Madam, - Alice Hanratty (September 3rd) is upset by the proposal to erect a new structure by sculptor Antony Gormley in the Dublin Docklands. She regards it as the latest in "a relentless onslaught in an apparent attempt to clutter [ the Liffey] up with as many 'things' as possible".
Apparently, its first fault is to be taller than the Custom House. Does this imply that anything taller than the Custom House is part of the clutter? New bridges also appear to offend Ms Hanratty. But when did "new" start? Does she mean "before the boardwalk" which she declares to be out of sympathy with the bridges, among other things? Or is she offended by bridges that have manifested themselves in recent years (perhaps in her lifetime) but "before the boardwalk"? Taken to its logical conclusion, all the river walls and bridges that were built over the centuries must have been offensive at the time they were built. Come to think of it, the people who used those wattles to facilitate the fording of the Liffey all those years ago have a lot to answer for.
She concedes that Gormley's Angel of the North is worthy of "some admiration", presumably at a distance, like the distance from Dublin to Gateshead. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL STUART, Malahide, Co Dublin.
Madam, - Ann King (September 5th), bases her welcome for the Dublin Docklands Development Authority panel's choice of an Anthony Gormley sculpture on the work of the artist to date and on the artistic reputation of the city, making no case for her contention that "it will be magnificent".
It appears that her concern for some perceived enhancement of the city's artistic reputation, resulting from the presence of a sculpture by a noteworthy artist, takes precedence over the merit or appropriateness of the work itself. A view she attributes to an "enlightened" DDDA.
The work's height, 50m, approximately, would create an inescapable intrusion on the river vista, the image indicates it is bereft of aesthetic merit, its relevance to the port untold and its sole legacy likely to be the perpetuation, in this city, of the artist's name. In support, Ms King cites how her children were challenged (a sometime euphemism for, cannot make head nor tail of it) by the Anthony Gormley Blind Light exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, London. The real challenge is posed by DDDA's intended imposition of this monstrosity, - to be met by the hope expressed by Alice Hanratty, of Aosdána (September 3rd), that, "the citizens of Dublin come out in their thousands to object to planning permission for this project". - Yours, etc,
JAMES LARKIN, Coolock, Dublin 5.