Arts: Tree-minus two days?
March 3, 2010
Friday. Crunch time. There’s been so much written, especially in the local press, about the City Square Project/ACSEF/Peacock that it’s hard to keep up sometimes: Consultation good. Consultation bad. Consultation irrelevant. Gardens good. Gardens bad. Gardens irrelevant. Bloody artists. Bloody trees. Bloody tree artists.
It’s become a bit of a joke to be honest, unfortunately it’s deadly serious when not a day goes by without some ACSEF-weighted spin appearing. Here’s today’s offering for example. Translation: ‘We asked the people for their opinion, they gave it, but they’re the wrong kind of people. These aren’t real people. They’re organised protesters’. It’s laughable stuff…
Anyway, the aforementioned consultation on The City Square Project ends on Friday, so fill in the survey here if you haven’t already done so. (I know most of you have, but it’s for the benefit of anyone who hasn’t taken action yet)
Alternatively, freephone 0800 111 4881, text your thoughts to 60777 followed by the word ’square’ or email consultation@thecitysquareproject.com Remember to keep it civil (or civic, if you will).
That ‘vocal minority’ petition in support of the Peacock building is here (and currently at over 8000 signatures), please bring it to the attention of anyone who may be interested in keeping the city centre’s unique topography intact.
This could well be your last chance to have a say on the matter.
I mean, even the squirrels are speaking out now (and you dinna mess wi’ squirrels). Oh, and in case you missed it, last Saturday saw a wee event in support of the gardens (check out this video of it by the supremely talented Adam Proctor) and there’s something similar happening on Friday at 2pm too. Same place, under Rabbie Burns’ statue. Poetic.
Music: We Heart UTG Album
February 26, 2010
A quick heads up: The We Heart UTG compilation album in support of the campaign to save Union Terrace Gardens launches as a digital download on Saturday 27 February.
Twenty tracks across various genres have been submitted by some of the best local talent (including Fiona Soe Paing, & Alan ‘Kitchen Cynics‘ Davidson) and you can pay what you want for the album. So, for as little as a quid you can do your bit for UTG and get some pretty cool stuff in return.
More on this later, however it might be worth your while heading down to the gardens at 1pm on Saturday the 27th (that’s tomorrow!) Something might be happening. *taps nose*
Arts: City Square Project Rip It Up, Start Again
February 16, 2010
Ahead of a public debate on Union Terrace Gardens this Thursday evening, the City Square Project today announced they are ‘phasing out’ their original, undoubtedly expensive glossy PR brochure. It’s nothing to do with Annie Lennox, who spoke out against the scheme, being pictured in it (nor the even more inexplicable image of the London Underground). Oh no, they were going to do it anyway (sure they were). Fair enough, but it just shows up how little of the planned development is, erm, actually planned.
They haven’t a clue what would go in there: Italian Piazzas, Trafalgar Squares, Guggenheim Museums, underground tunnels, concert venues, babylon-esque gardens and various other nonsensical, reactionary ‘ideas’ have been mooted thus far, all with very little substance to them.
You just know that the huge funding shortfall would mean we’d end up with a half-arsed, embarrassing mish-mash which would cause irreplaceable damage to the city’s image and physical make-up. A piece in today’s Scotsman sums up the situation perfectly: The City Square Project is unworkable and threatens not only Peacock’s immediate future, but the future of arts and culture in the city as a whole. Roll on Thursday…
Update 17/02/10: The Annie Lennox picture story has been picked up by The Scotsman today
Music: Submissions Wanted For UTG Compilation CD
February 10, 2010
Some local peeps are putting together a compilation CD in support of the I Heart UTG campaign (unless you live on the moon, you’ll be aware of this by now) so, if you’re a local band/singer/songwriter/noisemaker etc upload your fully-tagged mp3s to:
http://soundcloud.com/fionasoepaing/dropbox
Or email them to:
…before Saturday 20th February and they’ll be considered for inclusion. They’re also looking for artwork too, get in touch at the address above or through this Facebook page.
Positive stuff…
Arts: Walking On Broken Grass
February 8, 2010
Updated 09/02/10
Worst. Pun. Ever. It is relevant though, read on…
It’s been a wee while since we had a Union Terrace Gardens update outside of the Twitter Feed, but there have been some interesting developments today, so here goes:
It appears that local politicians have seen through ACSEF’s rather one-sided ‘public consultation’ and have called for a proper public debate on the matter. ALL sides of the argument (and local residents) will finally get a chance to air their views. Hallelujah. It’ll take place on Thursday 18 February in the Salvation Army Citadel (which rather ironically overlooks the city’s original ‘civic square’) at 6.30pm. More details on a Facebook event page here…
…and exiled Aberdonian singer Annie Lennox (See? See? Pun justified) has added her name to the ever-growing list of people speaking out against the City Square Project, there are links to her thoughts on the matter here and a BBC story is here.
It’s so sad to think that the original Peacock plans would be well underway by now had Wood and ACSEF not foisted their non-ideas upon us and caused this almighty mess. Well done…
Update 09/02/10
More coverage of the Annie Lennox story: Times Online, Scotsman, STV, Press & Journal
Local businessman speaks out on ‘pressure’ to support the City Square plans (P&J) while an editorial from the same newspaper comes out firmly in support of the Wood/ACSEF proposals. Sigh.
Stools & Movements
January 14, 2010
…and more Union Terrace Gardens…
ACSEF/The City Square Project are holding an exhibition in the Mall Trinity (like you call it that) today Thursday 14 (until 8pm) and tomorrow Friday 15 January (from 9am to 6pm).
Go down, have a look, ask some questions then come home and fill out their survey if you haven’t already done so. Please be civil though. They appear to be quite thin of skin. Witness this story in today’s P&J for proof. While it’d be easy to say ‘welcome to teh internetz etc’ and there’s little doubt that these perceived ‘personal attacks’ were directed at the ACSEF organisation as a whole, they’re going to be looking for more stuff like this, so tread carefully. We do welcome the addition of the phrase ‘Oily Barstools‘ to the lexicon though. That’s a keeper.
Arts: Education, Damnation & (hopefully) Salvation
January 11, 2010
So, the day of the City Square Project public consultation launch is here…
The good folks at Peacock and I Heart UTG ain’t taking it lying down however, check out the banners which appeared in the gardens this morning below! (Pic by Jaco Justice)
There’s also new blog Compare The Square which does a good job of pointing out the sheer folly of ACSEF/Wood’s ridiculous, gossamer-thin ‘plan’.
It’s time for action folks.
Expect much, much more on this soon, STV are the first to pick up on the story here...
Update: The City Square Project’s public consultation survey is now live here. Make sure you have your say…
2010: Don’t Let Them Make An Arts Of It
January 4, 2010
Is it you who welcomes us back, or the other way round? Not sure. Hope you all had a fantastic festive season anyway and are raring to go for 2010. We are that’s for sure…
First up, and something we’ve been banging on about for a while now, is the ‘believe-it-when-we see-it’ public consultation for Sir Ian Wood/ACSEF’s ‘City Square Project’ which threatens to rip up Union Terrace Gardens and replace them with something unspecified but almost certainly horrific.
Said consultation, slated to begin on 11 January, will now not include Peacock Visual Arts’ plans for a new contemporary arts centre which is, quite frankly, scandalous. The folks at Peacock haven’t given up hope however and they’re having another public meeting on Wednesday 6 January at 6pm (at Peacock) to discuss their strategy as this crucial moment in Aberdeen city centre’s future comes to a head. If you’re struggling for New Year’s resolutions outside the usual hollow gym/drink/chocolate promises, then getting involved in their campaign might be a pretty good place to start. Get down there.
Arts: Type-casting in Union Terrace
December 10, 2009
Another day, another Union Terrace Gardens post…
Local artists Philip Thompson and Gabrielle Reith have a nice project going on in which they (and friends) create a typeface every week. This week it’s inspired by, yup, you guessed it, the ‘City Square Project’. That’s it in action below. It’s a pretty cool resource for any graphic designers/font junkies out there (and I know you are out there)…
In addition, there’s an excellent overview of the débâcle which nicely encapsulates what all right-minded people are thinking, download the typeface and check out the post here
Arts: More Union Terrace
December 7, 2009
Fraser Denholm (who’s featured on the site before) has another impeccably researched post about the Union Terrace Gardens situation on his blog over here. Some more food for thought there, let’s hope the promised public consultation in January does give people the chance to air their views, as the performance by an ACSEF spokesperson on Frank Gilfeather’s Northsound 2 show yesterday (Sunday) didn’t really make things any clearer. Meanwhile, a decent point about the sanity of creating a concrete square open to the elements in Aberdeen is made on the P&J letters page today. Hadn’t thought of that. Brrrrr.
