If you were visiting my city

[Miss Chicken]

Would you want to do this walk?

RESIDENTS and visitors to Hobart can now do Battery Point by numbers.
A $100,000 public art project which follows the theme "sculpture by numbers", was officially opened today.

At nine sites along a walking trail which runs from Salamanca Place to the Errol Flynn Reserve at Marieville Esplanade, numerical sculptures interpret some of the fascinating stories of Battery Point.
The numbers represent weights and measures, times and quantities, and dates and distances and each number is a sculpture.

The walk takes about an hour.

Here are some photos

I know that the last photo located at the Errol Flynn Reserve signifies his year of birth. However I don't know what the other number represent so I am going to do a photo shoot this week so I can find out. There are info panels on each sculpture.

There have been quite a few negative comments about these sculptures in my local newspaper. Most of them are along the line

"This isn't art"
"What a waste of taxpayers' money"

Also, the snobby Progress Committee of the suburb concerned has been complaining. This is the same committee that doesn't want a coffee shop to brew coffee, doesn't want helicopters to fly over their suburb doing the Regatta (it is alright for them to fly over other suburbs), don't want a boardwalk along the foreshore (can't have the common riffraff walking past their backyards etc.

 

[clint g]

I think it looks cool myself.

 

[Holdfast]

Looks rather tacky to me. There's plenty of very good public art around, both traditional and modern, so I'm not against the idea of that. Art is inspiring, thought-provoking or dramatic. These "sculptures" - at least in the photos - come off as a second-rate tourist attraction.

 

[shivkala]

On the other hand, I think they will cause people to stop and recognize the important points of your town. I think sometimes the people who live in an area are the ones least likely to appreciate what makes it special and these numbers might serve to remind the residents of what makes their town special.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I think it looks really cool. My question is, since each number goes along with a real story, are these stories printed on plaques near the numbers so that people can read about them? If so then I would definitely be interested in checking this out, it's a perfect way to see the city really because I don't like to wander around without a purpose but at the same time I want to go out and see the town and learn about its history. This gives you a reason to walk around.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I think it looks really cool. My question is, since each number goes along with a real story, are these stories printed on plaques near the numbers so that people can read about them? If so then I would definitely be interested in checking this out, it's a perfect way to see the city really because I don't like to wander around without a purpose but at the same time I want to go out and see the town and learn about its history. This gives you a reason to walk around.

Yes, all nine of the sculptures have an info plaque explaining the number.

I think that the 1833 one might be for the first professional theatrical performance in Tasmania (but I might be quite wrong).

 

[Australis]

There's a misnaming in your city.

Errol Flynn was never reserved.

 

[RobertVA]

Over a decade ago Norfolk, Virginia, USA had a project involving fiberglass mermaids about eight feet long. Area businesses were encouraged to "sponsor" a mermaid, which would be decorated by one of the area's artists and displayed near the sponsor's place of business. The artists came up with an assortment of different mermaid decorating schemes, usually having some connection to the sponsor's business.

Subsequently neighboring Virginia Beach had a similar project using fiberglass bottlenose dolphins. One of the dolphins was decorated to resemble one of the World War II planes displayed at a military air museum.

Now there's a proposal in Norfolk for a variety of artistic Bike racks. One suggestion resembles a giant row of those "D" shaped bicycle locks (Kryptonite brand?). Another proposed rack would be steel tubing bent to resemble the mermaid statues. The first illustration accompanying the news article depicted a vertical giant fork with a strand of curving spaghetti trailing from it to lock the bicycles to.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I just Googled "norfolk mermaids' and "virginia beach dolphins". I think I like the mermaids more than the dolphins.

 

[Crusher Disciple]

I just got a letter from the Australian government informing me that I'm not allowed into the country.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I just got a letter from the Australian government informing me that I'm not allowed into the country.

Did they give you a reason?

 

[Miss Chicken]

I finally managed to take my photo shoot along the Art Sculpture Trail today. Myself and a friend had made plans twice before to do this shoot but had to cancel because of the heavy rain we have been having.


Here is my photo of the number 313.

313 is the number of ships built at the Battery Point slipways between 1825-1872.

If anyone shows any interest I will post some more photos.