Sleeping dogs

Len Lye’s had a rough spin in Wellington. Once famously a blade from Trilogy came loose mid spin and then there is Water Whirler, a sculpture that just refuses to keep on keeping on. Its woes are probably not so surprising when you take a look at its amazingly analogue mechanics as you can do at the moment. The ‘sculpture’ itself has vanished, presumably for repair, but as usual there is no information as to what has happened, how long it will be out of action or if indeed it is a dead duck. Given its unreliable history and the clumsy out of scale podium it has been lumbered with, a quick ok-this-one-didn’t-work acknowledgement and a decent burial might be the humane thing to do.

Images; top, the artwork formally known as Water whirler, bottom, the works.