Comment: Time to resolve Superlambanana quarrel

Apr 29 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

OF ALL the issues which have been subject to a Freedom of Information request, Liverpool’s Superlambanana sculpture must be among the most unusual.

But such has been the increasingly surreal nature of this saga that it has now reached the stage where Liverpool Culture Company could be forced to reveal its ownership documents of the Superlambanana, after being served with an FoI request by its creator’s lawyer.

Japanese artist Taro Chiezo and the Liverpool Culture Company are locked in a dispute over ownership of the much- loved 17ft sculpture. Despite having previously said that the artwork was on loan to the city, the Culture Company last month demanded the artist’s barrister, Francis McEntegart, prove his client owns the work.

The Daily Post is campaigning to keep the icon in Liverpool after it was revealed it could be sold – possibly even to Manchester.

This would be a most regrettable step for a piece of public art which has become synonymous with Liverpool since the sculpture was first unveiled a decade ago. Since its arrival, it has had various homes in the city, including outside ship’s chandlers JP Lamb, on The Strand, before it was demolished for redevelopment.

It currently stands guard outside the Liverpool John Moores University learning resource centre, in Tithebarn Street.

The situation is complicated by the fact the organisation that originally commissioned the work – Artranspennine – no longer exists.

The sculpture passed to the Liverpool Architect Design Trust (LADT) and Mr McEntegart claims Liverpool City Council became the "custodians" of the sculpture when LADT folded.

This is a stalemate which has gone on far too long, and it is time all those involved got round a table to hammer out a solution, especially as both sides have the same aim – to keep this now iconic artwork in the city which has been its home for the past 10 years.