Public Art Space in Perth

     I wrote about public art way back in 2009, Community Art,  because I was impressed how "a fishing village" (as someone from the eastern states referred to Perth) embraced the intangible delights and merits of public art projects.  The widespread employment of sculpture and artistic venues has never struck me as an inferiority complex kind of reflex but seen as having genuine value.  If you take a quick look at  Community Art , you'll see some of my basic shots on my Hannah Montana camera with its CIF (Crap, In Fact) resolution and understand how I was initially  impressed.

Cultural Center Beach

    Fast forward five years and you'll notice the upgrade in photography and in public art projects. I rather wonder if people sometimes complain under their breath that money spent making public spaces artsy wouldn't be better spent on relief projects for the impecunious.  Speaking  for the close-to-broke set, I like having a happy place to go to and enjoy for free.  As green space gets eaten up by cement and chrome buildings, it's nice to have a refuge.

Cultural Center Ice Rink

Penguins to the rescue

The Cultural Center, comprising the Art Gallery, Museum, State Library, Institute of Contemporary Arts, public garden and State Theatre , has a big open space which has been alternately  been turned into a beach complete with sand, umbrellas, "changing houses" and a free book cart.  Fast forward a few months and for the first time, Perth had an outdoor ice rink! A half hour ice time plus ice skates cost a fortune in this case but it never went wanting. People,  likely just about every northern hemisphere expat and a few natives ,  flocked to this opportunity to ice skate outside.  This rink was up for just a couple of weeks, but it was a success.  I spotted no Zamboni but lots of stabilizing penguins for youngsters for the easy Dorothy Hamill effect.

Yarn bombing bike racks

     It all sounds a bit brutal, but flash mobs and (blank) bombings are oh so popular. And the knitting nerds have joined the fun.  Mobilized by the city library, the local knitting circle and terrorist society made colorful covers for the bike racks on St George's Terrace--the main road in the CBD. Many are still holding up after several months.  I just love the whimsy.  I appreciate the whimsy that many Perth International Arts Festival public art installations provide. 

    Life just needn't be all Stalin-block gray and gloomy.  Bring on the balloons, bubbles and grins!