Highland Council makes cast iron pledge to listen to the public before installing artwork on the River Ness
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PUBLIC consultation will be the key driver in the process to find a replacement for Inverness’s controversial “tilting pier” arts project.
That was the promise from Highland councillors, council officers and artists as a “new day” for the city’s drive to create a lasting public art legacy on the banks of the River Ness was unveiled.
At a relaunch event for the Gathering Place project, held at Eden Court yesterday, it was revealed architectural artist Karsten Huneck – the designer of the pier artwork rejected by councillors a year ago – would return, along with business partner Bernd Truempler of German firm OSA.
They will work with Tristan Surtees and Charles Blanc of Glasgow-based firm Sans façon and all insisted their approach will be “consultation first, concept later”.
The Gathering Place is a key part of the £750,000 River Connections Public Art Programme to create a range of new landmarks and trails along the River Ness.
The tilting pier was rejected by councillors last July after a public outcry over design and cost.
Mr Surtees said yesterday that up to six months could now be spent working with communities to draw out their ideas of what the river means to them, how they interact with it and what sort of thing they would like to see before he and his colleagues use that detail to create a design that will be decided on by councillors.
“Like everyone in Inverness we appreciate the importance of the river to people and their sense of place and the need to bring a level of sensitivity to the process as we recognise the desire of everyone to be part of the conversation about what is appropriate and achievable,” he said.
“In all the work we create it’s about dialogue – looking at space and thinking about what will work there, but also very much about what works for people who actually use that space.”
The launch audience also heard from Professor Jim Mooney, a former Royal College of Art academic who chaired the Gathering Place selection panel, that public art has a long history of stirring up controversy and there will always be people who criticise.
He insisted that their views should be respected, adding: “There is little point in art that simply reiterates the status quo, common consensus or dominant thinking, or merely seeks to appease or please all.”
David Haas, the council’s Inverness city manager, said: “The message that is coming out very loudly and clearly is that the community will be very much at the heart of the discussions around this project, which means that those who have to make the decision will be very clear that what they are being presented with reflects the views of everyone who gets involved.”
He said the total £240,000 allocated for the project was made up of £66,000 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise plus “a proportion” of the £305,600 promised by national arts body Creative Scotland for the whole river arts project, and funds from the Inverness Common Good Fund.
Highland Council is directly contributing £106,000 to the whole arts project and Mr Haas said the aim was to have a finished artwork by summer next year.
Inverness Provost Helen Carmichael said she was “excited” to see things moving ahead again.
“It is a new day with a new approach that I think will work much better this time round,” she said.
“It can be a challenging process when, of course, everyone feels so passionately about the river but I hope people will get involved.
“Twenty years ago Inverness could never have hoped for the kind of national investment we are getting for this project – back then we were just ‘that place somewhere up there’ as everything went to Glasgow or Edinburgh.
“This shows how far we’ve come and a really fresh, exciting, different piece of public art has the potential to make us even more of an international destination.”
