Fairfield Industrial Dog Object
| Fairfield Industrial Dog Object (FIDO) | |
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| Artist | Ian Sinclair, Jackie Staude, David Davies and Alistair Knox |
| Year | April 2000 |
| Medium | Australian hardwood |
| Dimensions | 5.5 m × 8 m (220 in × 310 in) |
| Location | Fairfield, Victoria |
 Fairfield Industrial Dog Object
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The Fairfield Industrial Dog Object (FIDO) is a huge sculpture in hardwood of a canine in the inner northern Melbourne suburb of Fairfield, Victoria, Australia. It was part of the Darebin City Council's Public Art Program, and is located beside the Fairfield railway station.
FIDO was announced in 1999 as one of a number of projects funded through the council's public art program. From the outset there was considerable community opposition to the project, with members of the local community petitioning the council in order to stop the project from proceeding – at one stage approximately 400 local residents were surveyed by a local shop owner, and it was reported that 90% of those who responded opposed the work. The opposition to the project was such that it has since been described as "one of Melbourne's most fiery debates about public art".
To deal with the concerns, the council engaged in community consultation during all phases of the project's development, and argued that one of the core roles of a council is to provide services supporting arts and culture, in conjunction with the more everyday tasks such as rubbish collection. Nevertheless, some questions remained even after the project's completion in April, 2000. In particular, the $50,000 price tag for FIDO was highlighted by people critical of the council's expenditure on public art, arguing that the money could have been better spent on more essential services.
Erected in April 2000 and created by Ian Sinclair, Jackie Staude, David Davies and Alistair Knox, the work is constructed from recycled hardwood, standing 5.5 metres tall and approximately 8 metres long. The theme was chosen in order to "represent the precinct's dog-loving community", and it was originally designed to interact with viewers – sensors allowed it to respond the presence of onlookers by wagging its tail, wiggling its ears and lighting up at night.
According to the artists (from Creating Place: Public Art Policy and Practice in Darebin):
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