monument gets the go ahead!

About bloody time…..

Hurrah! for the Monument of Light…….but is’nt it dissappoining to see though that 3/4 of the general public disapproved of it Was it well founded constuctive criticism or sheer bloody ignorance on their behalf.An Taisce objected to it’s height saying that it could be seen from miles around ….but is’nt that the purpose of the thing. No thanks either to the artistic genius of M.O’Nuaillain whose futile objection merely held up the project. {His concept for the scheme remember, was a revolving observation dish on top of a column…..more suitable for 50’s SC-Fi B movies and ‘The Plan Nine from Outer Space’….that of course is my artistic intepretation of his proposed failed piece).

One must be prepared too for the risk of the completed ‘Monument of Light’ being subjected to vandalism by the uneducated and unenlightened. The movie ‘2001 A Space Odessey’ springs to mind….you know the scene of when the half man/half ape nervously touches the strange alien obelisk ………could easily be a common scene on O’Connell Street next year.(‘2001 a Space Oddity’ morelike.)

Ah well I say it will all look magnificent when finished ….the least we could do is give it a chance. If not, no doubt it will meet the same fate as the Liffey timepiece.

This is a definite step forward for the city, we need more bravery like this and less complaining from the populace who think that complaining is a form of civic pride.

Fair play to the minister, and it’s not often we can say that.
Unfortunately the vast majority of Irish people are aesthetic illiterates, we can expect plenty more objections to plans to improve Dublin in future. Imagine if Liebeskind tried building the Jewish museum in Dublin.

I think the Irish as a people are generally visually illiterate – ours in a spoken and written culture

If your literacy skills are anything to go on then maybe we should declare a state of emergency regarding our written culture.
But seriously am I the only one who is tired of this same old topic that we, the Irish are ‘visually illiterate’?
Such pessimism will get us nowhere- accept it, things HAVE changed.

Does anybody else agree that MICHEÁL Ó NUALLÁIN is a nut case who the Irish Times devotes far too much column inches to. His rantings become more and more deluded each time they publish his letters. Perhaps this is the case because he is Flann O’Briens brother and all that. But more and more it sounds like sour grapes from someone whos entry (which seemed to look forward to the 1950s) to the competition was not selected.

A touch of the Al Gore’s here.

Rory W

i m not as optimistic as the previous opinions.Although I am not completely against the idea I do feel that it could be yet another blunder for Dublins major art projects(the millenium time-piece anyone?)It sunk after only a few months.

hopefully it won t & all i can add is good luck!

the clock in the liffey was not an arts project merely a gimmick

The ‘Millenium Timepiece’ was’nt a bad concept, maybe if it was executed better….and the bigger the better for all to see.

all i was tryin 2 say was dublin has not had the best of luck with its major art projects

I remember the Liffey timepiece because at the time it struck me as the first sizeable thing to be built which wasn’t entirely utilitarian – Dublin was a staggeringly mean and begrudging place until quite recently, and uplifting public works were hard to find – so I liked it a lot

In all the discussion about the Spire I’ve not seen much about its technology. Note that its architect, Ian Ritchie, has previously designed a series of advanced pylons for Electricite de France which adopt this slender tubular format rather than the more familiar latticework structure.

So far as I can tell, the Spire is a clever example of technology transfer, just as the original inter-war pylon designs borrowed from earlier bridge-building techniques. As, of course, did Eiffel’s tower in Paris…

I think it will be great, by the way.

I read that this man O’Nuallain is now taking his case against the Spire to Europe, on the grounds that Dublin Corp’s environmental impact assessement was flawed and that the glass tip of the spire could be shattered by lightning, fall and kill millions.

Could someone please tell me who O’Nuallain is, exactly, apart from a nutcase?

hugh, he’s the brother of the late Birna O’Nolan, aka Flann O’Brian aka Myles na gCopoleen etc…..

his own entry was a top heavy flying saucer on a big wide column as i remember…

he’s a basket case, but there’s a far righ religious group here who believe the spike will be top heavy (figure that one out) and want a 300 foot statue of the virgin mary instead.

[This message has been edited by Paul Clerkin (edited 22 January 2001).]

Thank you. The whole thing has a pleasing fictive quality, i.e you couldn’t make it up.

Am I the only one who is really dissapointed at the go ahead of the millennium spike? I personally feel all the rants about it being wonderful technology transfer and about time is crazy. To me it seems unadventurous, uninspiring and a complete waste of money. To mark the millennium, the corporation would be so better suited investing their money into something that might actually make a difference (however small) to everyday life. I understand that the money was to be used for Dublin but what if the money had been divided between all counties, given out as a competition to schools to design a piece of art for their county, the making of which would be funded. This would allow people to feel included, like they where contributing to celebrating the millennium.

I know this has been gone over many times, but the more I hear of it, the more annoyed I get.

Please I don’t wish to sound bad but that sounds like the ‘Legion of Mary’ philosophy. I mean this ‘do good’……’the money would have been better spent’ blah, blah, blah stuff is timeworn in this country. Let’s get our capital city in order aswell and spend a few bob on it’s appearance……the city is for all the people and it will be of benefit in the future. There is a part of the Irish psyche which displays an oddity of ‘ah we don’t want that …sure we don’t need that…… and it’s to our detriment. Maybe it’s all those years of repression and deprivation that has detrimentally scarred us as a society.
There will always be charities for the unfortunate of society and as Mr. Christ said himself the poor and unfortunate will always be with us.

yeah lets give everyone another candle.

Why shouldn’t Dublin get this monument? And the people were welcome to submit a design – as the bitterness of Micheal O’Nullain (non-architect) shows. I for one am sick of the lets give a bit to everyone type mentality, lets spend it on the poor, lets build a new cat and dog home. What the hell is wrong with spending money on improving the atmosphere & environment of O’Connell street.

I am delighted with the amount of people who have been saying how pleasant it is to walk down the boardwalk (the other project for Dublin).

Sick of the Moaning Minnies!!!! I am delighted the Monument of light is going ahead. An I am sure that when it is built the reaction will be very positive. Can somebody tell we why this is a waste of money? Is all art a waste of money.

Rory, Greg why do you have to stoop to throw religion/charity into it? my point had absolutely nothing to do with suggesting any handing out of money to ‘do good’ mentality, of course art of art’s sake is not a waste of money! I personally can not see how this monument will add something wonderful to our city, and I just don’t understand how it will “get our capital city in order”? I am not being ignorant to the views of others who are enthusiastic about this project, I accept that it is subjective and everyone will have their own opinion, shouting about how wonderful it will be however will not help to encourage those who feel otherwise. Maybe I’m jealous of you, I would love to feel excited by something that celebrates the millennium for Dublin.

Sorry Lynda, but I was’nt taking a swipe at you. The reason I mentioned the religious aspect is that there is a right wing Catholic/Christian group at the moment who wish to have a huge anachronistic representative statue of Christ erected instead. This would be ludicrous I think. Judging by the entries to the competion for the replacement of Nelson’s Pillar which ranged from a Celtic cross, a Tri Colour to M.O Nuallain’s 50’s B movie concept I think the best piece won in the end. I mean it has no political or religious baggage attached but just a sleek cyndrical spire, minimalist and pure for the secular age of technology and individualism we are living in today.
With the upgrading of O’Connell Street too ie the new paving, street furniture, GPO plaza, the Millenium Mall connecting to Moore Street, etc… I think the whole scheme will look wonderful….just imagine it. At least it deserves a chance…anything would be an improvement at the moment.

Cheers Greg.

[This message has been edited by GregF (edited 06 February 2001).]

Sorry, Im just suffering from the Irish Times letters page which always supports (by means of publishing) letters that attack the spire (Waste of Money) Want a statue of Jesus (or one on the hill of Howth – Rio style), or the just plain barking mad spleen venting of Michael O’Nuaillain (nepotism). Actually those of us who contribute to Archeire/Archforums (which one is it) that like the spire should all write a letter and see if it gets published (those ones that are signed by groups always get published).

Anybody know when work is starting there?

No idea, I assume that they’ll have started work on fabricating it, or will they hold off in case O’Nolan heads off to Europe with his imaginary case?

Actually second question, any idea how deep of foundations something like this requires?

[This message has been edited by MG (edited 09 February 2001).]