2 October 2007
Street Scene Challenge: Antony Gormley
Major new Antony Gormley sculpture to be unveiled in the City of
London
The first sculpture by acclaimed international artist Antony
Gormley to be situated in the City of London will be unveiled on
Wednesday 3 October. The work, entitled Resolution,
is sited at the junction of Shoe Lane and St Bride Street and has
been installed as part of a City of London’s Street Scene Challenge
initiative.
Resolution takes the form of a life-size cast iron
figure standing looking out over the street. The sculpture is
formed within a mould of the artist’s own body and from a multitude
of cast iron blocks evoking the block of the urban grid.
The City of London Corporation’s Street Scene Challenge
initiative enhances the City’s streets by reclaiming them from
traffic in collaboration with respected architects, designers and
artists. Resolution has been installed as part of a major
redesign of the Shoe Lane Quarter around Fleet Street to enhance
the street scene environment for City workers, residents and
visitors alike.
Antony Gormley said: “Seen from afar it looks like a man, from
close up it looks like a city. It is wonderful to be able to
site a work that interacts with the daily life of the street.
Resolution is a pixilated body made physical that will
stay – night and day, summer and winter – while pedestrians pass it
by and the tree grows bigger through successive springs.”
Christine Cohen OBE, Chairman of the City of London’s Planning
and Transportation Committee, said: “Since the launch of the Street
Scene Challenge in 2002, the City of London has become a leader in
the development of high quality public spaces in London.
“With a growing number of people moving around on foot in the
City, there is a real need to improve the pedestrian experience
wherever possible. At the heart of our Street Scene initiative is
the desire to create new public spaces and improve the outdoor
environment for all those who work, live in and visit the Square
Mile."
The £2m project was funded through a partnership between local
business and the City of London Corporation.
Another aspect of the Shoe Lane Quarter Project was the creation
of the St Bride Street Piazza, where the pedestrianisation of a
carriageway has created a new public space of more than 1,600sq
metres. The piazza includes benches, planters, soft landscaping and
ten trees to create a space that is safer, usable and more
welcoming.
It is the latest in a series of projects that has recently seen
the creation of a new public square by Eric Parry Architects
(Aldermanbury Square), a Riverside Walkway along the north bank of
the Thames, a new public square at the Monument, with a pavilion by
bere:architects, and the redevelopment of large swathes of the
street level landscape in the City of London.
Ends
Street Scene Challenge Initiative:
The
City of London’s Street Scene Challenge initiative was set up in
2003 to manage the appearance of streets, enhance the public realm
and street level environment and facilitate the flow of both
pedestrian and motor traffic around the City of London. Traffic has
been reduced in the City by 25% overall, with a 40% reduction in
the central City area as a result of the City’s management of
vehicular movement. Through Street Scene, the City of London
is continually working to improve the appearance, function and
safety of the City’s streets, to provide a high quality environment
that is fitting for the world’s leading financial and business
centre.
Whilst every scheme is different, in general Street Scene
schemes are funded by a partnership between the City of London and
other interested parties such as private developers, building
owners and occupiers, Transport for London and regeneration
organisations. The City of London's contribution can vary depending
on the size and nature of schemes but the funding derived from
parking income, which, by law, must be spent on local highway
improvements, and also from contributions made through Section 106
planning agreements.
The City of London:
The City of London provides local government services for the
Square Mile, the financial and commercial heart of Britain. The
City Corporation is committed to maintaining and enhancing the
status of the business City as the world's leading international
financial and business centre through its policies and services.
Its responsibilities also extend far beyond the City boundaries and
include management of the Barbican Centre, Central Criminal Court
at the Old Bailey, Epping Forest, Hampstead Heath, three wholesale
food markets, as well as acting as the London Port Health
Authority.