Someone has put across Jimmy Cauty's montage on Matassa's boarded up business on Marine Terrace, Margate, " THIS IS NOT ART". I tend to agree.But what is worse as far as I am concerned, is that this 'montage' was part of Margate Rocks Visual Arts Festival. Who funded this? Our very own TDC, spending council tax payer's money.
I am sorry but I think it is utterly unacceptable for TDC funding to have been spent on this disgraceful montage. Is TDC utterly insensitive to local businesses and Margatonians who despair at the state Margate has been reduced to.? It would appear so. Who in their right mind at TDC, allowed money to be spent on a 'montage' depicting Margate as a rubbish dump?
I hope that incompetence, arrogance and insensitivity are not integral to TDC under its 'Leader's' direction as these traits perhaps reflect his leadership style? At least he can complain to his friends when he next drinks in The Lanthorne that the "'Those f***ing peasants in Margate don't appreciate bleeding art!"
Having moved towards Broadstairs, I show for your appreciation a photo sent to me of a wildlife hedge in spring glory in Culmers land 'park'. You might just notice that another TDC nonsense is evident with the fence on the wrong side of the hedge?
Who is the real vandal in Thanet?
POSTSCRIPT
I have just read IOTG and the 'Leader's View' and 'Our Leader's' explaination of the TDC funded 'montage' is quite extraordinary. Here it is:
" Well it was there to shock and make seaside visitors remember that the environment we enjoy is under threat from debris such as plastic bags. This is something we all need to remember when enjoying a trip to the beach and countryside ..........." ( read the IOTG for the rest if you can be bothered).
Is that his own interpretation of a piece of 'modern contemporary art' or is he just spewing out the nonsense that TDC were fed to pay for it? If it is his own interpretation of a montage showing Margate as a rubbish tip, then no wonder the arty-farty crowd get all the support and financial help they do. We in the meantime, discover that we are saddled with an 'Emperor' who really does believe he is wearing a fabulous suit of New Clothes'!
11 comments:
I thought I'd read something by Lynne from the Culmer's Tenants' Association to the effect that they'd planted hawthorn to soften the impact of the fence. Apart from being the wrong time of year for planting shrubs all the photo shows is weeds. Having been by there recently I noted the weeds are growing profusely between the old fence and the new where they are inaccessible for weeding. I did spot 4 spindly twigs of holly struggling in the current dry spell.
Apologies there are some mature elements of hawthorn behind the fence but they were there before the £58000 (according to Cllr. Wells) was spent on the fence.
I Agree.Why do Margate Rocks allow people to make a mockery of our town when we are trying to regenerate it for gods sake?!The market on saturday was really fab(fair trade,craft stalls and lovely organic curry,farmers market stalls ,street theatre and Loads of people and sun!)We should have more of the same,it gives a real feeling of what Margate could be like..
I have just caught up with the IOTG and 'The Leader's View'. My view of Margate last Sunday afternoon on a sunny warm May Bank Holiday (see Poor Old Margate) was quite different; it was dispiritingly quiet compared to Broadstairs and Ramsgate.
Apparently according to artists 'art' is what they say is 'art'. As the good folk of my home city, Glasgow, say, 'it's all a load of mince'. My take of the poster at Matassa's was 'Margate is a dump' and here's the evidence and someone got paid for producing that. Let's face it, this is Margate not St. Ives or some trendy arty-farty place.
As with all works of art (literature, film, visual art etc), they are open for interpretation and generally the best have a sense of depth to them. Thus Jimmy's piece should not be taken so literally. And it's also meant to be funny... the comment 'Margate twinned with Peckham' – that was removed the day after the work was put up and which has caused so much upset – is an ode to Only Fools and Horses!!! Fundamentally, however, the message is a warning: don't throw away your crap and ruin our precious natural landscape. Look after the beautiful beaches we have in Thanet, so that the council don't have to spend vast amounts of money cleaning up after people. The festival is themed around ecology and this is obviously a comment about the potential risks posed by waste and consumerism. Furthermore, this work cost nothing - no public money was spent on commissioning or installing it.
Well that's an interesting interpretation, 09.49.Sounds very much like 'Our Leaders' interpretaion so are you working to his script or is he working to yours? If that is what it's message was meant to be it failed dismally. Go and talk to the locals about how Margate Sands are swept clean as the only jewel in the Town, whilst locals popping down to their nearest beach may well find seaweed dumped from that beach by TDC. Sorry, but the average person in Thanet on the Loop bus, thinks that this 'montage' was an explicit statement about Margate and felt insulted.
Looking at things from a Broadstairs perspective, the gardens at the front are kept beautifully for the visitors but the public parks elsewhere are so neglected. It's a disgrace to see their decline over the last few years.
Oh! Another potentially interesting thread skwewed off to the subject of fencing. How interestingggggg.....zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Anon 9.49
It's a pity there isn't a sign below he work explaing all that. Art must speak directly to people and the direct message of this is that Margate is a sh*t heap which I for one know it certainly is not.
Sorry to create zzzzzz's 13.13. Enjoy the temporary 'montage' whilst its there. Residents of Thanet will have much longer to 'enjoy' industrial fencing around allotments; about 50 years I reckon.
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