UKC

This article is about Chipping - not about outdoor climbing in these crazy times. Please stay on topic. Extensive chipping has been found on the boulder located at Mabley Green, London E9. The boulder and it’s counterpart in Shoreditch Park N1 have been in situ since 2008 and, until now, been free from damage. Full disclosure - I am an Artist and a Climber, and the boulders were transported and installed by me. They are Climbable Artworks. Each boulder has many established, quality problems ranging from V2 upto V8 (and above?). Several of the problems at Mabley Green have now been downgraded. New holds have been added and existing holds enlarged. This is Not Ok. If you use the boulders please respect them. If you encounter anyone chipping please ask them to stop - this is vandalism.

thanks, John Frankland.

Thanks for posting, John. I’m totally with you on this. These boulders are amazing.

I can understand why you are upset.

If I had built a wall then someone came along and painted all over it I'd be annoyed too. Whoever it was and whatever he'd painted.

Thanks ILC.. 

Hi Tom - it’s funny in a way - I always thought they were ‘vandal proof’ sculptures.. they can take a bit of graffiti - it fades, but I didn’t think about chipping.. 

John

I suppose there's artistic chipping and other types- not sure where hold chipping comes into it. I can remember a bit of a furore a few years ago when Simon Armitage had one of his poems "chipped" into a crag somewhere in West Yorkshire.

Would the be the one at Cow's Mouth Quarry?

I hadn't previously known about this artwork. Now that I've read about it, I like it, and I understand the concern of the artist. But it raises all kinds of fascinating questions.

What if the chippers describes their acts as artistic statements?

I thoroughly detest Armitage's 'Stanza Stones.' The entire project reeks more of vanity and hubris - and indeed vandalism - than it does about any interesting artistic statement. Yet it was widely and sycophantically lauded at the time.

(Unrelated, but for what it's worth, I have the same contempt for all of Antony ('Me Me Me') Gormley's output.)

It's all art, of course. But it's not good art.

Like having a wrestle on the unmade bed

Unless it was Banksy...

Absolutely no exceptions.

Oh i dunno. I'd take the hit if a Banksy stencil worth £500k on the open market turned up on my garden wall. 

Chipping the boulders though is not on. 

I’m a minor Armitage fan anyway but I find him pretty engaged and modest about our wilder places. I don’t think he seeks to provoke or has a particularly large ego. It’s an interesting thought who owns the rocks, we have a claim on them but so do the picnickers enjoying an egg roll on top of them. Cow’s Mouth is the leftovers from quarrying and we’ve carved ourselves some diversions from the nicks and cracks left over. Armitage has left some more. I for one enjoyed both a diverting time climbing and a few thoughtful moments from reading the stanza. Quite a nice Font 5 problem too  vimeo.com/349644052

Maybe someone with enough clout will decide that the chipping on the boulders  has aesthetic  merit and that what started off as a bit of vandalism  is  worthy of re-evaluation as bona fide art worth a stupid amount of money.

After all, it's been done before

For anybody interested, as I have now found out there is a film about this installation at: vimeo.com/45693157

I realize that the OP might have no interest in responding to me, but I am now curious to know more about the process. How were the boulders selected from the quarry in the first place? (Indeed - how was the quarry itself selected?) Were the boulders, once selected, dressed at all (apart from the drilling necessary for the attachment of the baseplates)? The film shows miniatures of the boulders being considered in the artist's studio: how much of that (if any) was pre-conceptual planning; and how much was merely (!) planning in reaction to the random shape which the available boulders had presented?

I do also hope that the quarry workers, the cranemen, and the lorrymen involved get equally accredited as creators of this piece. For myself, I cannot - and will not - disassociate the craft from the art; the practical mechanics of actually bringing this concept to fruition seem to me to be as interesting as the final 'standing stones' themselves.

Thanks.

I wonder what you would make of Roger Hiorns's installation "Untitled" at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.?

It consists of two scrap jet engines from a reconnaisance  aircraft used in a US military campaign. So far, nothing arty, nothing creative about these two chunks of waste metal. What makes it worthy of artistic criticism and , presumably, praise, is the secretion of some crushed  tablets in the body of these engines, hidden from view, the significance being that these were sedatives used in the treatment of PTSD  or similar disorders brought about by the stress of engaging in surveillance  or possibly being the   victim of it. 

I was left speechless .

Well - who cares what I think? Even I don't care what I think.

However, since you ask, and as regards artworks displayed in public spaces, I am generally of the Sandy Stoddart school. But I can respect any endeavour which is real. That always has to be the touchstone.

Just read some of his quotes. Bang on my wavelength.

As I said at the start, this article is about chipping, as in altering a climbing route or problem. I just wanted to alert people to this and to give my opinion. I’m anti-chipping. Some people obviously aren’t, though I’ve never met or talked to one of them. That’s all. 
I said who I am, and mentioned the genesis of the project because it seemed appropriate, and I understand that a project which intentionally conflates 2 things will draw opinions on both. I’m pleased that you found the video Rob (apologies for the sound quality), and I hope that it gives some context for the creation of the work.
There’s too much to say in this format, though I’ll happily engage in a discussion about it elsewhere. 
All the best, rock on.

Sorry for diverting your concerns about your work. I don't approve of chipping and was taking the opportunity to vent some feelings about some types of art. i hope your project suffers no more vandalism.

No worries 🗿

Thanks for the reply.

For the avoidance of doubt - and to give your posting a bump - me too.

All the best.

John - Thanks for the art and giving London climbers something to play on. The boulders are excellent. 

I live local and cycled over for a look. It's 100% a climber(s) doing the chipping as they have created a new 'problem' and made better existing holds. They have created new footholds on the left arete which now most certainly makes the crux topout moves easier. I stood still and within one arms length there were over 10 new chipped edges creating handholds and footholds (Victoria Park Face). I estimate there must be in the range of 20 new chipped holds on the boulder.

The chipping is not acceptable and should be called out. I thought this unacceptable practice ended in the 90's? Interesting to see who logs the first ascent of the new problem created.

I would hope that if anyone see someone else chipping on the boulders, they get a photo and get their image up on UKC for all to see.

Thanks 2000. All you can think is that someone who decides to do this is either

a. Selfish or

b. Some kind of moron unable to see how their behaviour affects others. That’s what a sociopath is I believe.. 

I wonder if there are any out there who check into UKC..?

You've very politely left out some options there.