[Zarley]

Originally Posted by Radio

Haha! We drove by that yesterday on our way to Banff and i thought it was unfinished construction! What they were making i had no idea, but i also had no idea this was art either.

I have to agree with Chu on this one as well. If you want a Blackfoot cultural piece, then commission a Blackfoot artist or artists. They could've taken that stupid Teletubby ring in the NE and turned into a nice Hoop Dancing piece.

I am all for public art, but i believe it needs to be local. If you can't find it locally, then provincially (Edmonton excluded of course E=NG). Failing that, Canadian. But I don't think we need to go any further than that.

I am guessing it's a prestige thing, "Look at this piece it's from New York, New Yorkers know art. It really symbolizes the struggle of the Blackfoot nation...or the four seasons...or their struggle with the seasons or something. New Yorkers really understand the Blackfoot culture!"

I actually agree with the reasoning behind opening this up to international competition, it makes sense and elevates the competition:

There was an open competition among artists, instead of specifically choosing a Calgary-based one because of international trade agreements, said Iley.

“We want our artists here to have the same opportunity to compete for jobs elsewhere as others do to compete for jobs here,” said Iley. “The selection panel is made up of members of the community (who) decided this was the most interesting approach they could see.”

I do agree with your point on the Blackfoot stuff. It's probably just a case of the artists post-rationalizing their design with some local cultural BS they made up to feed the jury, as is normally the case.