Great Depression 2.0 Hits The Parkway: Calder Sculptures Packed Up, Put Into Storage
PhillyChitChat has more photos and details on how, with very little fanfare, Calder Park was dismantled yesterday. The reason? Loss of funding. Sigh.
PhillyChitChat has more photos and details on how, with very little fanfare, Calder Park was dismantled yesterday. The reason? Loss of funding. Sigh.
21 Responses to “Great Depression 2.0 Hits The Parkway: Calder Sculptures Packed Up, Put Into Storage”
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April 1st, 2009 at 10:52 am
I saw some people working on that yesterday as I walked by … thought they were doing the 10 year/10,000 mile maintenance or something. Well, good riddance to red/orange-painted hunks of metal cluttering up the Parkway. Here’s hoping they tear down this piece of garbage while they’re at it.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:00 am
Conkyfilms, proud member of the Douche Class.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:28 am
Actually, I am proud that I can formulate my own opinions about artwork rather than believing that I have to subscribe to the establishment position on things like that. Thanks for the opportunity for self-affirmation.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:52 am
You’re quite welcome.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:58 am
Regardless of taste of art, the real issue will be the homeless. Even with security there it has been a group, sex, dope hang. Believe me they tried to get my dog in the mix. With security gone hold on to you f$#^in hats!
April 1st, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Is this an April Fool’s thing? I’ve just gone through about 300 blog posts this morning and have found the interwebs to be littered with all kinds of ridiculous, unfunny things. If it is, I’m impressed by PhillyChitChat’s photoshopping skills.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Oops… just read the headline to PhillyChitChat’s article… I’ll take him at his word that it is not a prank.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:13 pm
xpat, trolling since 08 and still somehow proud..
April 1st, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Personal tastes aside, it’s known that arts & culture funding does nothing but good things for a community. No funding for the Calder art is a scary sign of even bigger things.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Is there any chance that this is due to the onoing urinary olympics between the Calder heirs and the City, and not budget/economy related?
April 1st, 2009 at 12:26 pm
@Grapesoda
I love Philadelphia and enjoy reading Philebrity. Sorry, but thinking you’re an ass doesn’t make me a troll. Moreover, I refer you to this quote from wikipedia on the matter -
“The term is often used as an ad hominem strategy to discredit an opposing position by attacking its proponent.”
April 1st, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Wikipedia is not a offical source bub. But seriously…ha ha ha ha. Somehow you pulled out of me writing you are a troll….that you don’t love philadelphia or don’t enjoy philebrity. Man you jumped from troll to whitewall land in record time.
April 1st, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Re: “Wikipedia is not an official source.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoe_Strauss
Happy Birthday Zoe!
April 1st, 2009 at 3:51 pm
@Grapesoda
OK, I’ll be sure to reference Merriam Webster’s next time I correct your usage of internet slang. It’ll definitely be in there, right gramps?
April 1st, 2009 at 3:59 pm
anyway, back to the sculpture on the Parkway…
how does loss of funding equate to removing public art? what does it cost to just let the stuff sit there? surely it must cost more to put this stuff in storage somewhere.
April 1st, 2009 at 4:05 pm
re: “how does loss of funding equate to removing public art?”
Probably loss of funding means a lack of insurance and monies to cover the salaries of Guards but thats just a guess.
It’s too bad. I enjoyed the Calder Sculpture Park.
April 1st, 2009 at 6:00 pm
I’m kinda confused why Grape jumped on expat here or what they’re beef is here. Grape and Conky somehow into each other?
Does support of Calder come out of the city’s general public art fund, which I understand is largely supported by building projects … development in the city is at a standstill so the fact there’s a vacuum is disappointing but not surprising? Anyone clarify?
April 1st, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Well that’s a shame. It was not only a rather nice Stabile, it also highlighted three generations of Calders, who all made contributions to public art in Philly. Alexander Calder’s father, sculptor Alexander Stirling Calder designed the Swann Memorial Fountain at Logan Circle, and his grandfather, Alexander Milne Calder designed the gigantic figure of William Penn that stands atop the clock tower of City Hall.
Only an ignoramus would be incapable of appreciating these sculptures on their own terms.
April 2nd, 2009 at 8:58 am
Upon further thought, I regret my initial comment and the mini-flame war that it seems to have sparked. The Calder park was fine and dandy; I was just irrationally redirecting my hatred of “Iroquois” towards other such metallic structures on the Parkway.
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:30 am
Now that’s much more reasonable.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:12 am
re: Does support of Calder come out of the city’s general public art fund?
Don’t think so.
according to PhillyChitChat:
“In 2001, the Pew Charitable Trusts announced a $5-million grant to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to present a series of outdoor installations of work by Philadelphia-born sculptor Alexander Calder along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.”
There’s other interesting info about the Calder Sculpture Park in his blog entry at:
http://www.phillychitchat.com/2009/04/this-is-not-april-fools-day-joke-calder.html