QE Olympic Park: ArcelorMittal Orbit Photo: Fred Romero Paris, France creative Commons
1. Anish Kapoor ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture
Anish Kapoor’s ArcelorMittal Orbit is by far the most expensive white elephant of a public sculpture in British history. Costing a cool £20m, with £16 million coming from Britain’s richest man, the steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, Chairman of the ArcelorMittal steel company, and the balance of £3.1 million coming from the London Development Agency. This monstrosity is neither a post modernist sculpture or a worthy piece of architecture. The Eiffel Tower was a comparison bantered about at the time, but make no mistake, This is no Eiffel Tower!!! More like a funfair ride after Godzilla got his teeth into it. Measuring 114.5 metre (376 feet) tall, the sculpture and obligatory observation tower, in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London, was not open during the Olympics, for national security reasons, rendering it useless from the start. This is Britain’s largest piece of public art, and it was intended to be a permanent lasting legacy of London’s hosting of the 2012 Summer Olympic games. Orbit was designed by Turner-Prize winning artist Sir Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond of the engineering Group Arup. It was announced on 31 March 2010. Great artist missed opportunity!!!!
Top Photo: QE Olympic Park: ArcelorMittal Orbit Photo: Fred Romero Paris, France creative commons