Shepherds of no hope?
Aug. 24th, 2024 02:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blogcutterI'm generally a big fan of public art. I think it's great that we can enjoy art in public spaces without having to pay admission to art galleries and get all our bags locked up and our body cavities scrutinized in case we have weapons or other offensive items on our person. Sometimes I encounter public art unexpectedly in out-of-the-fray places. That's lovely, and I invariably stop to find out who the artist is or was. And if I like the artwork, I look them up later to find out what else they've done.
Some public art gets moved periodically, so that more people can appreciate it and so that denizens of a particular area can see something different displayed there. Here's the official spiel about temporary public exhibits in the Ottawa-Gatineau area:
https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/art-monuments/temporary-exhibits.html
If you scrolled right down to the end of that page, you may have noticed the sculpture Our Shepherds, by Patrick Bérubé, a Montreal-based artist. It's located in the Tin House Court of the Sussex Courtyards, which are part of the ByWard Market area of downtown Ottawa. For more information on the National Capital Commission's plans for revitalizing the area, see:
https://ncc-ccn.gc.ca/site-1-sussex-courtyards
So anyway. Yesterday I wandered through the Sussex Courtyards on my way back home from a lunch with some long-time friends. I was particularly taken with the sculpture Our Shepherds, with two blue conjoined-by-a-nose shepherds standing on top of two sheep. I carefully read all the little signs and plaques that surrounded it.
One of them read as follows:
Art in the Capital. Take a moment out of your day to enjoy Canadian public art.
How nice! Adding to the ambiance, there was a nice bench and a large planter with some colourful flowers in it. In short, the courtyard is a shaded oasis of calm, encouraging folks to linger, enjoy the art and natural scenery and reflect upon it.
But wait. There are a few other things there that you don't see in the publicity shots. A sandwich board to advertise an adjoining business, Silver Fox. And even more offensively, a permanent sign that reads:
No loitering. Pas de flânage.
Talk about mixed messages!
I wonder. Is there a difference between lingering and loitering? Presumably it's lingering if you're the sort of person that Heritage Canada or the NCC approves of; it's loitering if you're one of the less fortunate folks whom they prefer to ignore or pretend don't exist.
And as for "flânage"? Well, my French-English dictionary translates "flâner" as "to stroll". Isn't a leisurely stroll precisely what these organizations purport to promote?
To end with a William Blake quote:
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee?
Do these little blue lambs know that it was Patrick Bérubé who made them? I doubt it. And now, we won't know either if we're being exhorted to move along now, because your kind don't belong around here!
Some public art gets moved periodically, so that more people can appreciate it and so that denizens of a particular area can see something different displayed there. Here's the official spiel about temporary public exhibits in the Ottawa-Gatineau area:
https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/art-monuments/temporary-exhibits.html
If you scrolled right down to the end of that page, you may have noticed the sculpture Our Shepherds, by Patrick Bérubé, a Montreal-based artist. It's located in the Tin House Court of the Sussex Courtyards, which are part of the ByWard Market area of downtown Ottawa. For more information on the National Capital Commission's plans for revitalizing the area, see:
https://ncc-ccn.gc.ca/site-1-sussex-courtyards
So anyway. Yesterday I wandered through the Sussex Courtyards on my way back home from a lunch with some long-time friends. I was particularly taken with the sculpture Our Shepherds, with two blue conjoined-by-a-nose shepherds standing on top of two sheep. I carefully read all the little signs and plaques that surrounded it.
One of them read as follows:
Art in the Capital. Take a moment out of your day to enjoy Canadian public art.
How nice! Adding to the ambiance, there was a nice bench and a large planter with some colourful flowers in it. In short, the courtyard is a shaded oasis of calm, encouraging folks to linger, enjoy the art and natural scenery and reflect upon it.
But wait. There are a few other things there that you don't see in the publicity shots. A sandwich board to advertise an adjoining business, Silver Fox. And even more offensively, a permanent sign that reads:
No loitering. Pas de flânage.
Talk about mixed messages!
I wonder. Is there a difference between lingering and loitering? Presumably it's lingering if you're the sort of person that Heritage Canada or the NCC approves of; it's loitering if you're one of the less fortunate folks whom they prefer to ignore or pretend don't exist.
And as for "flânage"? Well, my French-English dictionary translates "flâner" as "to stroll". Isn't a leisurely stroll precisely what these organizations purport to promote?
To end with a William Blake quote:
Little Lamb who made thee
Dost thou know who made thee?
Do these little blue lambs know that it was Patrick Bérubé who made them? I doubt it. And now, we won't know either if we're being exhorted to move along now, because your kind don't belong around here!
