Even back in pre-Lehman days, there were sections of the UK citizenry sceptical about whether the big Olympics spend would deliver the best bang for the buck for their tax pounds. Now that the global financial crisis has entered a scary second phase, the dubiety of ?9.3bn of public sector spending?twice the government?s first estimate?on the 2012 Games has intensified. We highlight one particular project raising rising hackles, and accusations that the government just ?doesn?t live in the real world?, spending money on ?ludicrous? works while subjecting pensioners, education and healthcare to an austerity drive. The said project is part of the Cultural Olympiad intended to showcase British heritage to the world next year. Only 12 of the 2,000 entries got commissioned. Together, they share ?5.4mn. There is a giant Lady Godiva puppet in the winning mix and also three hand-crocheted 30ft lions. And then there is nowhereisland.
It?s artist Alex Hartley?s brainchild. He endured sub-zero Arctic temperatures high up in the Svalbard archipelago, to understand how climate change was changing the landscape here. Then he stumbled onto an island where no man had ever gone before, because only a recent glacial retreat had brought it into being. Under international law, Hartley got to claim the island and name it, all of its football-pitch-sized worth of rocks and stones. Then he suggested he would tow about six tonnes of these to the UK for the Olympics, to raise awareness about climate change with the speculation, ?What if a newly revealed, small Arctic island went south in search of a population?? Well, the towing is well underway, the micronation has put up a Website, acquired more ?registered? citizens than the Vatican, and Haley (and his team) will be pocketing ?500,000 for this feat. Is it all worth it? Well, the question is not new to art spends. Nor is the rebuttal: if you lost your job and felt depressed, wouldn?t you be worse off without music or that sculpture in your neighbourhood park? No, you don?t have to like the sculpture.