Art on the hill

Driving through town yesterday I decided to have a look at the progress of improvements to one of our parks in the CBD. (All started prior to the FIFA world cup.)

The flag in the background is reportedly the largest in Africa! (don’t ask :))

 

I'm reminded of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells

Here’s what our local paper had to say

“A RENOWNED Mandela Bay artist has contributed to the upgrade of the city’s historical areas by paying tribute to the waters that used to run through it.

Inspired by a 150-year-old poem about the disappearance of a streamlet that once flowed down to the sea, Duncan Stewart has created a striking 16 metre sculpture as part of the Donkin Reserve upgrade.

Stewart said the idea for the sculpture, made from stainless steel tubing, came about after he read a poem called The Lament to the Donkin Street Streamlet written by William Selwyn in 1853. The streamlet once cascaded down to the sea but was filled in by the then municipality, making way for Donkin Street.

“Water has become a major concern and priority both locally and globally as climate change impacts our daily lives. By appealing to both the sense of sight and sound, I wanted to create a sculptural piece that communicated the need to preserve and value this life-giving gift. It will be an audible reminder with the wind- pipe effect, of whispers from a river.”

The sculpture was erected on the Donkin Reserve this week and is part of the Mandela Bay Development Agency citywide urban renewal project within the Bay. One of these projects is the upgrade of the Donkin Reserve.

Stewart’s concept was selected to commemorate the natural environment lying beneath the recent layers of Mandela Bay’s growth.”

11 thoughts on “Art on the hill”

  2. Morning Janus.

    I’m not used to ‘modern art’ (or art of any sort, for that matter) in public places, shopping centres and other private places yes but not in a park or street.

    It was funded by a lottery grant, so no complaints from me on that front 😉

  3. As ‘modern art’ goes that’s not bad. 🙂

    Was the stream filled in or simply covered up (like the Fleet and Walbrook in London)? I would imagine it to be quite hard to stop a naturally flowing body of water simply by filling it in.

  4. I wondered that too Boa – why a stream was “filled in?” Got to respect nature. Leave streams alone!

    Nice sculpture though.

  5. This site seems to imply that the stream was not filled in, but enclosed:

    http://www.ewisa.co.za/misc/WaterHistory/default19c.htm

    Jan – the problem with most streams and rivers running through towns was that they rapidly became sewers. There is a wonderful picture of the Fleet before it was enclosed to become part of London’s sewerage system. It is clear that the houses backing into the river were dumping all their ‘waste’, human and otherwise, into the water right on top of the Londoners who were bathing in the river. Best thing for everyone that the river was enclosed!

    Who knows what state the Donkin stream was in!

  6. Someone once said that art is in the eye of the beholder, so with this in mind, to me it looks like an explosion in a ‘sarf lunnen’ scrap yard, Philistine that I am.

  9. Evening all.

    Thanks for the link boa, some quite interesting stuff there.

    As I said, I’m not used to ‘art’ popping up in public places, my only exposure to date has been one of Queen Vic outside our City Hall, the Cenotaph and the Horse Memorial (dedicated to horses lost during the Boer Wars.

    I believe there a few more ‘works’ on the hill, I’ll take my camera and go have a look this weekend!

Add your Comment