Do you remember the story about an amateur archaeologist who found possible pyramids using Google Earth? Well I have something no less interesting for you. Have a look at the following screenshots from Google Maps. This is one of the most mysterious place on Earth.
When I saw it on the internet I could not believe my eyes. I mean, who would put some weird stuff in the middle of greenfield. After a bit of research it turned out to be a private property of one of the wealthiest men in New Zealand. All these items are located on Gibbs Farm which is owned by Alan Gibbs (businessman and philanthropist). If you have not seen it before then you will most certainly love this place. It is open to public and it is FREE.
Through this post I wanted to reduce the common perception that business is bad, especially in light of recent global economic events (aka Recession). I will describe one of many examples of what good things wealthy people do for others.
Just because something can be turned to harm does not automatically make that thing evil. For example, money can be used to buy illegal and harmful things as well as to help people in great need. Therefore it is the misuse of money that is evil.
Same as food is not inherently evil. Moreover, most people would recognize it as a good gift from the God. The fact that food misused in an evil way (via gluttony for example) does not make food itself inherently evil. Thus, we should attempt to rid ourselves of this false view of business as inherently evil. Therefore whether business is good would depend on the use to which it is put.
Alan Gibbs invested millions of dollars in this project and made it available to others. Having said that, this place is not advertised and I have never seen it in any travel guides. When we came there I was seriously thinking that it would be just us and may be a couple of other cars. To my amazement there was a constant stream of visitors. As you can see in the below photo there were over 30 cars with about 3 people in each.
The first thing that we saw was… wait… a Zoo! Can you imagine how difficult and expensive it is to organise your own Zoo? The whole place looked surreal.
Unfortunately we won’t have enough time to cover all of the fascinating objects so I am going to tease you with my favorite ones.
Now lets move to those mysterious items on the Google maps. Firstly, lets start with the colorful square.
Here I am overseeing one of 22 magnificent artworks that lie on the 4 square kms farm. These are 25 painted concrete cubes. Gibbs Farm features an incredible variety of massive artworks by some of the world’s most famous artists.
The 2nd image from Google Maps was showing a long red piece of something. This is an 85m long sculpture created from blood-red PVC sheeting stretched between two giant metal rings. The complexity of the project can be compared to building a city bridge. It presented significant logistical challenges – the steel ellipses weigh 43,000 kilograms each (!!!) and the fabric’s weight is 5,900 kilograms.
The next piece of work appears to be a drawn piece of paper is actually a construction made of welded steel. This sculpture is an incredible optical illusion. The metal artwork is an impressive 15 meters high and 36 meters long.
All thanks to businessman Alan Gibbs, people can view one of the best collection of modern art in New Zealand without a doubt. If you would like to know more about Gibbs Farm then visit www.gibbsfarm.org.nz or leave your questions in the comments below.
What do you think about super rich people & businesses, and why? What other unusual examples of social good have you seen?