The artist behind a controversial light installation on the northern Gold Coast says her work has been used as a scapegoat amid complaints of car hoons and years of community criticism.
Installed along the M1 motorway at Yatala ahead of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the "Hi-Lights" sculpture spells "Gold Coast", but the wording cannot be read by passing motorists.
On Tuesday, Gold Coast City Council's Transport and Infrastructure Committee unanimously voted to remove the $2.1 million installation, pending approval from a full council vote.
It comes after police requested council temporarily turn off the lights over the weekend to disrupt alleged hooning.
But the New York-based artist who created the work Ada Tolla said "there is something inherently biased and wrong in taking the artwork down".
"To move it or to remove it, equals to destroy [it]," she said.
"It's important to remind council that to commission an artwork, especially a public artwork, is to take on responsibility for its stewardship — that means conservation and protection."
'Emotion not direction'
Ms Tolla said the lights were not intended as a sign but as a sculpture that "interacts and engages with its surrounding landscape".
She said the lights were designed to “announce a change, an arrival”.
"The artwork is meant to provide emotion, not direction or instruction," she said.
"How could it ever be something you could perfectly read if you're going in one direction and then in the opposite direction?"
Ms Tolla said the purpose of the artwork has not been clearly communicated to the public by the council.
"I would be very interested in engaging with council to understand how to address this," she said.
"There is something that is missing in the communication with the community."
Architecture critic and professor at Columbia University Thomas de Monchaux said "this conversation is exactly what good art brings up".
"It asks us what do we see in the public sphere, what do we see in our landscape, what do we value in our communities," he said.
"This kind of conversation is an educational one, a cultural one and a really valuable one.
"Good art isn't always supposed to be easy, it isn't always supposed to be entertaining."
Council and police respond
Ms Tolla said the Yatala lights were custom-made for that area.
"Blaming the 'Hi-Lights' sculpture for illegal driving on the M1 is like blaming the Hollywood sign for bad driving in LA," she said.
"Destroying the artwork will not address the failure of police."
But Officer in Charge of Gold Coast District Highway Patrol Senior Sergeant Bradyn Murphy said the request to temporarily turn off the lights was based on "targeting intelligence-derived locations".
"This is no different to closing roads or implementing parking or driving restrictions in industrial areas to stop hoons gathering," he said.
"Hoon-meets tend to occur at night-time in well-lit areas which provide near-daylight conditions for drivers and onlookers, who often film their illegal antics."
A City of Gold Coast spokesperson said council would consult the artist if it decided to remove the lights.
"The state government and City of Gold Coast went out to a worldwide tender, calling on artists and designers across the globe to submit designs for entry statements to our city. It was called the Gateways Art Commission," the spokesperson said.
"An independent selection panel of six — made up of a cross-section of industry, stakeholder and community representatives — selected the artwork from more than 70 submissions.
"The City undertook a range of activities promoting the artwork including 'pop-up park' days and promotion in local, national and arts media."
Not the only sculpture drama
This is the second attempt by council to remove the Yatala lights but other pieces of public art on the Gold Coast have caused controversy recently.
At the city's Home of the Arts [HOTA] precinct this year there have been religious protests against a sculpture, over concerns it represents a satanic child sacrifice.
On social media, the protest group has repeatedly referred to comments made by Mayor Tom Tate's spiritual adviser, that a "demonic stronghold" had taken over the arts precinct, prompting the need for "spiritual battle".
This week council's Transport and Infrastructure Committee opted to either sell or dispose of the $410,000 silver fern sculptures being held in storage, over concerns about a high maintenance costs.
"Clearly it was designed to live in the elements and I don't see any problems in us temporarily storing it in the open for example at somewhere like the Suntown waste facility," councillor William Owen-Jones said at the committee meeting.
President of the Gold Coast Sculptors' Society Michelle Noodlink said council's handling of the silver fern and Yatala lights sculptures would discourage artists from working on the Gold Coast.
"They put in their heart and soul, they're very dedicated and devoted to it," she said.
"It's a lack of respect and very disheartening."
