Britain Seeks New “Angel of the North”

Five artists shortlisted for a £2 million ($3.9 million) landmark in Ebbsfleet Valley, Kent, have now unveiled their proposals. Paid for by three large corporations — Eurostar, London & Continental Railways, and Land Securities — who all have commercial interests in the area, the monument is being dubbed “The Angel of the South,” a reference to the publicly loved sculpture by Antony Gormley in Gateshead that has come to stand for that area’s regeneration.

Possibly the strongest design is Daniel Buren’s proposal for what he calls a “signal,” a tower of stacked cubes through which would pass a single laser beam of light. Although the white modernist object could evoke a fascist dictator’s tomb, it’s nonetheless lively and sleek. It is certainly an improvement on Mark Wallinger’s kitsch proposal for a giant white horse — Horsa, from which the modern word is derived, was the semi-mythological leader of the Anglo-Saxons who landed near Ebbsfleet in the sixth century. The domineering creature, rendered 33 times larger than life, would stand overlooking the valley below. Rachel Whiteread has returned to the house motif, this time billing it as a monument to the lost historic communities of the area, while Richard Deacon seems to have been following architects Herzog & de Meuron’s Chinese adventures by proposing a work he describes as a “nest” — a steel latticework outlining 26 differently shaped polyhedrons. The number corresponds to the number of letters in the alphabet, of course, which he sees as the cornerstone of western culture. Last, and perhaps unfortunately least, is Christopher Le Brun’s proposal for a monumental wing and disk, a reference to the winged messenger Mercury, the Roman god of travellers and commerce. Unfortunately for Le Brun, the disk appears more like a satellite, making it for most Britons reminiscent of Mercury, a long-defunct British telephone company.   

The selected artist will be announced in autumn 2008. An exhibition of the artists’ proposals is to be held at the Bluewater Shopping Centre for three months, starting May 27.

Meanwhile, northwest England is planning its own answer to the Angel of the North. Councillors in St. Helens, Merseyside, have unveiled a commissioned £1.3 million work by artist Jaume Plensa, a 20-foot concrete sculpture of a girl’s head, to be installed at the top of a former spoil heap at a now-defunct coal mine, reports the BBC. Finished with a luminescent mix of white marble and concrete, the work would be visible from the nearby M62 highway.

Titled The Dream, the sculpture was chosen by local residents and former miners at the Sutton Manor colliery. If planners approve the work, it could be in place by Christmas.