Hello, Stella. How are you, and what are you up to at the moment? 

 

I'm really well! We had a great launch of the Sculpture in the City project last Tuesday. Jackie Wullschläger, the art critic of the FT, wrote an amazing review, which came out in the life and art section of the FT Weekend.  It was an absolute glowing review on what the project is about, on what it has achieved and what it does. And, you know, it's even more special because we were literally like dark ops last year, just underground. When COVID hit, we were ready to start installing the show. And we had to pull the whole thing. So, you know, we took a year away from it all. All the artists were great in wanting to wait until we were ready to show the work; they promised us we could still use them. We worked on a whole load of other things, launched the commission, worked with Bloomberg Connect – so we kind of spent the 12 months quite constructively. And you know, the show’s even more special now because it's come out at the perfect time, when people are desperate to get outdoors. It's free. It’s safe. And it looks fantastic!

 

 

Now that we've launched the project I’m looking at the weather forecast to see whether it's going to be dry to take some of our supporters around the project so that they get to see it and not just read about it

 

And read about it they can in the FT’s glowing report on the whole project! Did that fill you full of joy?

 

Well, there is something quite lovely about the project being recognized for what it delivered. And on a personal note, we managed to get our very first piece of press in the FT with the very first exhibition in June 2011. Eddie Heathcote, who I know you know, wrote the very first piece about the project when it was almost still an experiment. But the experiment delivered an artwork by Anish Kapoor, you could call a brand new work by Franz West a great piece by Julian Opie, that people still remember. And an artwork by Kenneth Armitage. 

So the experiment, which started off by looking at how we can bring contemporary sculpture to the area, now formally known as the City Cluster, and defined by the iconic architecture in the area, now, 10 years later, and 130 artworks later, has also received a very glowing review by the art critic of the FT. So it's a full circle, basically. We started off with Eddie writing about what we were trying to achieve. And 10 years later, we're delivering on the promise to make that quite special part of the City more human, more colourful, more animated. And 130 artworks later, it's safe to say that we've definitely brought some change to the area, alongside the new buildings that are constantly coming out of the ground.

© Alice Channer, Almuth Tebbenhoff, Bram Ellens

What would you say has been the main impact of the project across that decade? And how has the project changed in its content, would you say? Has there been a marked direction?

 

Well, it's interesting, because if one looks at what in effect are the back pages of our annual brochure, you can see how the show has grown over the years. So, in 2011, we had four artworks. In 2012, we had seven artworks. In 2013 we again had seven, and then, if I skip to 2017, we had 16. In the eighth edition, we had close to 20. And currently we have 19 artworks by 18 artists. So, it's grown in size, it's grown inevitably, and not just in size as in number of artworks, but also the locations that we use. So, we now locate the sculptures in the grand spaces, like the Cheesegrater, where we have this fantastic new artwork, which is a vinyl on the underside of the escalators. And that's something that…

 

…Murmurs of the Deep. That one?

 

Yeah, by Laura Arminda Kingsley

 

Wonderful!

 

We did an open call for that last year when we were in the quiet times enforced on us by the pandemic. And because the public realm and the Cheesegrater has changed due to the pandemic – It was really important that they used the space for cycle parking, and that they had enough space for circulation for the staff in the building. So we suggested we use the underside of the escalators for an artwork, and we did an open call, received 285 applications if I'm not mistaken. And they got whittled down and shortlisted by our arts advisory group. So that's one of the new initiatives. And as I was saying, over the years, the locations have changed. And every year, we look at different ways of the artworks or the sculpture responding to the public realm, and also the architecture. 

So in the past, we've hung artworks on the Lloyds Building, which was, as you know my architecture background, probably one of the many things I wanted to achieve in the area, and we managed to do that in 2016 with Mhairi Vari. We've hung works on buildings, we've hung works on lampposts. We've shown artworks in the public spaces around the Gherkin, in the private courtyards like Bury Court, where we have Stone (Butch) by Rosanne Robertson, this year, which is a brand-new work straight from the studio, and a great commentary on gendered space. 

And, again, over the years, we've also launched many different initiatives, whether it's digital or education programs online. We've just launched with Bloomberg Connect an immersive partnership where we currently have audio guides and a family trail of the ninth edition, and we're getting ready to launch the 10th edition commentary on Bloomberg Connect on the 17th of July. We're having an outdoor exhibition of the 10 years of Sculpture in the City this summer, as well, in Aldgate Square, again, launching on the 16th of July. We’re in partnership with the Whitechapel Gallery, where for the third summer, we will be partnering with them on a one-night event called Nocturnal Creatures, where we have some of our artists come in and create either in Laura's case will have an immersive sound installation around her artwork in the Cheesegrater; Rosanne will be doing an interactive sound performance where they are going to mic themselves and the artwork, and perform. We'll have Oliver Bragg doing the seeds to sculpture workshop in Jubilee Gardens, talks, tours, you know, a huge program. And we really are very keen to see as many people come in to enjoy the project and the City on a Saturday evening, which is probably one of the best times to just come in and enjoy it, frankly. …And I think I've gone on for far too long. (laughs)

 

(laughs) Okay, so penultimate question on this. What have you learned over the 10 years, either about how much work this obviously entails for you and the rest of the team, or about sculpture? Or about its impact on the City? I mean, obviously, this year, sorry, subsidiary questions - this year it is a very different cityscape that these sculptures are being placed in. Does that new context and fewer people and the return to the City make it a different atmosphere?

 

I'll speak to that last question first, and then maybe you can refresh me? (laughs)

 

Yeah, sorry!

 

I think for all of us, really, being away from the City for a whole year has reinforced the significance of the project. It's reinforced the need for well-designed and animated public realm. It's reinforced the need for outdoors culture. It's reinforced what, in effect from the very beginning, has been a cultural and commerce partnership. This project would never have got off the ground without the support of the local businesses who supported us from the very, very beginning. And again, the support has grown over the years. So in the same way that the artworks and the exhibition has grown in numbers of artworks, we have also grown our partners, and we are now being supported by 11 businesses in the area. 

And actually, they were incredible when the pandemic hit, and we realized that we weren't going to be able to install the show. We had a partner board meeting and I have to be honest, on a personal level, the support, the clear-cut support that we got from the businesses was just overwhelming. It was like, ‘of course we're gonna support you for another year even if you can't get an exhibition out because this is a really important initiative’. And that speaks to everything really. It speaks to how hard the team works, to how privileged we are to be able to borrow some incredible works of art, but also to create something that is needed and is necessary. Because more than ever, we need to be outdoors; we need to have the opportunity to leave the office and get some air, and see something different. 

The fact that people get greeted on their way to the office every morning by an artwork that they get to know for 11 months. And I'm often asked, you know, when the artworks actually are taken out, well, what's coming next, Stella? And it's always a surprise for the commuters and the office workers when they come in on a Monday morning after we've been into the City over the weekend and installed new artworks. I love watching people on a Monday morning after a weekend install, kind of doing double-takes as they are pounding the pavement to the office. And to be honest, last Tuesday morning, when we had our press preview, it was amazing because the City was busy at nine o'clock in the morning. There were lots of people walking to the office, there were plenty of buses going up and down Bishopsgate, and it felt alive. I mean, it was a very different thing to where I am today, looking out the window at the rain! But it was really, truly we were blessed by the by the weather gods and it made it feel very, very special.

 

So so refreshment time, the initial part of my question was about what you had learned, really, in terms of timescales and the amount of effort it takes for you. This is presumably an around the year around year thing. You're starting to plan the next one now are you?

 

Yes! Yeah. Just think about a model moving forward, which I can't talk about yet, but just really doing a review of the last 10 years and where we've got to. And it's a huge effort, but it's also I often say this, and again, you know, my background so this should make sense, you know, a creative project at his level has its own ambitions. And sometimes you keep on feeding it, and it demands more and more. 

And, you know, this particular project has taken root in the area. We have, you know, hundreds of 1000s of visitors per year; I often see people and meet people now who come in every summer from wherever they are outside London to see the project and enjoy it. And it's a significant contribution to the cultural landscape of the City of London, which actually would never have happened without the City's support and the City's recognition of the need for something different in the area. 

And if you fast forward now, of course, it's all been forced by the pandemic as well. But there is the City of London, the Lord Mayor's culture and commerce taskforce, of which I am a member. So there is a lot of recognition for the need, but also for something like Sculpture in the City being a project that really has been leading the way in what is possible, in such a unique urban environment, to create something different. 

 

Last question, though, because we're well over five minutes. And it's a very unfair question. Which of these 19 sculptures is your favorite and why? 

 

Never! Never, ever, ever, and that’s all I’m going to say. (laughs) 

 

You mean you're never ever going to answer that?

 

No! It's like having children. You can't simply have a favorite, David. 

 

Oh, fair enough. Okay, well, I did try. There all your favorite.

 

They are because they all mean something. They really do all mean something. And probably I'm often asked what my favorite part of my job is on this project. And, you know, there's obviously the submissions that come in and we get inundated by hundreds, and there's always surprises in there. And some of them are a great surprises, and some of them are not so great surprises. But also, when the arts advisory group shortlist the artworks down to what in effect is about 30 artworks for the show that hopefully you'll get to see as well. But I get to meet each individual artist or their gallerist and go walkabouts with them in area to identify locations. And that's the beginning of the story. So I have a relationship with each artist or their gallerist and the artwork because I've actually spent two or three hours walking around thinking of which location would suit the artwork, how it's going to work. And then, you know, negotiating with the landowners, the city team deal with all the planning and the health and safety concerns. So there's layers and layers of process that goes into what you see on the streets and in the City. And it's that relationship that's special. So I can't possibly pick a favorite because I've had a relationship with each one of them.

 

Well, I look forward to looking around them with you at some point soon in the real world. 

 

That would be lovely. IRL!

 

Yes exactly. LOLZ! Thanks very much Stella. And congratulations. 

 

Thank you. See you soon. Bye!

© Elisa Artesero, Eva Rothschild, Guillaume Vandame