Coventry clock art creator 'not consulted'

[dutchman]

A woman who designed a £5.5m piece of artwork in Coventry city centre says she has not been consulted over proposals to remove it.



The council said it wanted to remove the Time Zone Clock in Millennium Place because it would be a safety hazard for big crowds when a large screen goes up.

Its French creator, Francoise Schein, said she felt "extremely hurt".

The authority said it would be consulting the artist about its plans but wanted local feedback first.

The artwork has small bumps coming out of the ground, and council officials fear someone may trip on it.

'Very early stage'

The creator described plans to remove the design, which was installed in 2003, as a "wicked destruction" and said the first she heard about the proposals was when the BBC contacted her.

She said: "I feel extremely hurt and betrayed in a way because they haven't called me.

"I think the first people who should know about it shouldn't be you, but me."

A council spokesman said: "We are at very early stage in this and have consulted local people, who hold the most important views in all this.

"They have told us overwhelmingly that they want us to sort out the clock so they have a more usable space to enjoy.

"We will also be consulting other partners including the artist and the Millennium Commission; however we wanted to get a clear steer from local people first."

[dutchman]

Why has time stood still for Coventry's most expensive clock?

EXACTLY a year after time stopped for Coventry’s most expensive public clock, when it was stripped from Millennium Place for repairs, a hand has yet to move to fix it.

The controversial Time Zone Clock – centrepiece of a £5.5m regeneration project that saw the demolition of the Coventry Theatre – has been languishing barely touched in a storage depot.

When it was removed the council said it had failed light elements, frost-damaged areas, electrical cabling needed checking and water sealant replaced.

So far it’s had a wipe clean.

The city council promised it would be back in six months, but that deadline ran out in September.

And so have the excuses for its absence.

First it was because it may have proved a trip hazard for crowds watching the Olympics on a giant TV screen in the square; ditto for those attending Christmas events there, and most recently because road works for a heating project are taking place, er, a few hundred metres away.

The real problem, of course, is that the council fears being sued should someone come a cropper tripping over it and is in no hurry to put it back.

Created by Belgian artist-architect Francoise Schein, it was heralded as a stunning symbol of the city’s international peace role, highlighting our links with 26 twinned cities.

She has defended the floor lights, which are cased in a curved steel strip, saying they have never caused a trip problem anywhere else in the world, and that cobbled lanes around the Cathedral are a far greater potential hazard.

The clock-cum-art installation has always divided opinion with some critics dismissing it as puzzling maze of pretty lights and pointing out that the council has had to cover it over with boards at some events and paid £10,000 for extra insurance cover.

A council spokesman said: “The clock is currently in storage. It was taken up so we could hold some events there for the Olympic Games and was due to be relaid in September.

“However, we had a further programme of events in the square that we wanted to continue to run over the Christmas period. As work on the Heatline project is taking place near to Millennium Place we will keep the clock up while it is taking place.

“The planned repairs to the clock are not extensive – the metal has been cleaned – but the replacement of lights is best done at the point of the clock being relaid rather than when it is in storage.”

Shouldn’t take more than two ticks then to put it back, you may think.

* Red Button has found a remarkably similar home for the clock if Coventry doesn’t want it – the public square of Kangbashi, Inner Mongolia, a ghost city built to hold a million but with only 30,000 residents, so few chances of people tripping over it.

As one of the few remaining places that Coventry is yet to twin with it would be a fine introductory present.

[dutchman]

Millennium Place clock creator threatens to sue Coventry council

THE seconds are out and now the gloves are off over Coventry’s Time Zone Clock, with creator Francoise Schein threatening to sue the city council if it’s not reinstated in Millennium Place.

Following last week’s revelation that the art installation has been in storage for a year without repairs being carried out, she contacted Red Button from her Paris base.

“I will sue them if they don’t put it back and ask them for ‘dommages et intérêts’. They signed a contract,” she promised.

“Their only chance is that I have a huge show to prepare and have no time to get involved with Coventry now.

“But in the show – which is a huge retrospective of all my work – I present Coventry as one of my major pieces. That will be in 2014.

“I will consider they have some time to put it back.”

Her robust challenge pins the council firmly between a rock and a hard Place: sued if it doesn’t reinstate, risk being sued if it does.

Although the council has maintained it intends to relay the clock – a series of strip lights embedded in the floor, highlighting the city’s many twin towns – nothing has been done for 12 months and the excuses are getting thin to the point of anorexic.

The dilemma for the council chiefs is that they have acknowledged the raised strips could be a trip hazard.

If they now reinstate the clock – centrepiece of a £5.5million regeneration project – they are wide open to a claim for damages if someone is injured.

Francoise, who strenuously denies that the clock poses a problem for pedestrians, read last week’s report suggesting Coventry could give the clock as a twinning gift to Kangbashi, Inner Mongolia, which has a similar square and hardly any people to fill it.

“It is an insane place. I went to check it out on the web. Surrealism is everywhere nowadays.

“In Coventry, a first, since time has been stolen from the city itself! Coventry is now a no-time location on the world map, as far as I am
concerned.”

Ouch.

[dutchman]

Millennium Place 'Time Zone Clock' in Coventry city centre will not be put back in place



The ‘Time Zone Clock’ will not return to its original home outside Coventry Transport Museum.

Coventry City Council has confirmed, for the first time since it was removed in 2012, that the clock will not be returning to Millennium Place.

Previously, the authority had repeatedly insisted the clock would be replaced after required repairs had taken place.

It was initially removed so public events could be held in the area after a large screen was installed at Coventry Transport Museum for the London 2012 Olympics. The raised nature of the clock caused the council headaches with potential injury claims and increased insurance cover costs for events.

The artwork was unveiled in 2003, cost an estimated £1million, and was created by Belgian artist Francoise Schein.

It was delivered using a £10.75m grant from the National Lottery, via the Millennium Commission, and formed part of the £50m ‘Phoenix Initiative’.

But Coun Rachel Lancaster, Labour cabinet member for public services, has now confirmed the clock will not return.

She told BBC Coventry and Warwickshire: “It won’t go back in Millennium Place.”

Coun Lancaster added that the clock’s controller, which is still at the site, will be removed as part of ongoing redevelopment work in the area.

Asked if the clock would ever be put on public display again, she said: “I am committed to putting it back out.

“I would quite like it on the back of the Primark building, facing Ironmonger Square.

“That’s a massive building there, imagine that all lit up at night with that clock on it, it’s look fantastic.”

Previously, the Telegraph reported that the artist had threatened to sue the council for removing the artwork.

Ms Schein is currently exhibiting examples of her previous work, including Coventry’s Time Zone Clock, in Brazil.

When Coun Lancaster was asked if the council had informed the artist of the decision, she said: “We haven’t been in touch with them since we removed it.

“At the end of the day, we bought the art. So, I suppose, we can do what we like with it.

“That’s probably a conversation for me to have with the artist.”

[rebbonk]

(Lancaster) said: “I am committed to putting it back out.

“I would quite like it on the back of the Primark building, facing Ironmonger Square.

“That’s a massive building there, imagine that all lit up at night with that clock on it, it’s look fantastic.”

[Davey]

I like Public Art and Art in general but I found it unexciting and incomprehensible.

[rebbonk]

It was a waste of time where it was.

Being raised sections people regularly tripped on it and it was very difficult to move a pushchair or wheelchair over it.

I question as to why the council bought it in the first place.