Thursday, December 31, 2009

Corporate Plop, Continued

I promised an additional example of corporate plop that has an origin and purpose rather different from the usual large sculpture in front of an office building. This is a sculpture that you might call an accidental sculpture. It's not meant to be art, and yet can be visually interesting and even beautiful. This example, in front of FMC Technologies at 1803 Gears Rd. is a perfect example of what I am talking about.

FMC Christmas tree

This is a wellhead/christmas tree assembly, the complex of pipes and valves placed on top of an oil or gas well to control the flow of the oil or gas. FMC Techologies manufactures christmas trees, so it's natural that they might put one up in the front yard to show off an example of their wares. It also identifies them in a memorable way and works (as in earlier examples) as a landmark. In addition, it just looks really cool. This is a prime example of accidental corporate plop. If found objects can be art, then this christmas tree can be as well. Like all found objects, it has been removed from its standard context and function. (I am nearly certain there is no oil well underneath it.)

No comments:

Post a Comment