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Plug pulled on Bertie ‘spud art’

Thursday, 06 March 2008

A BAN was slapped on a light hearted local art performance in support of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern last week.
Ballymun Regeneration Limited (BRL) called a halt to the performance by English artist Mark McGowan who was due to pull 300 kilos of potatoes from Ballymun to Drumcondra.
The artist said he wanted to symbolise the Taoiseach’s ‘struggles and hardships’.
However, the performance was pulled at the last minute after it was deemed “politically sensitive”.
The concept had been given the green light by local art group, Breaking Ground, which is funded by BRL.
“Breaking Ground were aware of what my performance entailed weeks ago,” Mr McGowan told Northside People.
“The morning of the performance I was called to a meeting and told that because it was a publicly funded exhibition, BRL regarded it as a party political issue.
“The sudden change of heart was very disappointing.
“I thought it would be a really nice performance to do in support of Bertie. But I guess BRL is only trying to protect its interests.
“It seems such a shame that things always boil down to political correctness.”
According to Mr McGowan, the art project paid for his flights and accommodation for his stay in Dublin last week.
“I was also paid e1,500 to come over which seems like a waste considering I didn’t get to carry out the performance,” he said.
Mr McGowan was due to dress up as the Taoiseach and crawl on his hands and knees while hauling the load of potatoes from Ballymun to Fagan’s pub, the Taoiseach’s local watering hole in Drumcondra.
The four-mile journey was aimed at showing how the Irish leader “has the weight of Ireland along with his own problems with the Mahon Tribunal to contend with”.
“Everyone in public office is put under scrutiny but I think things have been blown out of proportion as far as he is concerned,” Mr McGowan claimed.
“I think people give Bertie Ahern a hard time and I for one believe that he is a wonderful man and a great leader of the Irish nation.”
The English artist has hit the headlines many times in the past for his unconventional approach to art and public protest.
His daring stunts have included, cooking and eating a fox to highlight the plight of ‘crackheads’, eating a portion of a dead dog in protest of Prince Phillip’s foxhunting and pushing a peanut with his nose for seven miles around the hill of Howth.
A spokesperson for Ballymun Regeneration Limited told Northside People that there “should not be any major cost implication as Mr McGowan was due to come to Ballymun to be part of a two day exhibition and conference”.
“BRL asked Breaking Ground not to go ahead with a public art project proposed by the artist as part of an exhibition being held in Ballymun,” it was stated.
“What was proposed has party political connotations and is inappropriate for a public art project.”
Breaking Ground is the Per Cent for Art project for Ballymun Regeneration Ltd and has launched some of the most significant, diverse and challenging public art projects in the history of the State over the last six years.
It is widely recognised as the flagship for contemporary public art projects in Ireland.

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