‘One of Edinburgh’s iconic gardens has been invaded by nocturnal stick-figures as part of an art installation […].’
Not our words, but those of a Council press release. We agree wholeheartedly with the term ‘invaded’.
This tawdry stunt called KEYFRAMES lights up sequentially in the dark to create the illusion of movement. But at all times of the day and night, it interrupts, distracts from and diminshes a civic space at the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
A site which City of Edinburgh Council should be celebrating, protecting and enhancing.
Amazingly, though, CEC helped commission – repeat commission – the work as part of the 2016 Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design. Well, it’s innovative, perhaps, but it has precious little to do with architecture or design.
Lapse of judgement
It has been delivered by Groupe LAPS with producers Curated Place.
Artist Thomas Vessiere is upbeat: ‘Our lighting puppets will inhabit the square for two months. Rather than offering one point of view, vistors who walk through the Square will discover the figures undertaking different activities, be it climbing a tree, throwing a Frisbee or having a snooze. Sound will envelop the whole area and entice visitors to get closer to the installations.’
Locals will already know that climbing trees and throwing frisbees are normally forbidden in the Garden, and that having a snooze currently risks drowning in mud.
Readers of Issue 248 will also recall that Essential Edinburgh’s own guidelines for events here discourage amplified music.
Windbags, one and all
City of Edinburgh Council’s Philistine-in-Chief, Councillor Richard Lewis, trumps tunefully on the subject, saying: ‘This project has been tailored by the French artists to suit the Square and celebrate elements of Scottish culture, from the sound of the bagpipes to our national love of football’.
In what possible sense does it ‘suit’ the Square? It intrudes visually and aurally into the space, and uses public money to repeat a number of tedious clichés. (Incidentally, Essential Edinburgh is not keen on bagpiping or football here, either.)
Lewis, the so-called ‘Events Champion’ – on whose watch Calton Hill was closed at Hogmanay and the World Heritage Site's High Street transformed into the Blackpool Illuminations – concludes by saying of KEYFRAMES: ‘You can’t miss it’.
Well, there at least we have to agree with him. We’re stuck with the damn thing until 28 March.
More vacuous codswallop
Unfortunately, this kind of idiocy is not limited to local politicians. Even Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop weighs in with a stupendous scented eructation of her own: ‘The installation will bring a busy part of our nation’s capital to life and, as a free event, gives everyone the opportunity to participate and experience the architecture and environment of St Andrew Square in a new and different light.’
Tosh.
We should point out to Ms Hyslop that the Garden already had a life when people were able to use it in the way their elected representatives promised.
Frankly, it is beyond parody that our country’s Culture Secretary thinks flashing stick-figures do anything to enhance people’s experience of the place or its surrounding architecture.
This is preposterous.
Shame on you, City of Edinburgh Council. Shame on you, Marketing Edinburgh. Shame on you, Essential Edinburgh.
[Image top-right: Courtesy of Edinburgh Spotlight. Bottom image: 16th-century woodcut of Vlad the Impaler entertaining guests, public domain.]
SEE ALSO RELATED COVERAGE IN Breaking news (6.2.16).
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Couldn't agree more. Should be renamed Tawdry Square. Original premise for public opening increasingly ignored.
Paul Neave Not that I make a habit of defending CEC but I think this article is a little over the top. What with St. Andrew Square being such a mess at the moment due to the Christmas installations, a little light entertainment sculpture like this detracts from the quagmire of mud and dead grass and in my opinion - and I stress, just my opinion, is a welcome sight for me as I trudge through. I do agree however that the status quo of using the square for so many big events does need to be addressed.
Broughton Spurtle Rather than remedying or distracting from the quagmire, am afraid this will prolong it. Staff were covering the earth with sheeting this afternoon – hard to imagine that reseeding any time soon.
Couldn’t agree more. A shoddy mess.
Peter Nowicki Agree...this is terrible. Just about zero redeeming social value
The latest instalment of #DumbUrbanism brought to us by the philistines at Edinburgh City Council:
Edinburgh Spotlight @edinspotlight
@theSpurtle @Edinburgh_CC also means the new turf won't be put down until at least early April :(
@edinspotlight @theSpurtle @Edinburgh_CC Indeed! This is a real fiasco! #DumbUrbanism
@theSpurtle @Edinburgh_CC Hear, hear. Friends up at Xmas so appalled at B'pool effect they gave up on city and toured E Lothian instead
@theSpurtle @edinspotlight @Edinburgh_CC I have a few friends who have taken their kids to see the stick men and they loved it.
@theSpurtle @edinspotlight @Edinburgh_CC it's also only for two months. That article is painfully snobby
@JickSack@edinspotlight@Edinburgh_CC Nothing tdw snobbery. Everything tdw standing up for a unique asset most cities would love to have.
Jick @JickSack
@theSpurtle@edinspotlight@Edinburgh_CC sure, but it's a quagmire just now and you can't reseed lawns until spring. Our city is beautiful..
@theSpurtle@edinspotlight@Edinburgh_CC ..and wherever we put installations they have an impact. Big adverts are the real problem!
Broughton Spurtle @theSpurtle
@JickSack @edinspotlight @Edinburgh_CC So don't put either of them in a world-class architectural heritage site. Problem solved.@theSpurtle@edinspotlight@Edinburgh_CC the sq is lovely and I'm sure architectural purists would appreciate it for what it is but I...don't know how many visit here because of the sq alone and there are people purposely visiting...the sq now specifically to see the stick men. It might not be to our tastes but would it be any...better in the gardens or the mound?
@JickSack @edinspotlight @Edinburgh_CC Better maybe in less sensitive spots such as square behind EICC, or East Market Street.
@theSpurtle @edinspotlight @Edinburgh_CC maybe, sure. But maybe there are enough people enjoying it not to worry too much and fight the...big fight!
@JickSack @edinspotlight @Edinburgh_CC Counsel of despair.
@JickSack @theSpurtle @edinspotlight @Edinburgh_CC So you can't reseed until spring? Why are we digging it up every Nov then?
Marquis Melrose @MasterMelrose
@theSpurtle Walked past it today. If @Edinburgh_CC keep this up we'll have to pay tourists to visit rather than tax them.
Alison Campbell I saw it from the bus the other evening - thought it must be some recycling scheme for using up old Star Wars light sabres. You mean to say my taxes have actually PAID for this? Gah!
Paul Burgess Tack-o-rama
Dominic Berry The City of Edinburgh Council is now £1.7 billion in debt, and pays £77 million per annum just to service the debt. Yet it seems completely unable to stop wasting money.
council funded tat.
@ontwoplanks @JickSack @theSpurtle @edinspotlight @Edinburgh_CC St Andrews mudbath is not at all beautiful, stickmen or no stickmen.
Alan Kennedy I am not against the use of the square. Bruce Monroe's Field of Lights back in 2014 was fantastic. Particuilar when such a space isn't all that suited to public use anyway... resembling a newly plowed field at the moment. How it got there is another question entirely!
I haven't seen this one yet, so I can't comment on the artistic value or aesthetics. Though I am less enamored with it owing to the inclusion of music.
The summer festivals are such an intrinsic and iconic part of Edinburgh that using the square for that, with enough space left for those who choose to simply enjoy the space and people watch, as I often did, is fine too.
The unbelievably tacky "Christmas festival" is, however, far too much, both for St Andrew Square and, in particular, Princes Street Garden. Absolutely awful shite which cheapens the city. Dancing stickmen is all very well but if we are to spend any energy it should be to ensure that nonsense doesn't proliferate further!
@edinspotlight I am hearing good things about it. Were u impressed?
@RichardWiseman @edinspotlight No. Gimcrack, cheapskate bollox designed to distract. It's not clever or beautiful. It just helps ruin StASq.
David Tant Edinburgh is now officialy the tackiest capital city in Europe and it is sad to witness its decline.
Mike Finnie More shite for the beleaguered square. I assume that the crocus which were planted when the square was redone have long been trampled into oblivion.
Euan MacGuzzi McGlynn A garden of peace and tranquility, what a joke, looks like a load of plumbing bits.
@theSpurtle Every time there's a market, fair or whatever they simply ruin that square. It's outrageous. @Edinburgh_CC @edinspotlight
@Child_Deirdre @theSpurtle @Edinburgh_CC @edinspotlight Other cities manage to host Christmas markets without trashing their public spaces.
.@GASPurves @theSpurtle @Child_Deirdre @Edinburgh_CC @edinspotlight think St Andrews Sq has only managed 21 days of grass since mid-July
@theSpurtle @Edinburgh_CC @EssentialEdin @NTBCC I like the stick men but SAS a mess. Could licences not require re-turf within 2 wks of end?
Nice picture of Vlad the Impaler to brighten things up!
