Sad news for lovers of monumental, potentially dangerous public art: Earlier this month it was announced that Thomas Heatherwick's work B of the Bang would be dismantled by the city of Manchester. Named after a phrase coined by British sprinter Linford Christie, pictured here with the sculpture, B of the Bang was originally commissioned to commemorate the 2002 Commonwealth games, but its construction courted notoriety as it ran over budget and behind schedule. Then a piece fell off right before it was due to be unveiled, and public safety has been a concern ever since. Heatherwick actually agreed to pay the Manchester city council almost 2 million pounds in an out-of-court settlement last November, and Jonathan Jones mused on the contradiction inherent therein:
It is the flirtation with risk, the frisson of the truly unpredictable,
that makes conceptual art popular. In a world of tedious regulations
and rational constraints, art is the last walk on the wild side. Of
course, the Heatherwick settlement is a paradox. If you pay someone to
create a huge metal image of an explosion, how can you then act as if
any hint of physical danger was unacceptable?
Except when someone dies it's not funny at all, as did happen when Maurice Agis's inflatable installation killed two people in 2006. B of the Bang is a marvelous feat of engineering and never injured anyone, but perhaps it's best that it be remembered in pictures alone.
