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South End park will no longer do the Wave
By adamg on Fri, 05/11/2018 - 10:30am
Beth Treffeisen reports the Boston Arts Commission has narrowly decided to remove the Landwave sculptures in Peters Park that were meant to harken back to the area's days on the edges of Boston, but which instead turned into a dangerous playground for skateboarders and climbing kids. After removing the work, the commission will put up a plaque to commemorate it.
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Comments
Don't stop there...
Maybe we could also be rid of the suntan platforms over by the aquarium...
I would love to see those
I would love to see those giant metal barriers which block the view of the ocean relocated, please!
Private Property?
n/t
And this...
is why we can't have nice things.
It was a piece of junk anyway
Who knew what that thing was supposed to be.
Well...context though.
This was a neat sculpture but from the get go, it was inviting to climb and rough-house on and those glass tiles started popping out almost immediately. I remember thinking “this is NOT going to last...” and indeed here we are. If a piece of art is going to be in a public space, you have to imagine the reality of what’s going to happen to it, from weather, people, pigeons, whatever.
Don't blame the kids
If you make accessible artwork, it should be built to handle being accessed. Kids are going to climb on things like this.
But as you aid, it wasn't built right, so once it started falling apart, the broken window syndrome took over.
Kids aren't always very nice
Kids aren't always very nice things.
I don't know how BILLIONS of humans survived their childhood
and adolescence.
Simple.
Because there used to be this concept called personal responsibility. And if you got into trouble, the worst outcome was not from the principal or the police, but what punishment your parents would hand out.
Sadly, we've devolved into a society that loves to blame others and/or provide flimsy "justifications" when we do things wrong.
And this explains
The baby boomer crime wave which plagued the teens and twenties of the Father Knows Best generation.
Sorry, but halcyon romanticism of days of yore does not in any way match up with lived reality and historical facts. Those being that the millennials are, as a generation, vastly better behaved and less destructive and murderous and demonstrating far better self control than any generation in the past century. Far lower teen pregnancy rates, far lower alcohol abuse and drunk driving rates, far lower murder and arrest rates despite draconian policing. All of that.
Facts, gramps. Facts.
Generalizations are flaws regardless of direction
Of folks in the late teens through early 30s there are still enough causing damage by abusive treatment of public spaces that the problems of the 50s continue through today. Graffiti, damage from skateboarding, abusing public tennis courts by skateboarding, grossly loud boom-booms from the cars or motorcycles of over aged children.
Perhaps the greatest problem is that technology has made it easier to cause damage faster. Add a police force that claims it doesn't have enough people to deal with low level crime quickly (but never fails to accept overtime detail pay) and there appear some structural problems in the activity of enforcing laws.
There is personal responsibility and there is social responsibility. One does not exist without the other.
Not all overtime
Not all overtime consists of detail work. Sometimes when a department is understaffed, officers and troopers must work extra hours, which is considered overtime.
Well, actually...
if we are speaking since the first humanoid creature got up and decided to go outside, many, perhaps MILLIONS of humans did not survive their childhood but I digress...
In regards to personal responsibility, most people do take responsibility for their actions. If they did not, we would probably not be around. However, if you would like to talk about corporate responsibility and the lack thereof.....
Mixed Feelings
I was just walking by there yesterday and thinking how lovely the sculpture was, until I saw that someone had systematically smashed large portions of the tiles (which are glass) with a brick or something, leaving gaping, glass shard encrusted holes. Not only dangerous, but very difficult to repair. This was perhaps a nice idea, but not a practical one given what public art must (sadly) endure in the city.
Just Like The Ⓣ — Money To Build, Then Zero For Maintenance
Not really
As I read it, the big issue is they built a sculpture which has play structure aspects right near a park and the way it has been used led to degradation of the sculpture. If this was in the Comm. Ave mall or somewhere it would be less of a problem although the skateboarders still would have found it.
I do think durability is at least partially the obligation of the creator of any work which is going to be installed at ground level in a busy public place. It is a shame though.
That Too — Such Things Are Irresistible To Skateboarders
It's malpractice to design public spaces without consideration for human nature. With a little more thought, unobtrusive fencing or some other physical barrier could have been incorporated to prevent the inevitable.
( from Universal Hub — 2015 )
The ground-level lighting at Wonderland Plaza was beautiful when it first opened, but the fragile fixtures were totally unsuited for a high-trraffic public space. If not by skateboards, a wayward tricycle could easily smash them. Of course, they only lasted a few days.
( pictures from 2013 when the plaza was new—
— many other things are in ruins today! )
If there's no long-term plan (and funding) to keep something maintained, then don't build expensive custom details into a project. Ⓣ stations don't need to be any fancier than a shopping mall, but should be at least as durable (and maintainable) as a Burger King.
All those (hideous looking) "historic" LED light fixtures now going up on the Longfellow Bridge... I'm sure they cost a fortune! Once Charlie cuts the ribbon, the lights (and the entire bridge) will be just as neglected as before.
Skateboarders? I highly doubt it.
I've walked by here daily for the past ten plus years (and frequent Cathedral Station, across the street) and have never seen anyone skateboarding on it. It's surrounded by grass and mulch. Skateboarding on this structure is almost impossible.
I still highly doubt that claim
BMX bikes, quite possibly (I've never seen it, but I don't see why it wouldn't attract some daredevils from time-to-time), being climbed on by kids attending little league games, yes, I have seen it many times. Skateboards, extremely doubtful. Just look at it, it's almost skateboard proof (surrounded by grass and mulch, has metal risers in its surface, etc). The claim quoted is highly dubious.
A plaque to commemorate a WORK OF ART?
How about a decent memorial (as opposed to a barely-noticeable plate embedded in the sidewalk) to the victims and survivors of the Cocanut Grove fire first. Or a memorial to those who perished when that streetcar went into the Fort Point Channel?
Or better still, why not REPAIR the sculpture so kids using it as a play space doesn't matter.
Roosevelt Hotel Fire
It is funny you should talk about a fire memorial the should be placed in Peter's Park.
https://bostonfirehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/51/2016/07/photof...
9 people killed February 4, 1968 right on the site of the northerly part of the sculpture. It was a transient hotel (rooming house) that burned. Peter's Park was cobbled together from a few burned out building sites in the 80's. That is why it has an unusual shape outside of the normal street pattern.
Also a plaque for a piece of art?
That is peak South End.
I miss the DONT DO DRUGS IN HERE signs that were on the walls in the old Franklin Café.
Read it again
The current piece has a plaque on it talking about the neck. It's that plaque that will remain on site in some manner.
As for repair, the base concrete was installed wrong, making repair nearly impossible. Plus, the city did not want to invest in the repair.
Get off my sculpture!
Get off my sculpture!
Since the nature of the
Since the nature of the sculpture means they can't store or relocate it, maybe they can auction off pieces/sections of it to local art lovers and raise money for public art projects? (With the artist's approval, of course...)
Cool sculpture. Terrible implementation
Sad but yet glad to see it go,
and wondering why in the WORLD it deserves a plaque...?
JohnMcB answered on the plaque.
Thanks
Am I the only one...
Who finds it funny that a sculpture meant to commemorate the landfill that created the South End out of a salt marsh is now going to end up in a landfill?