Atomised

Odd and sinister artwork in Cockburn submitted by Crankynick. Before I go on, I have looked through my submission pile and am very embarrassed that I still haven’t posted so many excellent submissions from people. There are so many that I may take a little time. Sometimes I just have to think of something funny to say to go with them.

Crankynick says: This couple has been bemusing travellers on the Freeway South since mid-2006, as both mugshots are leering at drivers from the top of the tower on Cockburn station. They’re supposed to be the ‘Faces of Cockburn’ – the artist took photos of 500 young boys from the area, and 500 old women, and morphed the respective genders together. I think they should use the space for “Australia’s most wanted” and have done with it.

Thanks Cranker. I have driven past these a few times and thought that they were 1: advertisments, or 2: missing persons. I have to admit that I think the idea is really interesting, and I want to like it, but the result is extremely sinister, which is inappropriate for the station stetting. They look like the photos people put on graves. If anyone wants to support it, I’m quite happy to add it to the not worst category though. Crankynick suggests that they should have been lower, or have some kind of explanation. I’m inclined to agree.

cockburnkidclose.jpgcockburnwomandistant.jpg

 

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About AHC McDonald

Comedian, artist, photographer and critic. From 2007 to 2017 ran the culture and satire site The Worst of Perth
This entry was posted in worst art, worst public art and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

150 Responses to Atomised

  1. CK says:

    Big Mother Is Watching You.

    Like

  2. Martin says:

    Yeah, there is a fairly detailed explanation of the artworks at the entrance to the train station. I dig the idea myself, I just think the execution is kinda crummy.

    Also, the genders were not morphed together.

    Like

  3. rachel says:

    I always thought they were missing people but was never sure. one trip through cockburn I got so irritated that I didn’t know what it was i looked it up on wikipedia…. completely retarded idea in my opinon…

    Like

  4. poor lisa says:

    LOL what a gulf between interesting conception and dodgy execution.
    If you’re going to go to the trouble to take and morph 1000 photos, why not get 250 boys, 250 girls, 250 old men and 250 old women… or just a random 1000 people from parks and shopping centres… or double it and 500 of each… it would just be more well rounded innit and wouldn’t evoke disturbing collective anxieties about castration, hormones in the water, etc etc. They’re improbably Anglo too. Someone definitely cut some corners here, unless the intent actually WAS sinister.

    Like

  5. poor lisa says:

    Thanks Martin that makes it somewhat less sinister. Although it still says ‘no young women or old men in Cockburn’….

    Like

  6. Rage says:

    At least they’re not young white lesbians.

    Anyway, this explains a lot. I always thought that was a memorial of some kind, possibly for people that were murdered or missing from that train station. It’s creepy.

    Like

  7. rachel says:

    what is it with this website and young white lesbians? just curious…seems to be a recurring theme no matter what we’re discussing…

    Like

  8. skink says:

    the work aims to be a portrait of the community, and the faces were of local residents, and reflect the ethnic mix of the suburb:

    http://202.60.70.28/~gligichy/image/250/

    I agree it’s a bit creepy, but then all the sandpit suburbs are a bit creepy anyway. standing on those windswept station platforms trapped between the wooshing traffic is a soul destroying experience

    Like

  9. Rachel, Greg claimed in a previous post that you had to be a YWL to get anywhere in the arts in Perth. Me, I am just addicted to typing the phrase.

    Like

  10. Mazarina says:

    that is so true skink! feels like a giant masoleum out there, and obviously not helped with giant graveyard photos at the station!

    Like

  11. Rolly says:

    Once again Perthites display their usual lack of aesthetics.
    Good Grief! Can’t we have something architectural that is simply pleasant to live with and actually serves its purpose well.
    Does everything have to be loaded with symbolism and artistic obscurity.
    Once again the triumph of the artyfarty over the well designed and attractive.
    Still it’s less offensive than the products of arch technos (who arrogantly call themselves architects) who believe that the prime function of a structure is to “….make a statement…” when they have no concept of what it is that they are really “stating”.

    Like

  12. skink says:

    keep your hair on Rolly,
    there was no issue about the architecture, but if you believe thatthose stations are ‘well designed and attractive’, then your sense of aesthetics is either skewed, or starved of oxygen.

    the stations simply do not offer any kind of shelter – from the wind, or the rain, or the freeway noise and fumes. I defy you to stand at Bull Creek for more than five minutes without getting the urge to hurl yourself out into the freeway to end it all

    the stations on the northern line are bright, airy and have some architectural merit, but the southern ones are soulless tin boxes huddling under the freeway bridges like the homeless

    Like

  13. Mez says:

    I think I agree with everyone for a change. A good idea and well executed. Bold in scale and location. Topical – in a “modern society erodes our identity and makes cyphers of us all” kind of way. But as an artwork it is a failure – this will cause more car crashes than Jeff Koon’s puppy

    Like

  14. Mez says:

    It is nice to see Glick in the pantheon of the worst though
    long time coming

    Like

  15. Bedfords Crackpot Fraternity! says:

    Any teenager with half a brain could tell a town planner with no brain how to orientate shelters for bus stops etc but they still fail to get it right. Where ever you go in Perth, public transport infrastructure seems rarely sympathetic to the local weather patterns, prevailing winds,rain,sun,etc. It really is a disgrace the lack of simple local knowledge that doesnt go into urban design for commuters. Btw, those so called portraits are crap – Worst I’ve seen in ages – hideous unimaginative, bland and void of any imagination regardless of the technology taken to create them!!There – thats my rant for the day!!

    Like

  16. skink says:

    I like the work, and it was quite a bold step for them to commission it.

    with Glick you can never be sure whether he is playing a straight bat or taking the piss, and in this case I suspect he is subverting the process and suggesting that the new suburb is as vacuous and dull as the expressions on these faces.

    actually, if you look at the faces of the people riding the trains to these dormitory suburbs, he has captured it perfectly: lights are on but nobodys home.

    Like

  17. Mez says:

    Are you saying that the lady on the sign is a lesbian?
    hmm 250 young girls 250 old women… maybe you are right

    Like

  18. tomthrett says:

    if glick is on here, it should be for the subiaco traino clock stand pole things. golly they are awful. and they havent told the right time for as long as i can remember. his house is so good though.

    Like

  19. skink says:

    didn’t he sell his house?

    Like

  20. greg hoey says:

    Definately think that artists and the like need to forget the nihilism for awhile and focus on bringing light and beauty back into the world.

    Poor architecture and lacking public spaces can at least be offset by brilliant and emotive artwork.
    And its largely a lacking of such that these dormitory suburbs and civic centers are so devoid of humanity.

    Get some Good sculptural works and art back into public the public domain, but not all the whiners and moarnfuls that want us all to feel the pain.

    Definately use the term ‘beautiful art’advisedly however as fine line between happy and inspiring work and the plain shallow and glittery.

    Like

  21. So I made up YWL myself?

    Like

  22. cimbali says:

    I really like this as a concept. not sure about the positioning but maybe sitting on a train is the perfect time and place to think about the changing (or not changing face of Australia) What is really strange is that I am sure I have seen these people around.
    It would be great to see the idea explored further – and maybe it has been elsewhere by the artist. It is interesting and thought provoking.

    Like

  23. David Cohen says:

    My friend Martin Turner edited the WS Weekly for a number of years. Was he a YWL during his reign? Should I inform his wife?

    Like

  24. cimbali says:

    Oh do shut up greg

    Like

  25. poor lisa says:

    Because I’m old and doddery, I’ve missed how we got from Cockburn Train Station to the Western Suburbs Weekly….

    Yeh Martin is… by no definition a YWL.

    Like

  26. poor lisa says:

    And I’m with cimbali. Greg, get a job. (with spellchecker)

    Like

  27. skink says:

    Greg,

    I have read your postings with great interest, and a quick search has told me that your views on the Perth Arts Scene have been expressed on many other blogs.

    I see from your writings that you are a practising artist, but I have been unable to discover any of your work on the web.

    I am sure it would be of great interest to the contributors to this site to see some of your work: it would enable us to place your comments within the context of your own oevre.

    would it be possible for you to post a link to your work, perhaps to one of the galleries that has exhibited your paintings?

    we would then be able to judge for ourselves whether your work is being sadly overlooked, and we may be able to offer our support against the bias within the arts establishment.

    Like

  28. This is going to be a very popular post. I love this. The Guardian (UK not Geraldton) would seldom get this many comments and passionate interest in a public art piece on their blog.

    Skink. I used to think that I could be right up there as a crackpot, but yes if you google Greg hoey, you will see I am a very, very humble amateur.

    Like

  29. poor lisa says:

    Sorry, so he does have a job. Just no grant.

    Like

  30. Bedfords Crackpot Fraternity! says:

    The end result here is a couple of really drab mug shots!! Hello!!! You’re only going to “get it” if you for some delusional & obscure reason fancy stopping for a read of the plaque and a windswept hairdo and suntan at Cockburn train station!

    Like

  31. skink says:

    ah, the Guardian usually provokes more heated debate than this humble site

    did you see this famous monstering of a poor blooger? the kid is now in hiding:

    http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/travelog/2008/02/skins_blog.html

    if only some of your contributors got such a mauling

    Like

  32. Martin says:

    I think this work just feels terribly unresolved. First up, why aren’t there four portraits on this four-sided structure?

    Like

  33. Beno says:

    oh dear,

    clearly this is a problem perth needs to fix, and what better way than to turn to michael jackson.

    has no one else thought we need to turn all these different faces into a randomly dissolving mix as in the music video for Black and White?

    c’mon , heal the world.

    ps, there is clearly nothing wrong with the perth arts scene when someone can persuade financial backers to give them money that involves taking 500 photos of young boys…

    hang on a second….

    Like

  34. poor lisa says:

    Yeah hang on beno. According to greg the arts scene is a clique of young white lesbians… or WSW journalists… or old white sausage-munching poms who like young white lesbians, not young boys… Now I’m really confused.

    Like

  35. The arts/architecture blog is usually pretty tame re comments at The Guard Skink. I follow it every day. Even whingeing about Germaine Greer’s posts doesn’t get that heated. The restaurant review one can be more lively.

    Like

  36. skink says:

    good grief GA!

    a genuine beardy muesli-eating cardigan-wearing lefty Guardian reader! a man after my own heart. there are a few of my own contributions posted there, especially on the football page

    if only Perth had an acerbic genius like Steve Bell

    Like

  37. I was trying to find my contribution to one about how architects always have crap websites. No muesli eating though. I’ll look out for you. I’m in today.
    http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/art/2008/03/what_have_you_always_wanted_to.html

    Like

  38. Bedfords Crackpot Fraternity! says:

    Yes Lisa a more relevant image would be an uncooked pork sausage wearing a handkerchief with knots on each corner, laying attractively beside a pint of Tennants!

    Like

  39. skink says:

    thank-you Lisa

    I had a mental image of what this work might look like, but I wasn’t even close.

    I am not quite sure why he is so negative towards the Perths arts scene, since so many of his works are already sold and there is clearly a small, discerning group of cognoscenti who are snapping up his work.

    I fail to see why he has yet to secure a solo show at PICA or AGWA. The work is clearly unique: an effortless synthesis of Francis Bacon’s palette and the pornographic hallucinations of long-term prison inmates.

    Like

  40. Levon says:

    I’m just amazed to discover that that, through blending over a thousand images, the average hairstyle for young boys in Cockburn is the jewfro.

    Like

  41. Golden1 says:

    The pictures have a sinister quality I think because the subjects have a “we know something you don’t” look on their faces.
    I agree with what others have said, the work is very difficult to read without some knowledge of the process. To the casual observer they just become missing person shots of a boy and his grandmother.
    Having just said that I wonder, like Skink if the artist isn’t taking the piss a little and they are supposed to look like missing person shots. Maybe he is saying that anyone living in this community IS a missing person. Village of the Damned type of thing.
    And just for the record Greg DEFINITELY used the term young white lesbian first.

    Like

  42. Levon says:

    They somewhat bring to mind “name and shame” passport photos, too

    Like

  43. adam1975 says:

    All I can think is Ye Gods. That’s not something you’d want to stumble across at 1am while out on a bender.

    “Those people, they keep looking at me!”

    Like

  44. Greg #17, you lie. You used the term “privelaged young white lesbians” sic on 12th of February. It was the first time it was used.

    Like

  45. Hattie says:

    I was thinking of visiting Perth some day. But now I am too afraid.

    Like

  46. Just keep away from Cockburn station Hattie.

    Like

  47. crankynick says:

    I was there when they put the bloody things up – it was much more disturbing up close, let me tell you…

    Like

  48. Rolly says:

    @12 skink
    The point that I was trying to make was the very point that you made: The complete lack of both aesthetics and function in so much of the equine excrement that passes for design and “art” in public/commercial structures.
    I’m not sure that I agree with you on the stations on the Northern line tho’. Again, more pretentious than purposeful.
    Like so much in our society’s values; designed more to impress than to serve function.

    Like

  49. Bedfords Crackpot Fraternity says:

    Do we really need to know what the monogenetic, baseline human face of Cockburn looks like in the first place? Thinking about this more, and after a wine or two I just see this as a rather pointless statement/artwork call it what you will – that essentially says buggerall! If I were a Cockburn resident I’d be telling the council they’re a joke and a disgrace, they should be ashamed of themselves, they should get someone on the team that has a brain and a bigger chequebook and knows the difference between art and crap!!

    Like

    • Ross says:

      “…..If I were a Cockburn resident I’d be telling the council they’re a joke and a disgrace, they should be ashamed of themselves…..”

      Hmmm, I think that’s exactly what the residents down there have been saying rather loudly of late.

      Like

  50. Jeez, this has already got more comments than the convention centre!

    Like

  51. SkyLantern says:

    Interesting work, bad location.

    Like

  52. crankynick says:

    Bedfords @ 53 –

    Actually, while the City of Cockburn is responsible for a whole bunch of mediocrity masquerading as art, the blame for this one should be laid firmly at the feet of Transperth, who commissioned it and put the bastard up.

    Without a clock, I should point out.

    Who puts up a sodding great tower above a railway station, and doesn’t include a fucking clock? Idiots.

    Like

  53. Perhaps morphing every public building in Cockburn as a background would have been interesting.

    Like

  54. Bedfords Crackpot Fraternity says:

    Gold,Gold,Gold – thanks for the heads up CN! Time and Perth…what a sensational oxymoron! Few public clocks in Perth that i’ve seen actually work!!London court – dont get me started!!…it took nearly 10 years to get the Beaufort st Inglewood clock near Mia Cafe working. A friend once said WA stands for “Wait Awhile..!!”

    Like

  55. Russell says:

    Agree with Hattie – frightening. There isn’t a sign, a word, a symbol … just those lobotomised heads. Looks like anti-depressant territory.

    Anybody old enough to remember when stations had very well maintained flower beds? The good old civic pride of the WAGR!

    Like

  56. Frank Calabrese says:

    [Anybody old enough to remember when stations had very well maintained flower beds? The good old civic pride of the WAGR!]

    And uniformed portes who kept the platforms neat and tidy and there were even ticket barriers and you actually had to get a ticket to be on the platform to see people off, and then return said ticket to the guard to leave the station.

    Like

  57. cimbali says:

    No I really do find this quite interesting. If I had to travel to (or from) Cockburn by train I would be glad of something to keep my mind occupied and a monogenetic, baseline human face of Cockburn (nice line that BCF)- or anywhere for that matter, might just do it. For instance I could scan the faces of the other occupants of the carriage for evidence of inbreeding!
    I do think the actual thing looks pretty weird and if I didn’t know what it was about I would be a little confused but I don’t think we would be better served by a meaningless brass monstrosity by the Smiths or somesuch – which lets face it is all we could expect.
    Hey Cranky just look at your watch, your ipod, your mobile phone, the position of the sun, your blood sugars….. pretty much anything will tell you the time. I am impressed that they opted for art instead. Now if they morphed the faces of all the clocks in Cockburn to put up there then maybe we would all be happy.

    Like

  58. Russell says:

    That was only in Perth I think Frank, but some of the stations on the Fremantle line, like Daglish, had gardens. Maybe Claremont has the only surviving bit of garden on that line. Like many of the older stations it is right near the shops – which is kind of essential for a train station. Are these new stations close to shops? (I hope to never travel on public transport again).

    Like

  59. Russell says:

    Cimbali – a big question, but why is it ‘art’?

    Like

  60. Frank Calabrese says:

    Well Midland had the Uniformed Janitor (it was my aunty’s father and he wore a green WAGR Jacket with a cap similar to that a french police officer.

    Shenton Park, even though it was rebuilt to make it wheelchair friendly had a garden and may still have, as well as some of the stations on the Midland line.

    Like

  61. Bedfords Crackpot Fraternity says:

    What it needs is a giant rotating bedflute mounted on top to give wind direction and sundial effect!!

    Like

  62. Russell says:

    Or a sniper, or possibly a guard with Ray-Bans and a rifle.

    Like

  63. cimbali says:

    Russell
    That is not something I have ever really got a grip on although I believe art is much more in the process than the product. Art exists in the intention even if it doesn’t succeed in the intent. I think a picture or sculpture is not a piece of art but the product of doing art – of following a creative urge. whether this artist was doing this or following the urge to make some money nobody but he can say.
    If the council commissioned an artist to produce a piece of art then is it not a piece of art just because we don’t like it? Don’t know, maybe these days art exists only in the eye of the beholder.

    This is probably all crap – LA or robotnic or meccano or many other on this blog would all be better placed to make (or break) this argument. or maybe you should ask Greg H!

    Like

  64. Russell says:

    “Art exists in the intention even if it doesn’t succeed in the intent” – that sounds really good, but wouldn’t it be best. for public art, if it did succeed in the intent?

    Like

  65. Russell says:

    Easier to stick with a janitor who “wore a green WAGR Jacket with a cap similar to that a french police officer.” Guaranteed to make anyone’s day brighter.

    Like

  66. crankynick says:

    I have other timepieces, cimbali – I just think they could have had a clock as well as some bloody awful artwork.

    Or a thermometer, or the cricket score, or almost anything else that does something that can pretend it’s useful.

    Mind you, I’m a function over form kind of bloke, so I tend to think that way anyway.

    Like

  67. cimbali says:

    Of course it would be better for pretty much everything (except criminals, pedophiles etc..) if we actually succeeded in our intent – to be good, or wise or early or pleasant or funny or clever or happy or build fabulous buildings or write extraordinary novels or produce amazing public art in Perth. Sadly we are all of us only human and often don’t succeed. Still, we probably should keep trying.

    Like

  68. Russell says:

    Sort of agree, but not in public. If this thing makes people feel miserable or uncomfortable you don’t want it in a public place that those poor commuters will have in front of them everyday. Life is disturbing enough. If we can’t have better art, I think the flower beds are a better bet.
    (did you see in Inside Cover today the picture of the sculpture in Singapore, as opposed to the stolid Eliza?)

    Like

  69. I’m sure Mr Glick would be a TWOP reader. He’d probably be pleased at the number of comments. It has only had very minimal support, so I won’t add it to “not worst” category.

    Like

  70. Rage says:

    “Art exists in the intention even if it doesn’t succeed in the intent. ”

    That’s an excellent statement. But I think, without great execution of the intention and the intent, it is not successful. What defines great execution, on the other hand…

    Like

  71. skink says:

    what defines great execution?

    didn’t they used to execute people by decapitation and then display the severed heads up high at the entrance to the city ? er…. oh

    Like

  72. I think it was Picasso who said “Do or do not. There is no try.” Wait, that might have been Yoda.

    Like

  73. cimbali says:

    I guess what I am trying to say is that if art exists in the intention then it is art – whether the result is bad, good or indifferent.
    If it is the intention of the viewer to regard a work as a piece of crap then they will always succeed but does it follow that it is therefore not art?
    The execution is important but many great artist, past and present use artisans or students or minions of some sort to produce the work. The execution is separate from the creative concept and although it may help it to succeed or not, I don’t think it defines whether it is art. Someone who has the skills to perfectly copy a great masterpiece is not producing art no matter how good the execution. Russell asked me “why is it art”, not “why isn’t it any good” to which there is no satisfactory answer.

    Skink – decapitation only defines a good execution, a great one has to include drawing and quartering.

    Like

  74. Russell says:

    “Art exists in the intention even if it doesn’t succeed in the intent.”

    Isn’t it prayer that exists in the intention even if it doesn’t succeed in the intent?

    I guess the intent at Cockburn was to create a friendly, local element to an alienating, generic bit of architecture – an intent not really “high art” enough to be called art? Anyway the result was creepily weird so the intent wasn’t realised.

    (I still sense a gun somewhere out of the frame, an unpleasant incident about to happen, a bloodstain…)

    Like

  75. Rage says:

    @Skink: Well, precisely.

    Unfortunately the subjects of this ‘artwork’ were not decapitated prior to being photographed. It may have made for a much more interesting piece.

    Like

  76. Slanderer says:

    I like it. The faces seem to be subliminally sending out the message “U r us” or “Become one with us…in Westworld”. that’s what the public rail experience is all about here. sealed mute in a gleaming sanitised tube surrounded in blue clad guards. The work’s resemblence to a cheaply made panopticon guard tower is entirely appropriate. Strongly agree with Skink in post #16. The best art makes the viewer uncomfortable, and this particular work certainly achieves this. More public art should be challenging the viewer in Perth, Ideas are important.

    I’ve enjoyed Rodney Glick’s P.A stuff for a while (even the Subiaco station – and who cares the clock and mock surveillance video monitors don’t work all the time – isn’t part of the point?), in my mind seems to be reflecting something pertinent about the blank and sterile public spaces we move through, and the way they can control us. Passengers meld into a automated collective, and finally..we are…happy.

    Like

  77. I quite like the Subi stuff. Clocks not working is a pet hate, like the misuse of apostrophes.

    Like

  78. Make it even more threatening put Lannie McT’s face on it,.

    Like

  79. skink says:

    since we are quoting Picasso, how about:

    “art is a lie that makes us realize the truth”

    maybe the fact that the piece has stimulated such a breadth of interpretation and opinion, and made us contemplate life in the ‘burbs, suggests that it is a success.

    Like

  80. Martin says:

    I enjoyed Slanderers interpretation of this work the best. “Sealed mute in a gleaming sanitised tube” sounds like a fun weekend actually…

    Like

  81. Stink it wasn’t Picasso it was Yoda , so the underlying philosophy is that we think about applications of the force at railway stations. M’kay.

    Like

  82. Skink, i think you are right, I’m sure Rodney would be happy that there is so much discussion. That in itself might be enough to call it successful. Was it also Yoda who said “Any publicity is good publicity”?

    Like

  83. skink says:

    Bill,

    I checked – it was Picasso.

    do not pass go, do not collect $200

    Yoda said: “Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.”

    Like

  84. Bedfords Crackpot Fraternity! says:

    Yoda to Rodney Glick…..”You must unlearn what you have learned, tear it down you must, a clock you must build with a nice little wind vane on the top, and a shrubbery!!

    Like

  85. Russell says:

    “The best art makes the viewer uncomfortable, and this particular work certainly achieves this” – still think this is exterior decoration rather than art, and why take a bit of empty landscape and put a soulless building with weird graphics on it in order to remind us of how unpleasant life can be … when you could go the other way with the clock, the windvane and the shrubs (add a water feature and it could be sublime).

    Like

  86. No water feature if there are no toilets.

    Like

  87. skink says:

    yes Russell – a nice shrubbery and an old clock.

    maybe hang Constable prints along the platforms and have comfy wingback leather chairs and a welcoming fireplace in the waiting room with a brass hunting horn over the mantlepiece.

    perhaps they could paint happy smiley faces on the front of all the trains, and gives them sturdy English names like Thomas and Edward, and a nice lady with her hair in curlers could serve cucumber sandwiches and ginger beer

    and every now and then a guard in a peaked cap could walk down the platform, slap every passenger across the cheek and yell in their face that this is the bloody twenty-first century.

    Like

  88. That was sounding so lovely until the last line!

    Like

  89. Mez says:

    I’m voting for “not worst” now – drove past it twice today and did not crash my car

    Like

  90. David Cohen says:

    It IS worst. when I drove past I thought it was an ad for a lcoal real estate agent (or an ad that had the headshot up, but no logo yet). Instead of engaging/enraging/challenging/moving me I felt bemused. why have the faces so big if you can’t get to the explanation of the art? It’s baffling. But this blog? Now, this blog is art.

    Like

  91. Russell says:

    Skink – do art and masochism have to go hand-in hand?

    I might have been a trifling ironic, but if public art is going to be part of your every morning commute, I would prefer art that gives pleasure.

    I work in a library – here is a fairly new Library in Chicago (that looks old) which I like:
    http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/A5K2m7FwuUU27lHyAwjGXA?select=I6Yhf3NVByxMJpOz0e89EQ

    and here is the more modern looking new Salt Lake City Library, which I also like:
    http://www.slcpl.lib.ut.us/details.jsp?parent_id=7&page_id=5

    Both buildings are distinctive, create a sense of occasion, and for me, pleasurable anticipation – characteristics of good public architecture ??

    (OK, so I’m just pushing us towards 100 comments, now that we’ve got this far)

    Like

  92. Ryan says:

    Ugh, I was driving past this a few months ago and thought they were some kind of mug shots.

    Shit idea – So conveniently White Australia. Better than stock photography though, I guess.

    Shit execution – if it were scaled down and placed along a pathway with an easy-to-see rationale of what it was meant to be.

    Fail, cockburn. Big fucking fail.

    Like

  93. It also has to do with whether sinister and discomforting is appropriate to this space. ie a station. Maybe it is.

    Like

  94. Art Heretic says:

    no idea is new it seems

    http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/revealed-the-face-of-sydney/2006/10/05/1159641464886.html

    I remember seeing this project in 2005. It seemed more in context than Mr Gilck’s – not terribly artistic but a sure bet for a CCD grant

    “That’s what is so interesting about the project, Ms Minervini said. Not how much we differ, but how much we are the same.”

    yup, show me tha money!

    Like

  95. Russell says:

    “It also has to do with whether sinister and discomforting is appropriate to this space. ie a station. Maybe it is.”

    Like DJs using your gruesome Bra Burning photo as a Christmas window decoration theme? Would make us all think.

    Like

  96. Russell says:

    100th – is there a prize?

    Like

  97. Benetton may have done something like that Russ. I can’t believe there was so much comment on this one. People care more about this than the Convention Centre, and almost as much as The West and the foreshore.

    Like

  98. Examining the work of Mr Glick apparently he has mastered the technique of snow dome-ification. So come next arts grant time and assuming that the YWL or Grogg haven’t snatched glory away from him we can look forward to a railway station snow dome. Personally I prefer Thomas the tank enginification.

    Like

  99. Bedfords Crackpot Fraternity says:

    Hey Laaaaaze how long was this sitting in your in tray? Its been dulling the minds of the good people of Cockburn with mediocrity for nearly 2 *k’n years man!! Something must be done, the worry is that no one has attempted to paint a moustache, a nose ring or call the Police!!

    Like

  100. flynn says:

    LA, we do care about the Cockroach(aka convention center) ,it is just we are unlikely to get anything done with it. This on the other-hand is a manageable project to vent our collective spleen for change.
    So not only does the final piece not work even if you stop by to read the story , it isn’t even original- note correct use of comma to make you happy.

    Like

  101. I suppose ole She-Ra Scaffidi’s influence doesn’t extend to Cockburn. Did you know she wanted to deal with the broken lion on the TWOP banner as well? Truly. I think the chances of changing either CC or this are nearly zero. Only fire can cleanse either site. (This is not an endorsement of burning these venues, just satire).

    Like

  102. Crackpots, the use of “fucken” and indeed “fucking” is allowed. I’m not saying how long. There’s a big stack of unposted.

    Like

  103. Bento says:

    LA – sand, concrete & steel, as far as the eye can see. Even the most dedicated TWOP avenger would have trouble lighting a cleansing pyre.

    Like

  104. Russell says:

    People will just move away from the evil of it. CC will become a ghost town. The train will just whistle on straight through the station. The enigmatic smiles of the deities on the tower will slowly fade in the hard white silent glare …

    Like

  105. The Sun should definitely take care of the station pics, as it does for the colourised grave photos.

    Like

  106. Well it’s most commented ever post on TWOP, and into the top 20 most viewed after only 2 days. I’m sure Rodney will be very pleased. I think it’s a 99% chance he’s a TWOP reader. I’ll ask him if I see him. The Lazy Aussie has actually had dinner at his house, although I haven’t seen him before or since.

    Like

  107. Bedfords Crackpot Fraternity says:

    I have to agree totally with David @94 THIS BLOG IS ART!! big raps Laaaaaze! Its all good!! Build something from nothing that generates a focus on comment, rattling and ranting at times but good fun and occassionally enlightening and constructive, progressive and engaging!Not Worst!

    Like

  108. skink says:

    wow

    light the blue touchpaper and retire to a safe distance

    I especially like the serial postings: “…too many things to reply to and I’m not even going to try…”

    but you did, repeatedly

    from 10:47 to 11.35 – nearly a whole hour of seething

    Like

  109. Earth to the early opener where Grog is ” the punishment must fit the crime”. What’s Stinkie ever done to you buddy except a few harmless comments he’s entitled to. Your fragile egosystem hasn’t had enough scrutinerisation , me thinks.

    Like

  110. God says:

    Thats enough Greg! Its way of topic and its out of order and its far too personal! “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” I think we’re all suffering here and you need to walk away from the keyboard for a while and get back to some work!

    Like

  111. skink says:

    careful Bill, you may provoke a tirade suggesting that you insert foreign objects into your behind

    Like

  112. The sad thing is that YWL’s have dropped off the radar.

    Like

  113. Mez says:

    Ignoring some of the above and going WAY back to #99. I remember seeing this project but I think it was in Perth 04/05? The project coordinators were trying to sell it with a multicultural flavour (ebony and ivory etc.) and I was always amazed that the results ended up looking like characters from Eastenders or Neighbours. I tend to agree that this is not so much art and more about giving the commissioner’s a good pitch. Still, it is there now and I bet a lot more people are looking at it.

    A more interesting discussion could be about whether it is actually trying to be art at all

    Like

  114. poor hypocrit charmless Lisa says:

    Can I make that GOUTS of drool.

    So greg doesn’t have the numbers. I wonder why.

    Like

  115. skink says:

    Greg,

    we didn’t abuse you, we just did a bit of leg pulling

    all the vitriolic coprographia came from you

    Like

  116. poor lisa says:

    re 127
    I was going to say that too but I didn’t want to seem obsessive. But now that LA’s led the way… I’d follow him anywhere.

    Like

  117. Frank Calabrese says:

    [So its ok for you kindly people to abuse me! Bloody hell I’m out of here.]

    Poor Diddums, talk about being thin skinned, no wonder he got passed over by the Arts Community with an attitude like that.

    Like

  118. Greg, is the subtext that you WANT to be banned from TWOP? Just ask me if that’s what you want.

    Like

  119. poor lisa says:

    The question is do you want +200 comments? Cos it’s mostly greg who gets it up there. So to speak.

    Like

  120. Martin says:

    Well who would have thought two computer generated white people would ever cause so much fuss! The last time this happened we were all complaining that we’d wasted money to see the sequels to The Matrix.

    Like

  121. Rodney Glick must be thinking “When are these pricks going to get back to talking about me?”

    Like

  122. poor lisa says:

    Imagine if they were computer generated Young White Lesbians!

    Like

  123. David Cohen says:

    Esteemed blog creator, I’ve been meaning to ask: is the title of this post also a reference to the Houllellebecq novel?

    Like

  124. Yes David, yes it is.

    Like

  125. In the light of events it should have been “pixilated”.

    Like

  126. Ljuke says:

    Thought I’d use this as a forum to show off the fact that I just got an avatar. Also, I don’t like to be left out of these long conversations.

    Like

  127. skink says:

    Russell

    sorry, just noticed your post #95, and apologize for missing your irony, and pigeonholing you with the nimby traditionalists and disneyficators. I did however get the Holy Grail reference.

    I must say that the Utah library is more welcoming, but all that glass akes them too cold or too stuffy

    here’s my favourite library, apropos of nothing

    http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/peckham/index.htm

    Like

  128. Rage says:

    Slightly off topic, and yet, so on topic… I can’t BELIEVE that Gail didn’t want to support such a well rounded, verbose individual such as Greg. I’d LOVE to interview you.

    No wait. I wouldn’t.

    I should write your name down just in case.

    Like

  129. noideaforaname says:

    um…I just wanted to ask if all the people in Cockburn have Action Man Helmet Hair?

    Like

  130. Russell says:

    Skink – I’m hoping the Peckenham Library has at least some indoor plants ….

    I haven’t ever been to Cockburn – maybe LA’s picture is very clever, and there is in fact life there – but imagine if they had built a library like Peckenham’s as a station: people around night and today, coffee shop, easy way to borrow/return books, toilets etc.

    One thing about LA’s snaps of CC station is that there is no letter or number to be seen. No signs, timetables … for raised-on-print baby boomers the empty walls and meaningless head images, create a kind of existential torment. This is a railway station – I need guides and instruction? Of course if you’re young you’re getting comforting input from an ipod.

    The four sides of the tower would be better rented out for advertisements for four local businesses – something familiar, local, informative and real.

    Like

  131. Bento says:

    How interesting that Greg chose this particular post to vent his spleen. I find the subject matter of the post, and the content of Greg’s comments, curiously similar:

    1. Largely incomprehensible, without further explanation; yet,
    2. Mildly unnerving, regardless.

    Greg, dear, the red dotted lines are teh interweb’s way of telling you to go back to school.

    Like

  132. Mr Sparkle says:

    #146 Russell
    Nice idea about the station being a library, but why build a library in the middle of the freeway ?

    Good to see that even the faces of a bleak and desolate suburb can provide a landmark.

    Like

  133. Plastic Glasses says:

    Ahh you’ve already covered this one. I thought the woman was Helen Clarke.

    Like

  134. This comment stream may need to have it’s own category.

    Like

  135. Pingback: Apostle of The “Phre” « The Worst of Perth

  136. Ross says:

    Well I have wondered on my occasional drives from the city down to Port Kennedey and back, why the f*@# would anyone stick giant mugshots of seriously god-ordinary looking nobodies up on some structure like that? Thanks to this blog I now know that said ordinaryness was indeed engineered but I still can’t see the point really.

    Someone said the faces look familiar. Does the granny look a little like the one in the posters above the reserved seats near the doors in the trains? You know, the one with the young man holding the photo of the granny in front of his face and the caption below saying “Who do you think you’re fooling?”?

    Along the sinister and creepy lines, which others have suggested, the first view I got driving north was on a dark and miserable rainy evening, and the first glance of the teenage male mug made me think of Damien from “The Omen”.

    Like

  137. Pingback: Crackpot of Last Resort « The Worst of Perth

  138. shazza says:

    It’s so frustrating reading this post without the Greg comments. Iv’e never heard Cimbali get so fired up.

    Like

  139. Bento says:

    It’s DISCUSTING!

    Is it only in Perth that ‘New Facebook Group Starts’ leads the daily newspaper?

    Like

  140. Rolly says:

    I’d join the “leave them there” mob – if I had a facebook account.
    If they get removed they’re most likely to be re-erected somewhere where I will be forced to glance at their Lenin-like countenances when I pass by.
    Leave them alone, I say.
    Keep them out of my line-of-sight.
    NIMBY!!!

    Like

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