A week of animals and art
It was a weekof pigs, pandas, modern sculpture and more of that wretched flag debate, writes PHILIP MATTHEWS.
When art hits headlines
When art is put before the public, it often creates meanings you could never have anticipated. We have seen that a few times in Christchurch. Neil Dawson’s Chalice sculpture was one. Who now remembers that it was called ‘‘an affront’’ and a ‘‘vulgarity’’ before it was installed, and that the late Peter Beaven thought it ‘‘disgusting’’, comparing it with ‘‘the vent to an underground toilet’’? Now it is a civic symbol as recognised and loved as the cathedral spire once was. Similarly, Michael Parekowhai’s On First Looking Into Chapman’s Homer caught the imagination of a city still shell-shocked and dazed after the quakes. It’s more than likely that Sir Antony Gormley’s Stay sculpture will become another of those important works and that Gormley himself will become a kind of art hero to us, someone we will identify with the recovery period long after the penny-pinching arguments and routine ‘‘controversy’’ has died down. Watch and wait.
Ensign of the times
Right. We are more than four months into the flag change process and public indifference has hardly budged. A 3 News poll last weekend found that, after getting a look at the shortlist of four, 69 per cent wanted to keep the current flag and only 25 per cent were happy to change. But still, the process grinds inexorably on. Green PartyMP Gareth Hughes broke the Red Peak stalemate, turning the shortlist of four into a shortlist of five, which will cost another $400,000. Still, that is chump change against the $26 million allocated to the entire process. But can Red Peak, previously the choice of hipsters and other non-joiners, survive the mainstream endorsement? It was once the cool flag, now it’s your dad’s flag. As Gareth Morgan wrote this week, ‘‘we are headed to a $26m folly’’.
Animals’ curious poses
Of course, there was the devastating story about Hamilton zookeeper Samantha Kudeweh, killed by Sumatran tiger Oz last Sunday. That was tragic but at least the zoo did not compound it by destroying the animal as well. It was a tiger doing what a tiger does. From the tragic to the absurd: The week’s greatest news beast was the unnamed pig at the centre of British Prime Minister David Cameron’s ‘‘snoutrage’’ controversy. Claims that Cameron once put what news delicately called ‘‘a private part of his anatomy’’ into the mouth of a dead pig were first aired in an unofficial biography by Conservative rival Lord Ashcroft before being picked up by the British tabloids. No ham pun was spared.
Bamboo diplomacy
There was other animal news, more absurd even than the pig saga. Could Prime Minister John Key’s panda promise be back on the agenda? The vague, $100m plan to get two giant pandas to Wellington Zoo seems even less popular with the public than the flag change. But if the pandas don’t pan out, Key has promised us all pony rides and lolly scrambles.
Taskforce rules, OK
The so-called ‘‘loopy rules report’’ was released by the Government’s Rules Reduction Taskforce and suggested that builders could sign off on their work. Does that sound reasonable? Sure. About as reasonable as cutting coalmine inspectors must have seemed back in the 1990s. But ‘‘loopy’’ is a brilliant public relations handle for an inquiry into red tape and unnecessary rules that seem to be more mythical than real.