What are your favourite Manc sculptures/statues/efforts?

[kids]

were you the first man in space?

[heatonparkincakes]

Originally Posted by kids

Fingers crossed:



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ester-15150098

Odds on that it will be the centre piece for some Russian oligarchy's coke filled boudoir in Arabia.

Cynicism aside, it would quite fetching to have this in Manchester. Where It would land, well that's as equally curious. UMIST?

[Ancoats]

Fountains are public art in away. Why then does Manchester build them then turn them off? Was walking across town the other day – starting in Spinningfields where there are the 2 low, long granite blocks that used to have water flowing across the top and down the sides. A pleasant little water fall. Saw that at first they had some leaking issues over the foot path but surely after a year they could have fixed this and turned them back on?
Crossed through Piccadilly gardens past the fountain. The larger top side of the oval was blasting away but the lower half that used to have water flowing over it has been dry for ages – why?
Then got to my destination Piccadilly station by way of the recent London road pedestrian bridge. At the Aytoun st end of this there used to be another attractive water fall fountain - now just filling up with garbage. Can they no longer afford the water for these?

[Required]

edit

[Chogmook]

We have an Urban Splash tower named after her instead!

[ashley b]

Originally Posted by Ancoats

Then got to my destination Piccadilly station by way of the recent London road pedestrian bridge. At the Aytoun st end of this there used to be another attractive water fall fountain - now just filling up with garbage. Can they no longer afford the water for these?

There's obviously something wriong with this one too, they seem to be constantly working on it (it's had abarriers around it again this week). They do switch it on every now and then, but qucikly switch it back off again. It's more often than not, not working.

I know they had problems with the "stream" part of the water feature on the other side of the tram lines at Piccadilly Place. They had to rip that all up and re-lay the blockwork, and since then that is now working as it should.

[heatonparkincakes]

Originally Posted by Required

Why is there no statue of Emmeline Pankhurst in Manchester? She was born here. Notice there's one in Westminster.

Well it has always irritated me that Mancunian society has statutes to various obese monarchs and self serving Victorian businessmen, whose families ran off to Bournemouth and Chelsea ( if you believe AJP Taylor) than it's working class and not so working class radicals and artists.

how long did it take MCC to recall Peterloo? And what Engels, Wittingstein, Pankhurst and so on.

[jrb]

Click on the link for more pictures.

image hosted on flickr


'SINGING SCULPTURE' AEOLUS MEDIA CITY

Aeolus, a 10-tonne, six metre-high example of an Aeolian harp created by Bristol artist Luke Jerram is a giant stringed musical sculpture made of 310 stainless steel tubes that will be singing in the wind at MediaCityUK piazza from Saturday 22nd October to the 13th November 2011.

[skit_uk]

[urbnist]

An interesting footnote to the saga of the B of the Bang sculpture, excerpt taken from The Economist Intelligent Life magazine.

The Designer Who Makes Buildings

... He may not have a house style, but there is something of the Victorian romantic about Heatherwick.

And then it all went horribly wrong and he entered “the worst two years of my life”. “B of the Bang” was a 56-metre-high sculpture that was to commemorate the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. It was a soaring mass of 180 identical steel spikes and a project everybody loved—until some of the spikes started falling off. The local press stoked outrage and, finally, it was removed. Heatherwick Studio and the contractors ended up paying £1.7m in damages. His face falls when I bring it up, and he seems weary and close to tears.“I love Manchester…I still believe the idea to be valid.” He points to the way Chicago held its nerve when there were problems with Anish Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate” in Millennium Park and costs soared. His project could, he says, have been fixed. He considered chaining himself to the structure, but then he shrugs, and says: “It’s their city, not mine, and it was their decision.”

He survived and, by then, his practice was becoming more clearly that of an architect. ...

article continues

[NQ Lee]

The Queen Victoria statue in Piccadilly Gardens is an UTTER DISGRACE. I saw a whole loads of tourists photographing it a couple of days ago and it was covered in pigeon shit, absolutely covered. What a great impression of Manchester.

[heatonparkincakes]

Pigeon shit is an apt covering for the Famine Queen, say I.

A furnace would be an apt place for that chunk of lardy privilege to reside.

[hulmeman2]

Originally Posted by heatonparkincakes

Pigeon shit is an apt covering for the Famine Queen, say I.

A furnace would be an apt place for that chunk of lardy privilege to reside.

Lucky pigeons, I'd love to shit on a parasitic Windsor Saxe-Coburg!

[nq]

App for the Frank Sidebottom statue,

79495/FULL/2012 - Site Address: Land at Junction of Park Road/Stockport Road, Timperley



www.franksidebottom.org.uk

[heatonparkincakes]

Absolutely cracking NQ.

What a fantastic idea.

Now stroke up that furnace for the Famine Queen.

[js1000]

Statue of Frank Sidebottom gets go ahead from Trafford council

Frank Sidebottom WILL be immortalised in bronze after the thumbs-up from town hall planners.

Trafford Council has given permission for a statue of the TV funnyman to be erected in his home town.

The character was the alter ego of comedian and musician Chris Sievey, who died in June 2010 aged 54 after a short battle with cancer.

Admirers of the round-headed star have been campaigning for a permanent memorial.

The 5ft 8ins statue will be cast at a foundry in the Czech Republic before being shipped to the UK.

The statue will take pride of place in Timperley village centre - at the junction of Stockport Road and Park Road, opposite the Stonemason's Arms pub, frequently referred to in Sidebottom's skits.

They hope to unveil the creation on April 1 - the fictional character's birthday - at approximately 11.37am, a time which was another of the comic's catchphrases.

The £20,000 statue has been funded entirely through donations from fans, with organisers also staging fundraising rock and comedy gigs.

Neil Taylor, a Timperley councillor who had helped lead efforts, said: "The statue is actually being made at the foundry. The casting process will take a couple of months at least.

"Our intention is to unveil it on April 1 - which was Frank Sidebottom's birthday, not Chris's which was in August."

Mr Taylor said Sidebottom had been a long-standing champion for Timperley and a keen campaigner on local issues.

He added: "It is going in the centre of Timperley village, which we think is very fitting.

"We have still got a couple of thousand to raise but we think this is achievable.

"All the money has come from fans and the fundraisers we've done. There has been no public money spent on it. It's all come from people who want to show their appreciation."

Planners at Trafford Council have passed the plans using delegated powers after receiving just one objection.

The statue was designed by Chester-based sculptor Colin Spofforth, who has designed a number of public artworks throughout the north west.

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereven...afford-council

[heatonparkincakes]

Tremendous news JS.

It makes you think who and what else could be memorialized in bronze and steel and marble in the public spaces of Mancunia.

Guy Garvey gurning outside Armstrong's chip in Prestwich.

A HUGE vibrating black pudding as you approach Bury.

A even HUGER Matchstick Man and Matchstick Cats and Dogs for Lowry on a hill overlooking Mottram.

A Alan Patridge aka Steve Coogan greeting passengers at Middleton bus station.