Around Launceston members of the arts community are raising a range of concerns in relation to Launceston Council’s redevelopment of Civic Square and other public spaces.
When approached by a ‘cultural activist’ in Civic Square after a Council meeting on Monday, ex-alderman Basil Fitch described the overall project as a “soulless concrete jungle that’s costing ratepayers far too much”.
Mr Fitch went on to say, “and as for the green framed skeletons that I have seen, I cannot understand why this council wants to spend so much money turning Civic Square into some kind of dumbed down green mortuary. I think that it is a disgrace”.
However, the most contentious element is turning out to be the reconfiguration of Stephen Walker’s sculptural installation ‘Tasmanian Tableau’ that depicts the iconic Launceston thylacine and other important Tasmanian species.
The artist, Stephen Walker AO, died in Tasmania in 2014 – See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Walker_(sculptor)
As a consequence of the redevelopment the ‘tableau’ has been dispersed and significantly reconfigured so as to nullify the work’s integrity and the artist’s intentions. Moreover, the planting of exotic European trees, along with pansies around the tableau is so insensitive, and so inappropriate as imply some kind of joke.
It turns out that all this amounts to a legal contravention of the artist’s moral rights. Many people in the arts community are aghast at the arrogance and hubris on display through council’s blatant disregard for proper process and its insensitivity to the cultural values invested in the installation.
To add insult to injury, the installation was a gift to the city by The Examiner Newspaper in celebration of an important milestone in the paper’s proud history, its sesquicentenary.
The late Stephen Walker AO is one of Australia’s most important and respected artist. In Tasmania, he is particularly famous for his commemorative civic works in bronze.
The denigration of this artist’s work, and in this insensitive way, diminishes all Launcestonians in ways that should not go without being called out for what it is. Since the year 2000 the moral rights of authors, artists and cultural producers has been protected under copyright law.
The Tasmanian Tableau installation was much applauded when installed in 1992 and it has become something of an icon for the City of Launceston. Tourists and others can often be seen being photographed in front of it and it appears in social media internationally.
Mayor Albert van Zetten, and The Examiner’s editor Mark Baker, have been contacted for comment in regard to the apparent mistake but only the mayor has responded. Council is currently in touch with Stephen Walker’s widow and family in an attempt to arrive at an appropriate albeit belated outcome in respect to this work and another of Mr Walker’s works within the precinct.
On the evidence, Mayor van Zetten has found it difficult to understand what in fact are the implications of this apparent breach of the late artist’s moral rights. Coming to terms with the consequences of, and the cost of, the wrongdoing is something that is yet to come it seems.
Somewhat curiously, The Examiner has not bought into this matter and is disregarding its news value to Launceston’s residents and ratepayers.
Launceston Council’s Civic Square redevelopment is increasingly receiving unwelcomed criticism. Indeed, ratepayers are worrying about what impacts this revelation, plus components of other projects, are going to have upon their rates given the level of debt the council has taken on to fund them.
Currently, the most poignant evidence of hubris here being the barriers are down around the tableau component of the Civic Square development and for all intentions’ purposes that is a statement of the work being ‘finished’. And, there sits Stephen Walker’s work with moral rights being blatantly trampled upon.
There is not the slightest hint of remorse or acknowledgement of any of this and there is no escaping the observation of council’s disregard.
The Tasmanian Ratepayer’s Association is starting to pay closer attention to the goings on in Civic Square. President Lionel Morrell said, “I understood that there was to be some sort of community consultation on this project and other city projects.”
Mr. Morrell went on to say that, “I may have missed that process but had there been a meaningful consultation process it is hard to see how this kind of concern would not have come up and therefore this outcome might have been avoided.”
Yet again it seems that ratepayers are being left to pay dearly for council’s mistakes and the apparent aldermanic disregard for residents’ and ratepayers’ aspirations and concerns.
This time, for this element of the redevelopment, the bill is likely to be quite significant and yet again it seems that it will fall to ratepayers to pick it up.
Ray Norman
