Christo denied that choosing oil barrels to build the structure was a comment on the region’s chief source of wealth and stressed that his idea was not born out of economic or political events, just ‘joy and beauty.’ Construction of the Mastaba will take 30 months, with hundreds of people involved. A German company has been commissioned to supply the coloured barrels. A nearby ‘art campus’ will include an exhibition on the project, as well as housing a luxury hotel and restaurant.Christo pretends that it's "not a comment", but with art bullies it's always a comment, and it's always an ironic nasty sneering lip-curling eye-rolling contemptuous comment, drooling with toxic civilization-rotting venom. Clearly Abu Dhabi understands the comment, and is happy to repurpose the comment in a straightforward non-ironic way. Yup, we've got lots of oil money. This pyramid is a proud monument to our oil money. Gotcha. = = = = = Sidenote: There's a more precise Gotcha, a beautiful and genuinely artistic ending, to Eldred's nasty vile story. After a lifetime of murderously building terrorist weapons designed to fall on the unwary observer, Eldred was actually killed when his own "art" fell on him.
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Polistra was named after the original townsite of Manhattan (the one in Kansas). When I was growing up in Manhattan, I spent a lot of time exploring by foot, bike, and car. I discovered the ruins of an old mill along Wildcat Creek, and decided (inaccurately) that it was the remains of the original site of Polistra. Accurate or not, I've always liked the name, with its echoes of Poland (an under-appreciated friend of freedom) and stars. ==== The title icon is explained here. ==== Switchover: This 2007 entry marks a sharp change in worldview from neocon to pure populist. ===== The long illustrated story of Polistra's Dream is a time-travel fable, attempting to answer the dangerous revision of New Deal history propagated by Amity Shlaes. The Dream has 8 episodes, linked in a chain from the first. This entry explains the Shlaes connection.