Wooster Roundtable #1 : Public Art Funds
^ Chimp’s Buddha Skatepark, concept by Dave the Chimp
Wooster Roundtable #1: Public Art Funds
IF YOU WERE GIVEN A $20 MILLION FUND TO SPEND ON PUBLIC ARTS PROGRAMS IN YOUR CITY, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH THE MONEY ?
If I was given this amount of money to make Public Art, I wouldn’t make art. That would be disgusting. That is 11.4 million Pounds!!! There are so many problems in this country (the UK) that if £11 million of public money was spent on something as useless as art there would be a civil war!! Though, saying that, we’ve probably spent £11 BILLION on this bogus war in Iraq, and the Houses of Parliament still haven’t been blown up, so I guess no one would even notice.
I think art has the power to change lives, but as soon as large amounts of public funds are spent on it, ideas have to be put through committees, and the ideas get watered down until the very things that make art exciting and powerful are lost. Money has the power to ruin anything, and the more money, the more things get fucked.
So here’s my solution - make art that is functional. In this case, art that is skateable. Art that keeps kids out of trouble, that keeps them fit, maybe even keeps them aware, balanced, spiritual? It’s worth a try. So ladies and gentleman, I present “Chimp’s Buddha Skatepark“. A giant concrete circle, that incorporates inter-locking bowls and a street areas, which itself features a giant rideable sculpture of Buddha. The street area is smooth black tarmac with a white marble Buddha, the bowls are white concrete with a black speed bump in the largest bowl, so that when viewed from above the park is a giant ying/yang symbol.
This would only cost around half a million to build, so let’s make them for all the major religions in London - Star of David shaped ramps, snake runs which say “Allah” in Islamic script when viewed from above, huge indoor parks built in Christian churches, etc etc. Let’s unite all religions through skateboarding and art, and hope that mankind will one day realise there is only one true and ultimate power, and it makes no difference what you call it - God, Allah, Buddha - IT’S ALL THE SAME THING!!! And until we stop fighting over which interpretation of this power is correct, we’ll never be at peace and we’ll never become one with the power again.
If anyone has a few million and wants to build this skatepark, you can reach me through the Wooster cats. I don’t need paying, I just want to ride this park!!
peace
… Dave the Chimp
Read the other Propositions here (not skating related)
April 4th, 2006 at 3:46 pm
what a very wise and thoughtful idea. make it a little more geared towards rollerbladers (higher ledges and rails) and this project looks pretty good. though that $20 million could be used a bit more constructively throughout the world (but i think this is england, so throughout england), like helping out the poor and putting aside money for education (this may be more of an american issue, but oh well)
April 4th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
absolute genius, this idea is amazing at every level. i hope he can realize it, he’s obviously very clever.
April 4th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
and talented ;) :D
April 4th, 2006 at 4:40 pm
Dave, you fucking rock.
April 4th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
I think its a little idealistic to think that the worlds religions can be united through any sport. It’s a dope design though.
April 4th, 2006 at 6:10 pm
As long as you don’t build a “skatable” Mahoma its everything ok….
April 4th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
Awesome, I’d like a skateable giant keyboard, that would be awesome!
April 4th, 2006 at 8:09 pm
why don’t they have smart people like u hear in florida, instead of spending money on crap fcat we could have built that.
April 4th, 2006 at 10:02 pm
yeah rollerblader friendly ciricle rails an dcircle ledges i hate when they build a a rail at a park that is like on forth of a foot think and square
April 4th, 2006 at 11:57 pm
too bad hes wrong about the one ultimate “thing”
April 7th, 2006 at 7:11 pm
rollerblading is above religion its its own state of mind this is making it something its not all youll get is bhuddists skating a buddist park or muslims skating a muslim one cus its against there religion to skate another religions park make it fucking skating orientated not religion religion fucks things up more than money