4 ms·

>"Given the sums involved, it would be irresponsible to just heap money on someone who didn't have a plan or specific request for what the money was going to be

>"Given the sums involved, it would be irresponsible to just heap money on someone who didn't have a plan or specific request for what the money was going to be for." Then they should explicitly say so and press whoever is responsible for the rebuild to draw up and publish such plans. Perhaps drawing up those plans is one of the costs that has to be met in the first place; perhaps what those plans are depends upon the sums at the dispense of the cathedral; perhaps they already exist. >"And the idea that the donors want some sort of creative influence isn't as bad as it sounds. I'm put vaguely in mind of the Eiffel tower when it was opposed as the "useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower" by artists of the time. Great works create their own dignity after the fact." I don't think the primary claim is an aesthetic one, that art funded by the rich fails on artistic grounds. It is a political one. The rebuilding of France's greatest national monument should not be under the control of a few billionaires, or treated like a grand pendant for their self-glorification.

roenxi 7y ago
It is a church, where the founding text of that religion has all sorts of injunctions to go and donate to the needy. Having a christian cross made of gold already embeds a bit of tension in the whole project. The building of Notre Dame is going to be an exercise in someone showing off. The questions of who and why are only important as far as they impact the artistic integrity of a very grand building. I'll admit to not seeing a difference between politicians showing off, billionaires showing off or the Catholics showing off. The result will be a monument to the pride and ability of the French people.
- Emma_Goldman 7y ago
  I think there is a real difference between France as a nation creating a marvelous aesthetic object, and a handful of billionaires doing so. In the first case the focus isn't on the individual but the collective, and ideally on its better qualities. In the second, it is necessarily on the individuals, whose wealth and status exists at the expense of that of most everyone else. One is the correlate of democracy; the other is more reminiscent of despotism. That's my view, anyway.

roenxi 7y ago

It is a church, where the founding text of that religion has all sorts of injunctions to go and donate to the needy. Having a christian cross made of gold already embeds a bit of tension in the whole project. The building of Notre Dame is going to be an exercise in someone showing off. The questions of who and why are only important as far as they impact the artistic integrity of a very grand building. I'll admit to not seeing a difference between politicians showing off, billionaires showing off or the Catholics showing off. The result will be a monument to the pride and ability of the French people.

Emma_Goldman 7y ago
I think there is a real difference between France as a nation creating a marvelous aesthetic object, and a handful of billionaires doing so. In the first case the focus isn't on the individual but the collective, and ideally on its better qualities. In the second, it is necessarily on the individuals, whose wealth and status exists at the expense of that of most everyone else. One is the correlate of democracy; the other is more reminiscent of despotism. That's my view, anyway.