Monday, March 14, 2016

Enlighten Plus

As I take to the trails round and about, I am rediscovering my love of biking. Coming to a new area is a lot of fun, working out where are the best place to run and cycle. One of my newest favourite rides incorporates the Straight Line Border between the ACT and NSW. It skirts the West Belconnen Pond, on which pelicans nest, and it is so called because...

The Straight-Line Border
West Belconnen Pond
Nesting pelicans


Him Outdoors has joined me on some of these rides, from breakfast and coffee rides, to other, more strenuous excursions.

With Him Outdoors at Little Oink
At Lake Ginninderra

Him Outdoors has also been trying to rope in new converts to his team, draping friends' children in Burnley scarves and flat caps. Forgive them for they know not what they do.


One evening in the week we went to Enlighten. I've written about this before: it's a festival in which images are projected onto the face of some of Canberra's public buildings. Here they are:

Old Parliament House
Spider at Questacon
The National Portrait Gallery
National Library of Australia
National Gallery of Australia

These projections are a big thing in Canberra. Thousands of people flock to see them and they light up the town in more ways than one. However, none of the artists were paid. This is part of the 'artists should work for exposure rather than financial reward' argument. Excuse me, but that is utter crap.

All the other providers to the festival were paid for their work. If you value art, you should reward it as you do everything else in this materialistic capitalist society, and pay for it. If you don't, you will lose it. Artists need to eat and house themselves too. To belittle their contribution in this patronising way is shocking, shameful and unforgivable.

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