Abu Dhabi plans the Tallest Junk Pile in History, a Tale of Two Tasteless Pockets……….
“ABU DHABI // Taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza and built from thousands of multicoloured petrol barrels, the towering structure in Abu Dhabi’s open desert would be visible from kilometres away. That is the vision for The Mastaba, a 150-metre high sculpture that has languished on the drawing board for 33 years. Now, with the capital looking to forge its identity through art, there is renewed hope for the project, which would cost an estimated US$350 million to $500 million to construct. That is the wish of the artist Christo, who conceived the idea in 1977 with his late wife Jeanne-Claude, with whom he had spent decades creating pieces of environmentally-inspired public art…….There have been scouting expeditions throughout the emirate for potential sites, and consultations with dozens of engineering and structural specialists. Hopes have risen and fallen…....”
It will be the largest, tallest pile of junk (okay scrap metal) in history. It may last many years, until the whole frigging thing rusts away. If it lasts as long as some expect, it will tell future generations of the emptiness and unoriginality and tastelessness of the leaders and potentates who commissioned such travesty in the name of art. At $500 million, and almost certain to go up closer to $1 billion, it will the most expensive pile of junk in history. I doubt that the idiotic leader who commissions it will pay out of his own deep pockets: it will come out of the pocket of the state and the people. But then: is there a real difference between the two pockets?
Cheers
mhg
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