Barton Barriers: Austin Bureaucrats’ Conception of Art

17 Mar, 2010 by Dave Blount

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Our liberal rulers must get a sick kick out of wasting our money in the most conspicuously absurd manner possible. In Austin, the moonbat toehold in Texas, bureaucrats have seen fit to spend $thousands on a tower of traffic barricades that has been christened as “art“:

So what is art? According to the City of Austin’s Arts Commission, the Art in Public Places committee, the Barton Hills Neighborhood Association and the Austin City Council, which all approved this project, it’s this more than 100-foot-long, 12-foot-wide, 10-foot-high cluster of 50 road barriers that are lit up at night. …

The artwork, by Stephen Dubov, is the “inaugural sculpture” of Art on the Way. Art on the Way’s Web site says it’s “a humorous juxtaposition of nature and industrial objects.”

It must be humorous because we’re laughing — or is that screaming I hear? The city put up $4,300 for the project, said Vincent Kitch, cultural arts program director for the City of Austin. …

The name of the work is “Barton Barriers,” and if you want a tour for your school or club, you can “arrange for a docent or artist-led viewing.”

Imagine the docent for an artwork up in the bushes consisting of highway debris.

If it’s still there in January 2013, I know someone who will be out of work and perfect for the job, provided he’s equipped with a teleprompter.

On a tip from Nancy. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.