The Panopticons are a set of four futuristic sculptures set in the rural settings of Blackburn, Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale districts of East Lancashire, England. The powers-that-be commissioned the sculptures as gateway pieces and a symbol of the renaissance of the area.
Whatever the reason, the results are some fantastic works of art:
The Atom
Photo: Tony-H [Flickr]
Photo: chillghetti [Flickr]
The Atom, a giant egg-shaped, bronze-coated sculpture designed by Peter Meacock with Katarina Novomestka and Architects WCW. It is located in the Wycoller Country Park in Pendle.
Colourfields
Photo: Ian Lawson
The Panopticon for Blackburn is Colourfields, a collaboration between Jo Rippon Architecture and artist Sophie Smallhorn. The piece, which apparently is some sort of a striped walkway (correct me if I'm wrong, guys), is built on a former cannon battery.
Haslingden Halo
Photo: bitrot [Flickr]
Photo: petehud [Flickr]
The Halo, designed by John Kennedy of LandLab, is a steel lattice structure on a tripod. After dark, it's lit with LEDs to give the sculpture the effect of hovering above the town of Haslingden in Rossendale.
Singing Ringing Tree
Photo: StewieD [Flickr]
Last (and my favorite!) in the series is the Singing Ringing Tree, a musical sculpture overlooking Burnley. The sculpture was designed by MIke Tonkin and Anna Liu, and was made from galvanized steel pipes. When the wind blows, the "tree" sings an eerie tune:
Is the use of "panopticon" here intended to be perjorative? They sure are ugly & pointless -- what a waste of taxpayer resources.
I have no idea why the first poster thinks the use of "panopticon" might be pejorative. Perhaps he doesn't understand what the word means.
Yeah, taking it back to the Greek roots it means something along the lines of being able to "see all" within it (because it was a round prison... guards could mind the convicts easier). But it was still a prison -- I wouldn't name my sculptures Sing Sing, Abu Ghraib, or Devil's Island either. Dumbasses should have coined a new name.
As for the art, we've seen much worse. Installing the Singing Ringing Tree in your garden is a perfect way to settle that old neighbourhood grudge.
Better to have just paid off the "artists" not to have left this crap lying about soiling the view.
The other two, I agree are pretty craptacular. Colourfields just seems pointless, and while having a glowing UFO hovering around might seem cool, in reality it's incredibly intrusive on the landscape, and annoying for anyone who might have to live near it.
But OTOH, you see this sort of thing in cities all the time -- random abstract sculptures seem to wind in parks, subway stations, outside hospitals, banks, etc. Are these any worse than that?
You can all groan about the cost of public art installations like this, but the fact of the matter is that they often generate economic activity that far exceeds their cost. The best recent example is probably Christo’s "The Gates," which was temporarily installed in Manhattan’s Central Park in 2005. That installation generated over $250 million in economic activity in New York City, compared to independent estimates of only $5-10 million in installation costs (which were privately funded in any case). Admittedly, this project isn’t at the scale of "The Gates," and it’s not in the heart of a major metropolitan center, but the area will likely see economic benefit (that’s why they did it, after all). Of course, you still may not like the pieces as art, which is fine – I’m not crazy about them myself – but the economics are reasonably sound.
In any case, I am very willing to see my tax dollars being spent on art; the governments of every great society in history have supported, and funded, the arts. Our continued cultural and artistic legacies depend on it.
1. Christo's projects (including "The Gates") are generally fully funded by the artist and own financing. I might not appreciate it as art, but at least he didn't do it on the public dole, picking the pockets of hardworking folks. On the other hand, I've no knowledge of anyone getting killed by the Panopticon sculptures, whilst Christo has a mounting death toll.
2. The Atom looks like it fell off the truck hauling leftover stuff from "The Prisoner" TV series to the dump. Frankly, a Lotus 7 up on a hill would be prettier.
1. Yes, “The Gates” was privately funded, but it still generated over $250,000,000 in economic activity on a $10,000,000 investment. Even if the installation had been funded by the city (I’m sure the city incurred some costs in any case) I don’t see how that’s picking anyone’s pockets; it’s in the city’s, and the public’s, best interest to develop economic activity. And Christo does not have a “mounting death toll,” but nice spin.
2. Again, you can debate the value of the pieces as art, I don’t really care. To each his own.
two words
CRE-PEE!
2 people met their ends via Christo's "The Umbrellas". One woman got killed by one of the giant umbrellas that blew loose in the wind and whacked her and a worker was also electrocuted when the display was being dismantled and a giant umbrella he was handling touched a too-near power line.
I would say 2 disconnected deaths from a single artist justifies my use of "a mounting death toll" :-P.
I love the singing-ringing tree, the whistling is haunting but gentle. I saw a guy flying his falcon up there once.
The halo is powered by a tiny wind turbine. I had to rely on the knowledge of a small boy I met for that fact because the information board is invisible in the dark!