Posted on Thursday, 2nd April 2009 by Bruce
Here, try this experiment. Repeat this number:
$300,000.00
$300,000.00
Now, read this description of what, unless the Milwaukee Common Council votes to renege on a contract it already has in place with artist Janet Zweig, your $300,000.00 will buy:
“Zweig’s concept is to create flip book-like animations of encounters between Milwaukeeans that would be tucked inside kiosks attached to light poles along E. Wisconsin Ave., in front of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. Artists and writers would help her come up with the ideas, and then she’d pay local actors, dancers and filmmakers to shoot short films based on the concepts. Each film would then be converted to 80 still images and silk-screened onto the individual flaps.
A trio of animations would be mixed and matched inside each of the five kiosks, and the overall experience is meant to be episodic, as people move from one artwork to another.”
Now, take a deep breath, stare up to the ceiling, kick your chair back from your desk, and reflect on that number again. $300,000.00. How are you feeling? Are you feeling anything like Milwaukee Alderman Fightin’ Bob Donovan?
“I refuse to have my name attached to something as ridiculous as that,” Ald. Bob Donovan said, storming from the room after Bob Bryson of the Department of Public Works showed a video to demonstrate the flip-sign technology, once common in train stations, that would be used for the artworks.
These kiosks are going to be placed on light poles? In Wisconsin? Wait, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin? These things are going to be destroyed by weather, or vandals (or both) within months, if not weeks, of being installed. Oh, and then there’s the fact that no one will ever touch them anyway. Yeah, then there’s that. You might as well throw that $300,000.00 into the wind.
A “fabrication bill” (read: Downpayment) of $25,000.00 is due the artist mid-April, under the terms of the current contract.
There’s talk of a public hearing on April 22nd, according to the Journal/Sentinel. Maybe a few good citizens should weigh in on this.
(Photo credit: Journal/Sentinel - photo edited for size.)
Posted in Home | Comments (27) |
27 Responses to “It’s mostly federally funded, so it’s not like it’s really anyone’s money, right?”
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April 2nd, 2009 at 8:58 am
$300,000 for stupid flip signs…
How about $815,000 for a bunch of neon lights:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/42320357.html
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:13 am
This was received from a source at City Hall:
“Oh Lord…this guy has threatened to “defacate” on any alderman’s lawn who does not support the proposed public art project on Wells St. Ald. Dudzik apparently called him, and the guy made it into a remix/song: http://bit.ly/tnO6 “
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:19 am
I’m fine with the Marquette lights. If nothing else they’ll impress travelers and boost our image. But this flip-book idea is stupid.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:17 am
In general I like public art. But for most of American history, public art was funded by voluntary fund drives and/or private gifts (downtown, I notice the statues of Solomon Juneau, Lief Son of Eric, the Fu Lions guarding the Zeidler Building, Gertie the Duck, and Bronze Fonz were all paid for this way-probably more I haven’t noticed yet.)
If some individual or organization wanted to find the money for that flip-book thingy, I’d have no problem with that. If this particular piece wasn’t lousy “art”, it wouldn’t need government dollars to be purchased and installed. If the J-S and the hipsters want it so bad, they need to be putting their money where their mouths are, or hold a raffle, or beg the local philanthropists.
Work? What? Suddenly it’s not that important…
***
From the J-S article on the Marquette Interchange lights: “We want to show that Milwaukee is a dynamic place, open for business, cosmopolitan.”
Well, one outta three ain’t bad, especially when “cosmopolitan” is so highly overrated in the first place.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:50 am
Ahhh, let me guess…they’re a big hit in Portland?
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Maybe would could put the art on Tommy Barretts choo choo to no where and pay for it with Candy, Sunshine and Unicorns.
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:33 am
When did the US-DOT become a cash cow for the arts crowd? And why? What does art have to do with moving planes, trains, and automobiles?
….and it’s taken this Zweig chick THREE YEARS to create nothing but a prototype?!?
I need to become an artist.
April 3rd, 2009 at 7:10 am
Check this out from one of the side links to the Milwaukee Journal article posted above. It is authored by the Journal Art person: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/42319152.html
As I suspected, Bob Bauman likes this project as do aldermen Nic Kovac and Mike Murphy.
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:01 am
Glenn, Mary Louise Schumacher is a “Big fan” of Mike Brenner. Mike Brenner is a fu34ing goof.
Call yourself an “artist” and open a “gallery” and you get street cred with liberal idiots.
Threaten to “Defecate” in the yard of the aldermen who will not give the “art community” taxpayer money and you become a liberal hero.
Do you understand why liberals make me sick?
Imagine a Conservative anywhere on the planet who used such language and tactics.
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:56 am
“Optomistic”? Mary Louise better stick with art:
“First, Ald. Bob Bauman is not optomistic about the chances of getting Zweig’s project back on track in time to meet the artist’s deadlines. He said three aldermen were solidly in support, Michael Murphy, Nic Kovac and himself. Five more council members would have to be swayed.”
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:54 am
When did the US-DOT become a cash cow for the arts crowd? And why?
It’s a holdover from the New Deal. Artists realized they could get paid to make garbage no one actually wanted to buy. They’re never going to let it go, either.
And again, if these any of these people actually cared about Milwaukee, or about getting a particular piece of art out for residents/visitors to see, they’d be out raising the money to do so instead of throwing tantrums on aldermanic lawns. It’s not about the art (which is dreadful) or about “improving” the city, it’s about living off the fat teat of the government.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Heather, as a former member of the “creative class,” I have to agree with you.
The debate is not on the merit of public art, it’s on the taxpayer funding of public art.
And, in my opinion, as “public art,” this is worse than most.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
How’s this for an art piece? Brenner trying to defecate on somebody’s front lawn with a size 12 boot stuck in his ass.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Glenn you just started an “art” fund raising effort. I’d pay for that size 12 and have it BRONZED like the FONZ.
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Glenn D. Frankovis says:
“How’s this for an art piece? Brenner trying to defecate on somebody’s front lawn with a size 12 boot stuck in his ass.”
Ever have that “not quite regular” feeling?
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:49 pm
He’d need something a little stronger than Preparation H to relieve that burning sensation.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Tucks pads mayhaps?
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:48 pm
guys listen…
as a graduate student in business at UWM, i understand and am fully aware of the financial concerns. but to get the $280K from the federal government for this project, Milwaukee had to pitch in $20K.
also, the artist is putting over $60,000 back into the community by paying the local sign company making the housing and paying local contributors of ideas (could be you! don’t need to be an artist, just have a cool idea). so let’s get some brilliant conservative minds coming up with ideas and get your share.
It’s not all just going to pay for art. This is also to help Milwaukee develop a city-wide plan for art so that MORE federal money can be poured into the city.
also, keep in mind that as a state, Wisconsin tax payers contribute the 3rd least amount to the arts (per capita) in the entire country. most of that money is granted to arts organizations that work with kids to make up for cut elementary school arts programs.
But Is It Good Art? Well respected artists from all over America applied to make art in Milwaukee. The folks that unanimously picked Janet Zweig’s art were from a number of different backgrounds. Half the committee members were city employees (public works, city engineers, etc…). The Art specific folks were… David Gorden (Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum), Curtis Carter (Director/Founder of Marquette’s Haggerty Museum of Art), Marsha Sehler (Curator of Public Art for Milwaukee Riverwalk), and me.
Why Am I Such a Lunatic? - Would anybody in Milwaukee be talking about this if I didn’t write what I did on the Journal Sentinel arts critic’s blog? Of course not! the reality of the media, is that they only like sensationalized “goofballs.â€
For the record, if you look at it on my blog, you’ll see that I was very respectful in my direct communication with the public officials.
I was born in Milwaukee, and my friends and I grew up here playing in bands and making art. When I graduated from high school though, everyone I knew moved to Portland, Seattle, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Why? Those cities have rich arts and culture scenes.
For large corporations to survive in this global economy, they need well-educated, open-minded, creative, and innovative employees. Studies show that those people gravitate to culturally rich environments. Cities full of things to do.
Milwaukee has come a long way, but we are at a crossroads. Every mid-sized city in America is fighting for job opportunities and population growth. The arts draw people which draw corporations which draw jobs.
All I want is Milwaukee to be a world class city so we can all have good jobs and raise our kids without having to worry about turning into the next Detroit. An important part of being a world class city is having world class art.
Look how much tourist money is drawn here for the art museum and the arts organizations in Milwaukee. the arts as in industry actually brings in more money than all the sporting events combined. Why do you think the state has been promoting the arts so much the last few years? It creates a lot tax renevue to fill the coffers.
Anyway… I’m sitting in a lecture writing this right now. I better start paying attention. Class is almost over and my republican classmates and I are all going out for a beer after Finance class.
We can all get along. I’m really not that big of a jerk.
April 4th, 2009 at 7:16 am
Mike, what you have written here sounds very similar to what I’ve read and heard many others say when talking about “federal” money vs “state” and “local” money. As if “federal” money comes from sources other than people who pay taxes. You do realize that “federal” money is made up of the same tax dollars that you and I and almost everyone else pays everytime we collect a paycheck, right? In fact, we also pay all of these taxes everytime we buy something. And right now there is a big difference of opinion as to how that money should be spent, if at all in some cases. Think of it in terms of your personal budget. Do you just buy something because you carry a credit card, or do you actually think about whether or not you’re going to have to carry a balance on that credit card and pay interest? What I’m basically trying to say here is that spending must come with priorities if our federal and state deficits are ever going to become reasonable again.
You talk about Milwaukee becoming a world class City “so we can all have good jobs and raise our kids without having to worry about turning into the next Detroit”. How do you expect that to happen if the kind of deficits this country and its lefty politicans are about to leave our kids and grandkids has them so far in debt that they’ll literally be working “for the state”? Think at least as much about the kids and their future as you are thinking about yourself right now.
And finally, I agree with you that the media are primarily nothing but whores who only get excited over the sensational, but you’d better think about how you want to accomplish that next time before you write something so stupid as to threaten to defecate on anyone’s lawn if they don’t do what you think is right. The politicians like my alderman, Joe Dudzik, voted against this project because that’s what they know their constituents would want them to do and, I’m sure, that’s also how they feel personally. It’s no different than those who voiced their support of this project, like aldermen Bob Bauman, Nic Kovac and Mike Murphy. That’s what democracy and representation is all about in this country - at least so far. I hope you learned something from all this.
April 4th, 2009 at 7:21 am
Mike,
Let about 20 psi out of your head. Milwaukee would be talking about this project with or without your interjections. It became newsworthy when Alders Donovan and Dudzik took a stand. Having you threaten to take a crap on their lawn (and your subsequent groovy trance remix, which I’m listening to right now - damn, it’s catchy) was just the icing on the cake. That must be that “sensationalist goofball” stuff you refer to.
I, like you, am a Milwaukee native, and I love my birth city. I want it to be a world-class city, also. In many ways (Summerfest, MAM, Miller Park, LFOA, MPM) it already is. But it will never be never be New York, Seattle, or Los Angeles. The creative class will never gravitate to Milwaukee. And all the panels of museum curators and entrenched bureaucrats in the world, spending every dime of other peoples’ money they can get their hands on, won’t change that. I’m sorry if that disappoints you.
You’re right, mid-sized cities across America are fighting to bring jobs to their communities. Many are accomplishing this with corporate tax reductions, TIF district financing, relaxation of regulations, etc. Others are accomplishing this by selling themselves as safe places to live; attracting employees by offering them a good place to raise their families.
Case in point: Madison attracts “well-educated, open minded, creative and innovative” job candidates, and (aside from the live music scene) it’s one of the culturally blandest places I’ve ever been.
As I wrote earlier, this debate is not on the merit of public art, it’s on the taxpayer funding of public art. We live in changed times. And those times dictate, I believe, that there’s a better use for these public dollars, federal or otherwise.
If this or similar projects have sufficient artistic merit, have the “Blue Ribbon Panel” sell them to a corporate or private benefactor, as has been the custom in these situations throughout history.
We’ll buy your assertion that you’re “not that big of a jerk” (although Alderman Dudzik’s dog might beg to differ.)
As for you and your “republican classmates” heading over to Von Trier after class, I think I speak for all present when I say: We’d need names.
April 4th, 2009 at 10:12 am
The arts draw people which draw corporations which draw jobs.
I’d love to see research which backs this up. Actual peer-reviewed findings, not media summaries.
Corporations have been leaving Chicago (one of your examples of “art cities”) because having a an address in the Loop is not worth the cost of doing business there. The five biggest employers in Chicago are government entities. Somehow, “proximity to experimental theater” doesn’t seem as important as “being able to pay employees after the property taxes and regulatory fees have been paid”…
April 4th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Mr. Brenner…I have an idea for a Zweig moving picture scene:
Frame One depicts Mark DiSuvero’s “The Calling”, (aka the butt-ugly and simple orange starburst). Subsequent frames show a group of ants wielding acetylene torches gather around cutting off pieces of it while other worker ants carry the pieces away.
Wait…nevermind…can’t we reallocate the $300k and do it for real?
April 4th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Add this story and Mr. Brenner’s first paragraph to the list of real life examples supporting Scott Walker’s reasoned approach to the Democrat spending spree. Free Money Ain’t Free.
April 4th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Brenner, could you give a time and place where you have class. I am a UWM grad and I’d like to come down with some of my friends and take a dump on your desk? Sauce for the goose as it were.
Could you describe the jobs that have come to Milwaukee as a result of say the Whale wall, the Blue shirt, the Orange asterisk or the Fonz??
We’re not gaining jobs Brenner, we’re losing them, and your solution to a loss of the tax base is to tax the ones remaining more and wasting the money on art.
April 4th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Mr. Brenner if the Feds are being so generous to Milwaukee with other peoples money doesn’t it stand to reason that they are being generous to someone else with Milwaukeans money?
The idiocy of doing idiotic things just because the money comes from someone else is a huge part of why our Cities, States, and Country are in the mess we are now in.
April 4th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
No Jay, it’s the Union mentality. We should all have CADILLAC HEALTH CARE, because we earned it.
Who EXACTLY are the ones paying for the “art” or “Health care”.
Furthermore, each and every “burg” in America could say the same thing as Brenner does, and we’d be back to square one.
PAY AS YOU GO.
April 6th, 2009 at 6:57 am
Brenner sez: “…so let’s get some brilliant conservative minds coming up with ideas and get your share.”
Man, doesn’t that just about sum up the liberal mentality? Never mind who’s sweat went into creating it, just “get your share”, as if one has a certain right to stick one’s mitt into another’s pocket for any silly reason or purpose.
Brenner sez: “… the arts as in industry actually brings in more money than all the sporting events combined.”
I would like to see actual numbers but I might suggest that the vast majority of that money comes from the music side of the art industry. Considering how much music goes on - from the symphony to Open Mic Night at Joe’s Tap, it may be easy to believe that art out-monies sports. As such, the draw and resulting total funds comes more from Bon Jovi at SummerFest than The Big Orange Metal Thing.
Anyone who believes this flip contraption would be an actual draw - a get-in-the-car-and-go-see type of draw - is living in fantasy land. It’s a side show type of idea, something you might notice as you walk just because its there. But as a ‘destination’ for most folks? Um, sorry, I don’t think so.
Another thing that always is forgotten: the $300k would be only for the initial project. What are the annual maintenance costs? And where would that money come from? (take a guess…)
Anyway, I do have a great idea for this “Flip” art, but it only requires a single panel. Where do I submit my idea and get my share?