Huge Blade artwork installed in Hull
It's the latest installation for 2017 City of Culture.
A 75 metre long wind turbine blade has been set up in Queen Victoria Square - the first in a series of art installations.
The monumental sculpture is one of the first blades to be made at the new Siemens factory in the city.
Mounted on specially-constructed supports, at the highest point it is 5.5 metres from the ground, allowing double-decker buses to pass under the tip of the blade. The blade will remain in Queen Victoria Square until March 18.
It's the first piece of artwork in Look Up, a year-long series of artist interventions in public spaces commissioned by Hull UK City of Culture 2017, which aim to make people look at and experience the city in new ways.
It was installed overnight on Saturday.
Nayan Kulkarni is the artist behind it and told Viking:
“By declaring the blade to be a work of art, we’re changing it. It’s no longer a functional object – it does other things and has different values. As both a turbine blade and a readymade sculptural work of art it is beautiful.
“As an artwork it challenges the way you think about form and about the city. It also brings to attention people’s physical labour and makes an impressive, public statement about that.
“The whole team at Siemens has been amazing. Whenever they’ve been asked to do something or enable something, they have said yes. I think the project is extraordinary. It’s an astonishing challenge to move something of this size into the city centre.”
Meanwhile, the opening event of Hull UK city of culture, Made in Hull, has attracted more than 340,000 people, it has been announced.
Martin Green, CEO and Director Hull 2017 said:
"It's been a phenomenal first week for Hull UK City of Culture 2017 and we've been blown away by the reaction to Made in Hull.
"With so many wildly differing events taking place throughout the rest of the year, I hope people will continue to be excited and urge everyone to be adventurous and try things out they might not have considered before."