Public art is great: this bridge wasn’t

Jul 25 2008 by Nicholas Craig, The Journal

FAITHFUL readers of this column will know that I hold much of the region’s cultural offerings in high regard. We are rich in talent, venues, imagination and diversity.

Sometimes, however, it all goes awry. How can the three-day-long bamboo bridge that gracelessly straddled the Tyne describe itself as public art?

It was far from stunning, it did not allow public involvement and it was an engineering project, not a challenging, refreshing addition to our quayside art.

The point of it escapes me.

I’m sure the fireworks finale was enjoyable, but then pyrotechnics are always a winner. They do not need a disposable, unwalkable, lacklustre river crossing to justify their spectacle.

Creativity fuels this entire region. Originality is exciting and enviable.

The bamboo bridge only just qualifies as creative, in that it had to be constructed, but it was sadly unoriginal.

We have superb examples of interesting, energetic public art throughout the region. It’s the quality control that appears to be lacking in more recent examples.

Committees commission much of it. There is not so much a decision as a compromise – the death knell of pioneering projects.

So the river gets a bridge that can only claim its length as an original feature, the Haymarket gets the lamentable lego men and the River Wear a floating sculpture which sinks from sight.

Instead of corralling art into museums, public sculptures bring it into spaces where everyone can have an opinion.

We can revisit each piece many times, getting to understand and enjoy them. The best public art is challenging and invigorating. The Angel of the North is an obvious example, but the spectacular sculptures at Royal Quays, Littlehaven, Sunderland and along Newcastle quayside have all added a new, extraordinary and fun dimension to their landscapes.

In an ominous echo of the bamboo bridge’s empty boast of being the world’s longest, an art project described as the world’s biggest was unveiled in Teesside this month.

The Tees Valley Giants, however, could be five stupendous pieces of public art when they are completed. Intriguing images of the first, based on a pair of tights and two rings, have the strength and quirkiness to transform their landscape.

A decade after the Angel of the North was unveiled, it is high time we introduced fresh, stimulating, fascinating public art to the region. Bamboo bridges can stay where they belong, in garden centres.

Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton law firm