OLYMPIC CARPARK

Five-storey Olympic artwork dumped: by Mathew Moore

- The Sydney Morning Herald, April 12, 1999.

Olympic organisers have scrapped plans to decorate the nations biggest carpark with the largest artwork ever commissioned in Australia - a five storey high piece of steel mesh that was to have cost $1 million.

The chairman of the Olympic Co-ordiation Authority's public art advisory committee, Mr Leon Paroissien, told the Herald that his committee had decided unanimously not to proceed with plans to wrap the Phillip Cox designed car park at Homebush Bay with the work, designed by Melbourne artist Ms Kerrie Poliness.

A spokesman for the OCA said the money set aside for the steel mesh piece of abstract art would remain in the "capital works budget" for unspecified projects, a decision described as "outrageous" by Ms Poliness and criticised by Mr Cox.

Mr Paroissien said the design by Ms Poliness, who was picked for the commission from a small group of artists last year, would have been the "largest and most spectacular work on the site" but wasn't practical and was " developed as a concept rather than something that was buildable". "It's like a mini version of the Opera House, except we didn't have the time or money to complete it," he said. " It proved to be unbuildable in the short term."

Mr Cox who built the 3,500 space car park and the adjoining Olympic indoor arena, attacked the committee and Olympic organisers for lacking the courage to proceed with the project, which was intended to span 400 metres to a height of five of the building's eight storeys.

"I thought it was a great work that would have been a startling addition to the buildings and the only artwork at Homebush Bay that would have any scale...I reckon it looked fantastic," he said. Mr Cox accused the art committee of "a lack of daring', but admitted there was nothing he could do to challenge the decision.

Ms Poliness was bitterly disappointed at the decision to scrap her project, which had been made despite her offer, supported by Mr Cox, to design a smaller artwork that would have been cheaper to make and install if need be.

The OCA's director of urban design, Ms Bridget Smythe said the cost of building the artwork to meet the artist's intent' would probably have been at least twice the $1 million the OCA had set aside for it out of the $280 million budget for the indoor arena and adjoining carpark.

" We are not interested in creating a half-hearted attempt at the project. It looked wonderful from a distance, but up close there was some warping of the chain mesh and we were worried about rust." she said.

Ms Poliness said that the warping and rusting of the steel structure was because the prototype had not been made to her specifications and had not been galvanised, leading her to question the level of commitment to her work.

She called on the OCA to spend the $1 million earmarked for her project on other artworks, adding "it would be outrageous if it was spent on anything else, like completing the carpark."

Mr Paroissien agreed the money should be spent on art, as was originally intended.