The public art piece, The Typhas, will be installed on the stairs in front of the Oval after two months of council discussion about where it should be placed.
Council landed on the original recommendation that came from the parks and recreation committee in December with opposition from Couns. Carol Day, Michael Wolfe and Harold Steves.
The Typhas art piece will weigh four tons and the location planned on the stairs has been reinforced to sustain it. To have moved it over five metres would have cost between $25,000 and $40,000 because of the work it would have required to reinforce the spot.
Funding for the art piece, $320,000, comes from the Oval Precinct public art capital budget.
Day said she didn’t support the public art piece because she felt council “could do better” with the last piece of public art dollars for the Oval project.
“I’d rather see something that has more purpose,” she said. “Like, for example, I could support an outdoor, relaxing furniture, or maybe a play apparatus that kids could play on and enjoy - something that would create a more useful thing.”
Day said she would also like the art piece installed elsewhere, for example, somewhere on the river or in the city centre, adding she didn’t want the view obscured at the Oval.
Coun. Alexa Loo said if council didn’t want the art piece at the Oval, she would willingly have it installed in front of her house. She added that it was a beautiful piece and the process for commissioning the piece was a good process.
“Art should be put somewhere where it can be seen,” Loo said. “It’s not blocking the view, it’s part of the view.”
Steves said he didn’t want anything in front of the river that blocked the view of nature.
“I’m not going to support anything on this spot,” he said.
Steves pointed out at last Tuesday’s committee meeting that staff came back with the exact same location even though it was sent back in December to look for alternative locations. Staff responded saying there wasn’t any other suitable location – below the stairs was a sidewalk and the grade was too steep beside the stairs.
The Typhas, which is a type of bullrush, used to grow prolifically in the area. The 25-foot-high depiction of these ancient plants will be made from polished stainless steel with yellow-gold on the inside. The artists will record the sound of groundwater and this sound will be part of the installation.
