A new sculpture prize sees public art come to Spitalfields. Find out how to vote for your favourite design.
Public art – or Plop Art as it is occasionally and disparagingly referred to – has something of a mixed rep. Successful examples, like Antony Gormley's monumental Angel of the North or Stuart Semple's Happy Cloud, engage with visitors and local residents alike, encouraging us to smile or laugh or ponder our lives anew. But equally often the whole thing can feel like an arrogant imposition on an area that was getting along perfectly nicely without the ill-conceived intervention of some Baudrillard-bothering art prat.
Well, today's announcement that the public can vote for their favourite design to grace Bishops Square, Spitalfields, means that nobody can have any qualms about a lack of consultation. Eight designs have been shortlisted for the inaugural Spitalfields Sculpture Prize, and the area's workers, shoppers, tourists and residents are being encouraged to have their say.
Scale models of the eight shortlisted designs are currently on display in the foyer of the Allen & Overy LLP offices on Bishops Square and votes can be made in person or online at www.spitalfields.co.uk/vote. The winning sculpture will be decided on 11th February and will go on display from October 2010 for 18 months. The successful artist will be awarded £45,000.
The shortlisted artists are Wenqin Chen, Cinimod Studio, Paul Friedlander, Ryan Gander, Elpida Hadzi Vasileva, Tod Hanson, Nick Hornby and Kenny Hunter.
The shortlisted designs are on display until 12th February 2010.
Image credit: Elpida Hadzi Vasileva.
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