County’s Angel of the North?
Tuesday 9th June 2009, 10:59AM BST.
The new £350,000 sculpture and geo-garden being built to mark the bicentenary of Shrewsbury-born scientist Charles Darwin will be the town’s answer to the Angel of the North, it was claimed today.
Darwin co-ordinator Jon King said he believed the 12-metre high statue and associated gardens being developed at Mardol Gardens could help to put the town on the map for “brave” pieces of public art.
For pictures of the building work, click here
The sculpture, known as Quantum Leap, is being described as a major feat of engineering.
It will be unveiled on October 8 at 4pm.
Mr King said the building process was being avidly watched by colleges and universities as far afield as America through a webcam at the site.
The project has provoked mixed reactions from the public, with one critic claiming it will look like a “giant slinky”.
But Mr King said he hoped the structure would become as iconic and important for Shrewsbury as the Angel of the North sculpture is for England’s North East.
He said: “Essentially what people are looking at now is the large supporting cradle that has been built so we can suspend the ribs of the sculpture as it takes shape. When the final rib is in place the cradle will be removed and it will be left as a free standing arch in all its glory.
“No structure like this has ever been built before – it’s unique.
“It has been a real challenge for the engineers to realise the original vision of the artists.
“I think if you look at other examples in other towns, cities and regions where they have made a brave decision to embrace public art the benefits have been great.
“I wouldn’t want to make a direct comparison with the Angel of the North but that iconic figure has brought attention to that region. I think Quantum Leap can be iconic.”
Mr King said a town school was using the Darwin sculpture as a case study project while universities in America have also shown an interest.
Quantum Leap will be unveiled to the world to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the town’s iconic scientist who gave the world his theory of evolution.
The 12-metre high by 19-metre wide sculpture is one of several commemorative pieces of art to the great naturalist.
By Russell Roberts
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angel of the north????? more like “waste of time and effort”
can i have my tax money back please, after all what does this do for me????? i can tell you…… NOTHING!!
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It seems to me that a question comes before an answer, so What is the question?
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I suppose if you want to stretch the point STFC are the town’s answer to Barcelona.
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Darren – if you’d said the money shouldn’t have been spent because this sculpture didn’t do anything for anyone you might have an argument – you may be wrong, but at least you’d have an argument.
But you’re suggesting that you should only pay council tax if you directly benefit? So should all the older people’s money only be used on things older people like or need, and should I, as a young single person, not have to contribute towards schools I don’t use?
It would be a sad state of affairs if we were only willing for our taxes to go to stuff we can ‘get something out of’.
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what???? your telling me then that we actually need this scuplture, i really think we dont.
and i would rather as a taxpayer my money was spent on something useful, and not wasted.
we have enough things to remind us of darwin and we dont need anymore.
saying that now we have a unitary council it looks like the tory’s will waste more of our money!
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It strikes me that the theatre has been so badly managed in terms of site, design and function that Shrewsbury supposedly renowned for it’s architecture has got it all wrong, again.
We will not be getting any awards/good publicity for our money regarding the theatre so the sculpture is a hopeful opportunity from the council’s point of view to disguise that fact.
The money for the sculpture as far as I know has not come from our council selling off their housing stock.
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Just a quick quote from a web site just visited:
Unfortunately The Shrewsbury Volunteer Bureau closed its doors due to a lack of funding on
Friday, 29th May 2009.
Priorities???
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I would like to ask Jon King, if he believes in it so much….
Would he have been prepared to invest £350,000 of his OWN money to build this structure?
If it’s as good as we are being led to believe, then as a “good business venture”, it should have been privately funded, and the profits then being made from business operations therafter would help reduce taxation.
Trouble is that: it’s all being paid for out of Public Funds, and it seems to me that:
…. It just DOESN’t really seem like REAL money to those planning it,
(just like MP’s expenses).
Or put another way, as I’ve said:,
Would they all be so enthusiastic if it was their OWN money funding it??
In the present economic climate, was this expenditure REALLY justified?
Honest answers please.
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No money for road repairs.
No money for this and no money for that.
SO WHY WASTE IT LIKE THIS!!!!!!!!!
We should all stop paying our council tax.
What next????????????
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angel of the north is a huge landmark seen for miles around this sculture is hidden away where no one can see it.
I suppose we could also say that Wonderland in telford is Shropshires version of Disneyland
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It is the position of this sculpture that is a concern.
Like with architecture the design should be in context to the site. That doesn’t mean of course that it should be a fake period design, good contemporary design allows genuine old buidings to look wonderful.
We have our own disneyland in Shrewsbury with the shopping centres unfortunately.
I hope the new sculpture will work, we now have such a bad reputation for quality design thanks to the Guildhall and Theatre Severn.
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u must be jokin right – this is a criminal waste of puvblic money – typical of a stalinist regime – i resent MY money being wasted, all council tax is wasted because its all unneccessary, any spare cash there is should be used for tax cuts in this labour made recession
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“I wouldn’t want to make a direct comparison with the Angel of the North but that iconic figure has brought attention to that region. I think Quantum Leap can be iconic.”
Typical Newspaper headline. Mr King says the above and the news paper says
“The new £350,000 sculpture and geo-garden being built to mark the bicentenary of Shrewsbury-born scientist Charles Darwin will be the town’s answer to the Angel of the North, it was claimed today”.
Keep going and do not let the truth get in the way of a good headline.
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