A good result, for now.
Dear friends and supporters
It's good news for once - the petition you signed to demand that Delancey and Royal Bank of Scotland return Barbara Hepworth's Rock Form to Wolverhampton has been a success! Yesterday RBS issued this short statement:
"RBS is pleased to confirm that the Barbara Hepworth sculpture will remain in Wolverhampton and will return to the Mander Centre on loan from RBS, once a major refurbishment of the shopping centre has been completed.
In the meantime RBS is in discussions with Wolverhampton Art Gallery for the sculpture to be displayed there while the re-development of the shopping centre is carried out.
Rory Cullinan, Chief Executive, RBS Capital Resolution Group said;
'We are delighted that the people of Wolverhampton will continue to enjoy the artwork.'"
As they were bounced into this by leaks of the news from other sources, this is a bit basic, so I imagine that more details will be provided soon. We understand that during the refurb, due to start next year, the sculpture will be indeed be hosted by the city art gallery. When the Centre is rebuilt, probably late 2016, Rock Form will return to the location for which it was intended by the artist and the Centre's architect. As far as we know, the time capsule in the plinth will stay with it.
Currently, title to the sculpture remains with RBS, so the arrangement will be on a long term agreement, renewable perhaps every ten years. This does mean that, further down the line, there may be more problems, but at least there is now plenty of time to look at ways of protecting the sculpture and making sure it stays in the city.
Despite the unresolved aspects, this is a fantastic win. Whatever they may say now, we do know for sure that Delancey and RBS certainly considered seriously the option of selling off the sculpture at one point. The campaign to save it forced them to re-think, and this petition has been a powerful element in the campaign, giving voice to the views of thousands of ordinary folk, and giving a real mandate to the efforts of the councillors and MPs who talked to RBS on our behalf.
As our supporter Antony Gormley has said: "There is, in this monetarist time, an assumption that 'common good' can be trumped by the values of a liberalised economy; let us hope you can change that assumption here."
Well, in a small way, we have, and we hope that this may give encouragement to other communities fighting to keep their own public art from being asset stripped.
Thank you all so much!
Richard Warren
