Odds stacked against stati sculpture after wave of pr
Readers reacted angrily after our revelation in SR457 that an overturned locomotive, closely resembling one involved in the 1952 Harrow & Wealdstone disaster that cost 112 lives, had been shortlisted for a £2 million grant as a prospective piece of artwork at the revived Curzon Street station. The Birmingham Mail, Pinza. visit Tornado Royal Scots Grey, contest’s organisers have pledged to Steam Railway that public responses to the sculpture, including those of our readers, will be considered before the winner is announced in January. The judges say they will take account of any potentially sensitive issues as they want the winning work to be ‘loved and respected’ by the people of Birmingham. However, London Midland Trains, an official partner in the project, has no plans to withdraw its support, though
Steam Railway tried to contact Mr Hiorns at his home in St John’s Wood, North London, but had not received a reply as we went to press. Gavin Wade, commissioning agent for the Big Art Project, it says it would not expect the winning work to cause any offence. The controversy attracted widescale publicity in the national and West Midlands press and broadcast media. The Times repeated Steam Railway Editor Howard Johnston’s call for it to be removed from the shortlist “and have some respect for the families of those who lost their loved ones almost 64 years ago”. Artist Roger Hiorns’ pair of giant sculptures closely resemble Stanier ‘Duchess’ 4-6-2 No. 46242 City of Glasgow, which was wrecked in the Harrow accident in which 112 people died. It is based on sister engine No. 46235 City of Birmingham, preserved in the city’s museum. The work, which is on a shortlist of five selected by the Birmingham Big Art Foundation, would feature full-size wrecked locomotives lying on their sides, whose texture would have the appearance of human skin. The successful sculpture will stand in Eastside City Park outside Curzon Street, a hub which will bring passengers to Birmingham on the new High Speed 2 line. Steam Railway readers, including a survivor of the Harrow disaster, have reacted furiously to the shortlisting of the sculpture, describing it as insulting and in very bad taste (see Mailbag, pages 98-99). SR reader Philip Chatfield has emailed Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon pointing out the wholly inappropriate use of City of Glasgow ‘as an artwork to insult’. Her office has acknowledged the email but not responded so far. The work by Birminghamborn artist Mr Hiorns, as yet untitled, is believed to have received the fewest votes of the five entries. One person who commented after seeing the proposal called it ‘creepy’. A spokesman for London Midland said: “Our position is that we are sponsoring the Big Art project. This is one of the shortlisted ideas. It is yet to be seen what will get chosen, but obviously we would not expect anything that is chosen to cause any offence in any way whatsoever.” He added: “The intention is to create an icon for Birmingham that will celebrate the arrival of HS2.” One member of the selection panel, Toby Watley, Director of Collections at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, told Steam Railway: “Since the shortlist was first compiled, the artists have worked up their ideas in a lot more detail since what we saw in the early stages. “Back then, for example, there was no mention of any historical railway event… it was simply a piece of art inspired by the City of Birmingham locomotive.
THE CHANCES of a controversial ‘train crash’ sculpture being sited outside a Birmingham station are looking slim, following a barrage of criticism initiated by Steam Railway’s last issue.