So art should be preserved, if put on a Native reservation without permission?
In your back yard?
In the local school’s main hallway?
In a fragile, endangered biome? <- What actually happened.
And why do the locals need to allow for an illegal art installation, that happens to be destroying a portion of a park? Why is the burden on THEM? The artist(s) in question likely was/were completely aware, that this installation would never have been approved, if they’d asked properly. Why is that OK?!
Answer: It’s. Not. OK. If you want “rule of law”, that means RULE OF LAW, not just “anything but what Trump wants”. Seriously, WTF people?!
I don’t buy your argument at all. This wasn’t a tin can or trash, if it were such precious land the ranching definitely does exceptionally more damage than this metal sculpture and it wasn’t up to some randoms to remove it.
And I’d like to add that if this was planted on my farmland, I would certainly have left it.
a) “Vigilantism”…? It was an illegal art installation, not a person, and was very obviously causing damage to the area.
b) Why is it OK for the artist(s) to install the thing without permission or much thought, but the removal is oh-so-bad?
There’s still no excuse, nor will one be extant, at least until you explain how this would be OK in any other location, without permission and against local laws. Why NOT your bedroom, while you’re not home or asleep and unaware? Why NOT a Native reservation, without permission? Hell, why not a nice, erotic triptych, installed on the sly in your local elementary school’s lobby? Well? Would you leave it then?
With a permit, I have zero problem with art of almost any sort, in almost any location that isn’t in an extremely vulnerable biome, barring violation of (most peoples’) personal property. But that’s not the case here, not even close.
Before anyone else tries to wave this off, I propose a little thought experiment:
What if those fellows who removed the monument, were instead caught installing it? Imagine the moaning and groaning about
People here would be up in arms demanding the removal of the offending sculpture, you betcha, and would be right to do so. Go on, try saying otherwise with a straight face; any luck?
(Mostly /s but maaaaaan you’re laying it on thick with this ** pearl clutch ** “But what about the biome?” We’re all going to survive this one. Biomes are vast. This installation was small and ultimately ephemeral.)
Actually, deserts are just about always very, very fragile biomes.
And notably, I wasn’t “clutching my pearls” about the installation, so much as I was annoyed by those complaining about its removal. Funny how that works.
As for “biomes are vast”, well, those passenger pigeon flocks are simply enormous, no? No one will mind if we shoot a few. The ocean is gigantic, right? No one will mind a pint of PCBs, surely!
That’s a terrible argument, both on the face of it and in depth.
Edit -> And yes, I hate Burning Man, as well, for correlating reasons.
I’m glad it’s gone. Humans can do what they want over in their cities. As Carlin said, “The planet’ll shake us off like a bad case of fleas. The planet will be here for a long, long, LONG time after we’re gone, and it will heal itself, it will cleanse itself, 'cause that’s what it does . It’s a self-correcting system. The air and the water will recover, the earth will be renewed.”
Not to mention buy-in from local authorities ahead of time, and permits, plus installation covered by major news outlets. No one ever thought aliens were draping islands in fabric.
Then you’ll be cool with the Instagrammers and other miscellaneous trespassers on your property to take selfies with it, all while trampling crops and/or disturbing your livestock. Maybe leave a gate open so the cattle get out onto the road. Not to mention the more rednecky contingent that see it as a mighty fine roadside target, never mind if there’s a horse or a house out of view over that rise.
