COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE GUARDIAN
Bilbao on the prairie:
why does tiny Saskatoon need an $85m art gallery?
Saskatoon’s
awe-inspiring new Remai gallery has vast ambitions. But does the overspend and
hype about indigenous art justify all the bluster?
Bilbao resembles a crash-landed spaceship.
It has no relationship with its surroundings.
Yet The Guardian keeps talking of a Bilbao Effect?
The building is essentially a memorial to wealthy family, a
giant, self-indulgent monument or sculpture.
I just don't see how you can talk of Saskatoon's Remai
gallery in similar terms.
Its total cost wouldn't pay to keep the stainless steel
polished at Bilbao.
And the building is in keeping with its site on the river
with its low-slung profile and mainly earthy color.
It is undoubtedly a bit ambitious for the city, but not very
at CDN$85 million.
