ART INSTALLATIONS CAN really divide public opinion – especially if they’re a giant metal spike.
A Cork-based radio station were getting quite a few calls about what was described as a ‘big silver thing pointing into the sky in the Town Park in Fermoy’ – something resembling the Spire in Dublin.
So C103’s Cork Today show contacted councillor Noel McCarthy to solve the mystery.
“It’s a sculpture of a rowing boat on its side,” McCarthy explained to presenter Patricia Messinger. “[The sculpture] was commissioned after being put out to tender two years ago – [something that would] reflect the river of Fermoy.”
He said that it was commissioned as part of the Office of Public Works to commend the flood relief work that had been done in the town – and was promised to be built after the winter period.
‘Why did we spend this money?’
McCarthy acknowledged that others had ideas about what the money could be spent on, but said that the funds had been allocated for an art installation.
The councillor said that he has been inundated with calls, with people asking ‘what it is’ and ‘why did we spend this money’ and suggesting that the money used could have been used to enhance other local areas or to tackle the homeless crisis.
“People must understand, it wasn’t a council project,” he stresses. “We could make our views known, but we had to keep it to the conditions associated with that.”
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