Next stop: failed public art project No.5

A Rotterdam arts centre has compiled a tour of the citiest ugliest and most provocative public art works.

Like many major cities, Rotterdam has its share of public art. And like everywhere else, many of these artworks are derided as a "waste of taxpayers' money". Some also cause outrage because of their ugliness or provocativeness.

Last month, the Centre for Visual Arts (CBK) organised a tour of the most unsuccessful art objects in the city. The tour was a one-time event, but the route compiled can still serve as a guide for those interested in (bad) public art.

The poster child for Rotterdam's failed attempt to treat its citizens to public art is a statue called 'Santa Claus' by the American artist Paul McCarthy. The 6-metre high bronze statue holds a bell in his left hand and a dildo in his right - hence its nickname Kabouter Buttplug (buttplug pixie). It was bought by the local government in 2003. Like much of McCarthy's work, it provoked strong reactions in the city and there was a drawn-out battle over where to put it.

Controversy

The CBK's tour begins at the Eendrachtsplein, where the local shopkeepers finally adopted the 'porn pixie' in 2008. Of the participants of the tour, 85 percent actually found the statue a successful piece of public art, if only because controversy gives status to a work of art.

The second stop on the tour is a metal statue by the Russian artist Naum Gabo. Its official name is 'the stylised flower', but it goes by many nicknames such as the tennis racket, the tulip, the thing, the razor or the railroad accident. The 26-metre piece was commissioned by the nearbij Bijenkorf department store in 1957. These days, it is mainly used by shoppers who find it a convenient object to chain their bicycles to.

The Bijendorf tried to donate the artwork to the city, but the city politely declined: it was not keen on paying for the statue's maintenance. The bar and sheet iron used in the piece are expensive to maintain and experts say the statue could collapse at any moment unless a 400,000 euro restoration is undertaken. Costs and artistic value aside, the statue has nevertheless become an intrinsic part of the Bijenkorf and the city centre.

Murdered politician

A more recent public artwork is the statue of Pim Fortuyn, the populist politician who was murdered in 2002 and still holds a special place in the heart of many Rotterdammers. The Fortuyn statue was given a spot across from the historical museum the Schielandhuis. The pillar should read Loquendi liberatem custodiamus, Latin for 'let us guard the freedom of speech'. However the letters q, u, n, l, e and t are missing and there are deliberate cracks in the plinth. Many consider the piece dispensable because another statue of Fortuyn was erected through a private initiative even before this official one was unveiled.

A walk past one of the city's inner harbours and up the Erasmus bridge gives a view of De Hef, a disused railroad bridge that still stands as a monument. Not a controversial landmark in itself, there is a plan to attach an artwork called The Mothership to it as 'a tribute to all Rotterdammers'. It consists of an illuminated trailer that would randomly display the names of all Rotterdam residents since 1940. The interactive character means you can enter your own name and see it flash across the Rotterdam skyline. A waste of money, according to many.

Mutilated work

The final stop on the tour is a 220-metre brick arcade attached to the Dutch Institute for Architecture. Artist Peter Struyken - mostly known for a dotted postal stamp he made of the face of queen Beatrix - attached different coloured lights to the ceiling that alternately shine on the brick pillars. In 1998, the institute asked a group of street artists to paint the canvases around the pillars. Struyken sued, claiming his work was mutilated, and won, so the pillars have remained untouched since.