Talus Dome

Modern abstract art seems to be something you either love or hate. That certainly appears to be the case with the Talus Dome, a hollow mound of nearly 1,000 stainless steel balls sitting by an Edmonton expressway. Constructed in 2011 at a cost of C$600,000, it was the city's most expensive public art project at the time. This fact caused anger among critics such as artist Ryan McCourt, who called the sculpture "an unforgivable waste of public funds." Others have likened it to a pile of rabbit droppings or human testicles, or have suggested that the balls' reflective surfaces may be a distraction for drivers.

The Talus Dome's proponents, however, maintain that it fits in symbolically well with its environment and more than makes up for its price tag. A talus is a collection of rocks that forms at the bottom of a cliff, common in the nearby North Saskatchewan River valley. Beyond such natural associations, creators Benjamin Ball and Gaston Nogues intended the sculpture to resemble a variety of piles found roadside in Alberta. They cite "the kind of construction you might see along the freeway...a pile of sugar beets, or...gravel or sand."