THE 'BUILDING' WALES NEEDS MOST ?

A PROPOSED MONUMENT TO THE COUNTER CULTURAL OLYMPIAD

The artist, Amish Kippur, consults with the engineers from Oyveh Arup

The renowned artist, Amish Kippur, has been questioned by the adjudicators as to whether his initial proposals can be considered a 'building'. His suggestion that flights of steps be incorporated and the public charged to climb them have not alleviated the judges concerns. 

Some have argued that the massive structure, planned to stand beside what many consider the 'paying entrance' to Wales has some merit. " We have long wanted an iconic statement in that location," said Calvin Kleinpants, design guru and second cousin of the artist. " Wales needs something more than a flashing matrix sign which says ' give us a fiver or fuck off' at the Severn Bridge".

Many, however, consider it a derivative theme and a rather tired repetition of the artists own work at other paying attractions. Others have been even more harsh. The widely respected, if notoriously partisan, elder statesman of Welsh architecture, Sir Cough Mixture- Ellis response to Kleinpants was that he agreed in principle with a symbolic structure, one that spoke of a modern Wales but that this was just another cliched piece of over-sized tat, another opportunist object passed off as public art. Kippur's best known patron, Sir Charles Scratchy, responded angrily to that through his lawyers. In a belligerent statement strongly reminiscent of their High Court action in defence of Sir Charles other protege, Tracy Vermin, they threatened to sue anyone making defamatory remarks likely to devalue their clients speculative investment in Great British Artists.

However, little solidarity was displayed by the best known of the GBA's when his opinion was sought on Kippur's proposed monument. " Of course Kippur's work is symbolic and representative of a modern Wales" said the transexual stunt artist, Dame Ian Worst,  from his/her Cayman Islands studio,  "It's a tangled pile of bugger all with nothing new to say."

The Arts Council have, as yet, declined to enter the fray , their press officer merely repeating their official position that "it's art if we say it is and its public art if we are paying for it". A spokesman for the Imaginary Lottery Fund raised an eyebrow at that but also refused to make any formal comment. 

Contemporary artists in Wales have, predictably, disagreed with all of the above and if Kippur's proposal makes the shortlist for final adjudication at The Welsh School of Architecture on 20 June it should be a stormy evening in Cardiff.