http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/mobile...adian-customs/


Seems harsh ?

I heard that on the radio the other day. It seems ludicrous. Surely the Arts Council should talk to Foreign Affairs who should talk to CBSA who should talk to their overzealous agent who should stop being so stupid.

But no, of course, government agencies and departments talking to each other would involve, well, government agencies and departments talking to each other. And that would be utterly un-Canadian.

Indeed! Considering Arts Council Canada have her the grant to build/ make/ design it , it does seem farcical.

All the more reason for government bodies not to be funding "art"

So its a Zoetrope? Looks like a Zoetrope, but does not say its a Zoetrope.

They are the spinny things aren't they? Sort of similar.

Yes the spinny things. She could probably knock one up in ten minutes with cereal boxes and sticky-backed plastic.

Sorted. Next!

Actually it sounded like an interesting project, and just crazy about the destruction.

This should come as no surprise. If there's one thing Canada excels at, it's regulation and bureaucracy.

And Philistinism. Don't forget that, Canada's very good at that. Regulation, bureaucracy and philistinism. What else have the Canadians done for us?

Beyond excessive, particularly considering the funding source. Some thicko is misinterpreting the rules and thereby creating the potential for even more public money to be wasted.

The arts are essen­tial to any com­plete national life. The State owes it to itself to sus­tain and encour­age them….Ill fares the race which fails to salute the arts with the rev­er­ence and delight which are their due.


Winston Churchill 04/30/1938.

That was in one of his sober interludes right

I can see the point of providing gallery spaces and supporting exhibitions, but I dont think that when essential services are being cut in the name of budget restraint that its necessarily the governments place to be commissioning pieces...

Naturally as an engineer I lack any artistic imagination, so my position is pretty simply that if an artist is deemed significant / worthy, then let someone else pay for them to do their thing. It doesnt seem to have hurt Van Goghs reputation that he never sold a painting in his life, his art managed to survive without government intervention. And that was proper art rather than some "instalation" projecting movies in a tin box.

Yours Sincerely,
Ulysses N. Hinged-Socket Lt. Col (ret) Royal Tunbridge Wells



PS None of which makes Canadas action in this case any less mind-boggling stupid/ bizarre.

If its one thing government agencies and their employees excel at is making a mountain out of a mole hill and it seems to be the case here.

Seems no common sense is being used in this case.

Morons, jobsworths, intellectually stunted cretins.