Arts and Design

Artist asks Blackpool council to demolish his seafront sculpture over safety fears


An artist is calling on council officials to take down his most famous work after claiming that a lack of maintenance has left it in a poor state and a threat to public safety.

Liam Curtin’s Blackpool High Tide Organ was constructed along the town’s new promenade in 2002. Commissioned by Blackpool council and designed by Curtin and John Gooding, the structure is primarily made of Corten steel – the same material used for the Angel of the North sculpture.

The tide organ harnesses wave energy, pushing water up what are in essence oversized organ pipes to generate music. The artwork – which is tuned to B flat – was originally intended to stand for 12 years but there are no plans to have it removed almost two decades later.

“For almost 20 years, I’ve been begging the council to maintain this and other works, in some cases for public safety reasons,” said Curtin. “I have even, at my own cost, done some maintenance on it myself.”

According to Curtin, the steel organ itself is corroding quite badly on the north side but he suggests that primary safety concerns are less visible to the public. “The pipes have come loose over the years and that’s really what worries me. They’re not like ordinary drain pipes. The ends are made of cask ductile iron that’s really heavy,” he said.

In 2019, a health and safety surveyor ruled that the structure would need to be re-approved annually following a complaint from Curtin. The first of these reviews is due to take place later this month after it was delayed by the Covid pandemic.

The High Tide Organ at Blackpool
The artwork was originally intended to stand for 12 years but there are no plans to have it removed almost two decades later. Photograph: Gordon Sinclair/Alamy

“I’ve urged them not to spend nearly £3,000 a year surveying it when you’re going to have to demolish it sooner or later,” said Curtin. “If I were an engineer, I’d just take a big hammer to the whole thing.”

Curtin said he thought the council was happy to let the arwork fall into disrepair as the structure itself would remain standing even if it no longer worked as a tide organ. “They’re quite happy for it to just become a large feature on the promenade which I’m not happy about – letting it become something it’s not,” he said.

A Blackpool council spokesperson said: “It was always supposed to be a time-limited piece and if the artist would like to contact us about its refurbishment we would be delighted to have a discussion. The last 18 months has been challenging for the public sector and funding is always an issue but we will try our best.”



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