Big Things on the Beach 2007 - WONDER

rapunzell · Post by **rapunzell** » 22 Apr 2007, 14:36

I think I remember them; I don't remember clocking them as art though.

However, this weekend we have the Big Seafield Things on the Beach installation

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 22 Apr 2007, 14:42

I hope Billy Connolly has heard about this. Nobody does turd gags like the Big Yin.

Black Mamba · Post by **Black Mamba** » 22 Apr 2007, 19:18

Dadaist wrote:I hope Billy Connolly has heard about this. Nobody does turd gags like the Big Yin.

Aww Dadaist you dissapoint me!!
Billy Connoly is just like a big vacuum cleaner ie He sucks!

arachnid · Post by **arachnid** » 22 Apr 2007, 19:31

So Black Mamba!!!! You've been telling wee stories about me!!!

And yes, I have been known to make the occasional cash register go wonky

When I got my computer at first, the screen used to freeze on a regular basis!!!

But it's reasonably happy now that I try to talk to it nicely!!!

Not sure how sand bags will react to me though

When they're built, I'll just have to come through and find out!!!

Black Mamba · Post by **Black Mamba** » 22 Apr 2007, 19:39

I knew you would find out arachnid. Were you're spider senses tingling?

If you behave maybe we could have a wee Porty run in the car again!!

How's the rollerblading coming on?

arachnid · Post by **arachnid** » 22 Apr 2007, 19:49

Black Mamba wrote:I knew you would find out arachnid. Were you're spider senses tingling?

If you behave maybe we could have a wee Porty run in the car again!!

How's the rollerblading coming on?

Oooh, I'll try really really hard to be very very good

Ah, the rollerblading!!!

Not been practicing

Don't want to frighten the neighbours!!!

Post by **wangi** » 15 May 2007, 23:44

wangi wrote:No idea about the website, it does look like it's in intensive care.

The website's been given a lick of paint: http://www.bigthingsonthebeach.org.uk/

The installation starts this weekend, with an information evening next Tuesday.

nads · Post by **nads** » 16 May 2007, 14:15

just got a postcard asking for helpers to build the pyramids, looks quite goos picture of the beach with superimposed pyramids.

Nelson Hatstand · Post by **Nelson Hatstand** » 16 May 2007, 14:39

I like this from the website:

The pyramids pay tribute to Portobello’s past architectural achievements as well as celebrating the recent and successful community campaign PCATS. By uniting thousands of sandbags (one for each household) in the form of pyramids the whole community is represented while transforming the landscape from the horizontal to the vertical, conceptually raising Portobello’s aspirations for the future.

ecm · Post by **ecm** » 16 May 2007, 15:02

and I liked this

A sand bag is a bag filled with sand

I could understand that bit.

What does this bit mean?

Having come from being a desolate place in the past Portobello must look beyond the sand and the horizon and raise their sights to the sky, pushing the edge to the infinite.

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 16 May 2007, 15:12

from the webshite :

Once constructed, visitors to the pyramids can wedge a note, with their hopes or dreams for the future on it, between the sandbags. These will be periodically collected to be use in a possible future publication/exhibit.

It is proposed that information relating to Portobello’s past, present and future will be print or stencil onto some of the sandbags adding an additional layers/context and colour to the installation. The information to be used will be collected from the community during construction.

Despite the brimming cup of material with which to parody these people, I think they are doing a better job of making fun of themselves.

There are so many angles to this. You could compare the fate of the pyramid to the fate of the structure of PCATS.

I'm thinking more of something related to the (excellent) Sean Connery film "The Hill" if I bother.

What a lot of po-faced pseudo chin-stroking.

Nelson Hatstand · Post by **Nelson Hatstand** » 16 May 2007, 15:30

Dadaist wrote:There are so many angles to this. You could compare the fate of the pyramid to the fate of the structure of PCATS.

Yes, I was thinking that too.

I wish moi? would come back.

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 16 May 2007, 15:48

It could be something like :

Atop the pyramid, bedecked in Pharaoic garb, stands Dickie Alexander. Depictions of the poor slave shoppers of Portobello cluster around the base of the pyramid, forced to eat straw and mud from Kitcheners and garb themselves only in Eleanor Robertson loincloths.

A furious Steven Macintyre dummy, Moses-like, parts the sea with his staff as his blazing eyes beam out a message of integrity.

In the distance, Maureen Childs walks on water.

ali · Post by **ali** » 16 May 2007, 16:45

any suggestions for who will be interred at the end of the "building" process?

A fitting end to Larry Marshall's local government career perhaps?

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 16 May 2007, 17:57

Yes.

Lawrence goes inside in a chamber. If you open it you release the curse of Tony Blair.

A Stephen Hawkins sphinx looks on, with lovely flowing shoulder-length hair.

ecm · Post by **ecm** » 16 May 2007, 18:25

Dadaist wrote: A Stephen Hawkins sphinx looks on, with lovely flowing shoulder-length hair.

And with a hint of mystery and darkness, like Killer Bob from Twin Peaks maybe?

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 16 May 2007, 18:43

Every Liberal Democrat carries with them a hint of mystery and darkness.

seashell · Post by **seashell** » 16 May 2007, 19:23

I wonder what poor sod is going to have to empty those sandbags after the "event"???

Loved this on the website:

The sloping sides of the pyramids provide support in a reclined position for star and sky gazing.

Wow. What an informed statement. But what about sun bathing?? Are they going to pay for this by charging folks 10p per 15 mins?

Is there a prize for the first wean to the top? And what about emergency first aiders standing by to deal with accidents?? Mind you, the idea of children staggering around swathed in bandages would add a rather nice Egyptian touch.

Big question though: How long before the sandbags are saturated in dog pee???

rapunzell · Post by **rapunzell** » 16 May 2007, 20:09

(edited to comply with health and safety...)

Not that I'm pessimistic about just how tempting it will be to some vandals to spoil the pyramid, but I suspect the only sculpture completely safe overnight would be an electrified one

Post by **wangi** » 16 May 2007, 20:40

* basks in positive thoughts *

seashell · Post by **seashell** » 16 May 2007, 21:24

Tell you what, Wangi - bet it will arouse a lot of wartime memories in the "old folks" - all those sandbags bringing back the memories of the Blitz and when that bomb landed in the Daisy Park.

rapunzell · Post by **rapunzell** » 16 May 2007, 21:54

Hey, I *want* it to work, and after all the effort the organisers have put in, for it to last the maximum amount of time so we can enjoy having a pyramid on our beach, and not for it to be another embarrassing ned story in the evening news!

If we think of the things the vandals usually do (based on some expert experience) now then we might be able to work out ways to avoid the most obvious and regular mishaps. Unless no-one wants to listen to 'outsiders'..?

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 16 May 2007, 22:06

Did anyone watch the rather caustic Jonathan Meades on urban regeneration tonight?

http://www.jonathanmeades.com/onthebrandwagon.html

I caught the show and loved it.

seashell · Post by **seashell** » 16 May 2007, 22:08

Do the continual road/pavement works in the High Street not count as performance art? They've been going on longer than The Mousetrap, it seems, and have been "enjoyed" by countless thousands.

Post by **wangi** » 16 May 2007, 22:10

rapunzell wrote:Unless no-one wants to listen to 'outsiders'..?

Like the 14 folk who have been working on this over the last year? Folk outside of BTOTB?

If you spend all the time worrying about how people can wreck things then you'll never create anything. That's goes for everything. This isn't going to be a static installation in a stuffy art gallery, you've got to work with it as it evolves.

Bob Jefferson · Post by **Bob Jefferson** » 16 May 2007, 22:26

I feel that the conceptualists behind the emperor's new pyramid have missed out on a major theme. Sandbags hold back water and as a coastal community we are very much at the mercy of global warming and rising water levels. The whole project could be seen as the folly of mankind, the self-absorbed ME generation's futile attempt, too little too late, to hold back the inevitable demise of a species, unwittingly, about to confront its own endgame.

Seriously though, I appreciate that you have to dress these things up in pretentious language, particularly if you are hoping to attract grant funding, but wouldn't it be refreshingly honest if someone was to say:

"I thought we could just make a giant pyramid out of sandbags. It should look pretty cool and kids will love it."

rapunzell · Post by **rapunzell** » 16 May 2007, 22:32

The 14 people were who I meant, particularly the touchy ones...

Seriously though, I do want this to work and the points raised are valid. In fact, the basics are essential, and it should be perfectly acceptable for anyone interested to check reasonable safety. Rejecting other people's useful experience is as constraining as worrying about it all too much and forgetting the fun!

seashell · Post by **seashell** » 16 May 2007, 22:36

Sandbags hold back water and as a coastal community we are very much at the mercy of global warming and rising water levels. The whole project could be seen as the folly of mankind, the self-absorbed ME generation's futile attempt, too little too late, to hold back the inevitable demise of a species, unwittingly, about to confront its own endgame.

Are you being ironic, Bob?? Given you can see the Ash Lagoons from the beach - all that reclaimed land, made from the by-products of Cockenzie Power Station? The same Lagoons that are a haven for wildlife?

rapunzell · Post by **rapunzell** » 16 May 2007, 22:44

Given that this whole thing will ping pong relentlessly between the obvious jokes, mocking of too much pretention, pyramid puns, naivety about tempting vandals, huffiness, and sheer excitment about something fun on our beach, I wonder which angle the Evening News spies are keenest on?!

I LOVE building sandcastles

Bob Jefferson · Post by **Bob Jefferson** » 17 May 2007, 17:47

seashell wrote:Are you being ironic, Bob?? Given you can see the Ash Lagoons from the beach - all that reclaimed land, made from the by-products of Cockenzie Power Station? The same Lagoons that are a haven for wildlife?

Well, call me alarmist but I just have this feeling that we are pontificating about pyramids while Porty drowns and perhaps a giant ark might have been more appropriate. Mind you, I'm first floor so I should be OK for a few years yet.

Scientists map out alarming future of coastlines

Dadaist · Post by **Dadaist** » 17 May 2007, 18:25

rapunzell wrote:Given that this whole thing will ping pong relentlessly between the obvious jokes, mocking of too much pretention, pyramid puns, naivety about tempting vandals, huffiness, and sheer excitment about something fun on our beach, I wonder which angle the Evening News spies are keenest on?!

I LOVE building sandcastles

We need to start a book on who they describe as being a "community leader" this time.

Here's my joke :

Q: What's the difference between the pyramids next to the Nile and the pyramids next to the Forth?

A: More people defecate directly into the Forth.

Maria · Post by **Maria** » 17 May 2007, 20:11

Anyone seen the inflatable monkey in Princes Street gardens? Or know anything about the £3m Six Cities Design Festival? I reckon more public art is the way to go, but would prefer to see more lasting installations etc. rather than temporary ones.

Poppy · Post by **Poppy** » 17 May 2007, 20:19

Marya wrote:Anyone seen the inflatable monkey in Princes Street gardens?

Which bit??

(of the Gardens!

)

ecm · Post by **ecm** » 17 May 2007, 20:29

monkey

Poppy · Post by **Poppy** » 17 May 2007, 21:06

ecm wrote:monkey

Thanks, brat!