The east London 375-foot-tall mega-sculpture and observation tower, ArcelorMittal Orbit by Anish Kapoor, was the new British Prime Minister’s flagship art project during his time as London mayor. The sculpture, Britain’s largest piece of public art and situated in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London, was intended to be a permanent lasting legacy of London’s hosting of the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.
However, new figures released by the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), the firm which runs the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, shows that the sculpture is $16 million in debt – and facing a strong decline in its visitor numbers.
Although the artwork was supposed to be London’s answer to Paris’ Eiffel Tower (which receives around 7 million visitors each year) and New York City’s Statue of Liberty (which attracts about 3.5 million a year), the accounts show that only 155,000 people visited the work in 2018-19. This is a drop from 174,800 in 2017-18 and 193,000 in 2016-17, when its numbers peaked after the addition of the world’s tallest and longest tunnel slide (584 feet), designed by German artist Carsten Hölller.
According to The Art Newspaper, Kapoor, a Turner Prize winning sculptor, said the slide had been “foisted” on him by Johnson, who was keen to increase visitor numbers.
In addition to this, according to the Belfast Telegraph, prior to his appointment as British Prime Minister, Johnson cited his experience at the [Olympic] event as one of the reasons why he would make a successful leader. But Kapoor rejected the claim:, telling the Press Association, “phooey Boris." And asked whether Johnson had over-egged his own accomplishments, the artist replied, “Without a doubt, as he always does”.
And the price of the Orbit? It was funded with a $11.2 million loan from steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal’s company ArcelorMittal, as well as a $12.2 million gift from the firm and $3.8 million from public funds.