Guest User | Login / Register

What is WIDN

The World Interior Design Network is the leading global resource for the interior design industry brought to you by World Market Intelligence, one of the world's foremost publishers of interior design information

Find out more

Product Inspiration

Browse our interior design product showcase, one of the largest and fastest growing collections of premium interior design products on the Internet.

Find out more

Industry Research

World Market Intelligence publishes in-depth strategic intelligence reports, drawing on in-depth primary and secondary research, proprietary databases and high quality analysis from our expert teams.

Find out more

Troubled arts centre wins over the public

Published: 23-Oct-2009

West Bromwich’s controversial gallery The Public is now fully open and seems to be laying its demons to rest.

Related Image

Suppliers to this sector

It ran wildly over budget, had its funding withdrawn by Arts Council England and was called a ‘monument to idiocy’ by the Daily Mail. Two years behind schedule, West Bromwich’s multi-media gallery, The Public, has opened fully and it finally seems to be winning over the critics.

Designed by architect Will Alsop, the new centre was part-opened in January but the much-hyped interactive electronic gallery was conspicuously absent from the experience.

Costing an estimated £63m, it is easy to see why the project had its detractors. Years of funding crises culminated in Arts Council England withdrawing its £500,000 annual grant in January, prompting Sandwell Council to take over the running of the project, providing additional funding and securing another £3m from Arts Council England to finish the job. But positive visitor numbers and some up-beat reviews in the press suggest the project is not the dead parrot many thought it was.

When it opened properly on the August bank holiday, The Public welcomed almost 4,000 visitors and, according to Sue Parker of Sandwell Council, the numbers have continued to be very encouraging. ‘The building itself is a work of art,’ says Parker, ‘and seeing it filled with people enjoying some fun and creative activity is what it's all about.’

The building, perhaps Alsop’s most daring to date, is a giant black box punctured by organically shaped windows edged in shocking pink. It has not been to everyone’s taste, but reports that harsh criticism of the project has driven Alsop to abandon architecture in favour of ‘a serious exploration into painting’ have been proven untrue as the architect has just announced that he is to set up a studio with architecture practice RMJM.

Since it opened, the public has featured The Golden Mile by Los Angeles-based artist Kim Abeles, who visited the gallery personally to deliver the work; political modern art from the Frank Cohen Collection and photographs of the Black Country in the 1960s by photographer John Bulmer. There may have been a few false starts but, as Parker says: ‘This is a new beginning.’

This article was first published in FX Magazine.

Mail sent successfully

Tell your friend about this article

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter your name

Your Name: *

Your Email: *

Friend's Email: *

Email Body: *: I thought you would be interested in this article : http://www.worldinteriordesignnetwork.com/comments/troubled_arts_centre_wins_over_the_public/

Other Relevant WMI Sites: