [metric], has a ten foot diameter[ metric] base and consists of eight long sections of hollow tapered steel.
But what does the Spire actually mean? With no writing, no iconography and no overt symbolism, the Dublin Spire can mean whatever you want! With little symbolic value, the Spire lends itself to many interpretations. And it is because of this that Rybczynski considers the Spire to be an impressive sculpture. In his essay, Rybczynski compares the Spire to some of the most potent monuments, such as the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, the Kaaba at Mecca, and the Washington Monument.
According to Rybczynski, the World Trade Centre Memorial in comparison to the Spire is “relentlessly literal.” The completed design consists of two pools (which represent the tower footprints), three hundred oak trees surrounding the pools, the victims’ names, and a visitor centre, all of which make an obvious statement of the absence, destruction and loss that the September 11th tragedy caused.
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| Maquette of WTC Memorial; image held here |
But can these sculptures really be compared? What Rybczynski doesn’t stress is that ‘memorial’ and ‘monument’ are not synonymous or interchangeable words. On one hand, a monument can be understood as human landmark, which has been made in order to display people’s actions, ideals and aims. Memorials, meanwhile, are a particular kind of monument that is specifically designed for remembering the dead or tragic event.
Therefore; as one reader points out in the Slates online discussion forum The Fray, what would be appropriate for a monument, something heroic, light, “uplifting” and “inspiring,” would be inappropriate for commemorating a tragic event.
What the Dublin Spire serves as is a human landmark. It is a feat of engineering, a design based on structural logic.
Contrary to Rybczynski, for many the memorial will lend itself to several interpretations – for some the pool will reflect Heaven, for others they will suggest nature’s vitality and renewal. And the three hundred oak trees will offer solace to victims’ families.
Michelle Rogers featured by Newsweek
For her work on a 9/11 memorial, Irish artist made the home page of Newsweek's site last week; see more here.
Help the 'bioterrorist'
Remember artist and 'bioterrorist' Steve Kurtz? We have reported before on his bizarre dealings with the FBI, following his wife's sudden death (click here). Now his supporters have come up with a new way of funding his legal expenses.
To quote a recent e-shot by Gregory Sholette:
Finally, a familiar case to all of you, but one that is far from over and still in need of your support. Steve Kurtz and Robert Ferrell's political trial dressed up as a Federally prosecuted civil case (mail fraud) has not even been scheduled yet. While the art world and activists have helped Kurtz, a co-founder of the Critical Art Ensemble, and his former colleague Professor Ferrell, the CAE Defense Fund is approximately $100,000 short of being able to pay their defense attorneys through to the trial itself. A unique means of supporting both men is being proposed: to use yahoo's "good search" browser. Yahoo's GoodSearch.com is a new search engine that donates 50 percent of its revenue - about a penny per search - to the charities its users designate. You just go ahead and research as usual on the internet, but every search you do is also money in the coffers of the defense fund. Go to http://www.goodsearch.com/ and indicate in the box that your charity is Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center - then use the browser as your search tool.
And those of you in the NYC area please take time to see Lynn Hershman Leeson's film on the case at MoMA on October 1st, and at at CINEMA VILLAGE THEATERS from October 5th to the 13th. For more on the CAE case go to http://www.caedefensefund.org
Russian fatcat halts auction of complete Rostropovich art collection
compiled by Solenne Schmit
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| Boris Grigoriev: Faces of Russia, one of the paintings in the cancelled auction; image held here |
A few days ago in London, the sale at Sotheby's of one of the most important private Russian collections was cancelled. Alisher Usmanov, the eighteenth richest man in Russia, paid over £25m to obtain the whole Rostropovich art collection. Moreover, this is the man who recently invested in English football with a 15 % stake in Arsenal.
The rise in value of Russian art over recent years has been phenomenal, driven by private collectors in Russia. But there has also been an apparent sharp rise in the number of forgers.
The forgers frequent European auction houses looking for paintings, created at about the same time and in the same style as the work of sought-after Russian artists. The forgers often re-wet the paint to make additions and adjustments, including signatures. As well as this, they also revarnish the work and sometimes add, what is known in the trade, as craquelure,hairline surface cracking that indicates aging.- according to Vladimir Petrov (a curator at the state-run Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow)
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For a full list of news items, click here.
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