Marking Time

Being somewhat of a philistine when it comes to public art I have always regarded the Spire on Dublin’s O’Connell Street as uninspired and uninspiring, an ill-fitting monstrosity totally out of proportion with its surroundings.

However, I have mellowed a little and have now come to regard it as a suitable symbol for our nation and for the limits of our collective vision and imagination: grey and meaningless, without hope or aspiration, pointless in every way except the literal. All it’s missing is a barcode sticker to indicate its price.

And as the photo shows it blends quite nicely into the streetscape. Despite being 120 metres high, you would hardly notice it was there.

This fabulous structure looks different under every lighting condition. At night, its stainless steel surface resembles black satin, while early morning and last light gave it a steely blue colour. In daytime under bright sunlight, it doesn’t look real from a distance, instead it looks like a computer simulation.

Archeire

As I said, an appropriate symbol for modern Ireland.

Mark Waters marked time at 5:58 pm on April 28th, 2005 .

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