I will be in Barcelona at Fundacion ‘La Caixa’ on Wednesday talking about Spook… and surveillance in art with David Casacuberta . More information here

Brian Eno asks How can a country that has produced so much cultural and economic wealth act so dumb ?

We’ve just put up a gallery of pictures of the completion of the Spike. Click here (opens a new window)
RTE have a huge selection of reports on the Spire’s completion here.

And finally something not Spike related Nick Hornby’s 31 songs that changed his life and a bunch of celebs have a go, Nick Hornby’s are sad, very sad and probably the only one to emerge with any credit is JG Ballard but that’s hardly surprising, is it?

After missing the actual lift of the fourth part last night by about 2 minutes I made sure not to miss the final part put in place today. O’Connell St was packed with what could only be described as a world cup atmosphere. Despite the reservations that many had about the Spike when the final part was up it was obvious to all that it was an inspired choice. There’ll still be quite a wait for it to be totally finished, the cranes removed and the internal lights to be lit up – I’ve heard St Patricks Day? – but I’m certainly looking forward to it.
Some pictures from today, more to follow soon

Before the work began the Spike with the fifth piece attached.

Perforations for the illuminated tip.

The Lift Begins.

Yep, that’s a person up there

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a Spike

photos from part four and five of the Spike

The Spike itself which as you’ll see from the next batch is not quite as pointy anymore.

Night work on the sixth section of the Spike.

Construction of the Spire will take place place this morning, weather permitting, the webcam on Parnell St is now turned towards the Spire an offers a better view then the O’Connell St bridge cam. Also worth checking out is The Irish Times weather cam which is less clear but seems to be updated more regularly.

The third part of the Spike in place and a nice view from the Dublin City traffic cam.
After an all night vigil on O’Connell St work was stopped on the Spire until the weekend due to high winds. The engineers in charge of the installation say they need 24 hours of low winds to complete the project and they hope that weather conditions will be favourable this weekend.

The third part was put in place this morning at about 6am. They hope to put the last three parts up today before midnight today. I’ll post pictures as soon as I have them.
Pictures of part one here and part two here And Don’t forget Spike Watch.
The O’Connell St webcam is currently working and you can get a good view of the Spike and the work in progress.

Karlin Lillington has the low down on the young Scientist winning browser – 4 times faster then the usual suspects and more besides – written by 16 year old Adnan Osmani. It looks like it’s the real deal.

Another three sections of the Spike have arrived in Dublin from Waterford to join the third piece on O’Connell St since before Christmas. The four pieces will be assembled once wind conditions are suitable.
They expect a lull in the wind at 3am tonight and will do the the work then if they can, so all you crazy kids hanging around O’Connell St at 3am doing whatever you do on O’Connell St at 3 – keep your eyes open!
Otherwise it’ll probably be next week . Once these are completed the final two pieces will be transported to Dublin to complete the monument.