“Gimmicky”
“The most banal three-dimensional object in existence”
“Oversized concrete vagina”
“Who cares?”
“No more value than a manhole”
“Mute and culturally adrift”
That’s Tommy Honey, designer and architectural critic, taking a stick to Wellington’s public art in the latest issue of Architecture New Zealand as reported in Saturday's Dominion Post.
Now did that lashing bring the city's cultural bears snarling out of their caves? Sort of, but they turned out to be sleepy bears, not too much given to passionate responses, more of a wave-of-the-paw and back to the futon.
“What's to be expected from New Zealand architects” Chris Parkin, City Council and Te Papa Board member
“Wellington does pretty well” John Hardwick-Smith, Athfield architects
“Thankfully he only mentioned two Sculpture Trust commissions” Neil Plimmer, Sculpture Trust.
“A surprising criticism from a Wellingtonian" Celia Wade-Brown, Mayor
Take that Tommy Honey.
Image: A stick
