Was this worth £450,000?

By Andy Richardson

As unveilings go, it hardly rivals the moment when Florentines removed the hessian from Michelangelo's David. Piece by piece, workmen were today withdrawing the scaffolding from Shrewsbury's £450,000 Quantum Leap.

In a sense, it's fitting that its arrival has been so sheepish. Quantum Leap has materialised like an uninvited guest at a swinging party, quietly creeping through the back door in the hope that nobody will notice it.

And quite right too, it's already caused more embarrassment than celebration, with councillors and the public universally disdainful. Phrases like 'the most hideous thing ever created' and 'an appaling waste of money' have rung out over Mediaeval Shrewsbury, as peoples' senses have been blitzkrieged by uniquely expensive slabs of concrete.

Shropshire Council has downplayed spiralling costs, insisting the price rose only from £350,000 to £450,000. That assertion conveniently obscures the former Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council's original plan to spend just £250,000.

Costs aside, the abominable appearance of Quantum Heap (of concrete) is impossible to ignore. The artists' impressions suggested a real looker, but the gleaming, cream-coloured 'slinky' did not evolve on the river bank. What we have instead is a dull, grey, contorted stack of ugly concrete planks.

There is, of course, a beautiful statue to Darwin nearby and it would have been unthinkable that the new design would have surpassed the sumptuous bronze sitting outside the town's library.

Then there's another point to consider, the name. Quantum Leap originates in physics, a division of science that has little to do with Darwin. Oh, and who could forget the fact that the builders got it wrong first time, and had to reinstall it.

In a recent interview, Anthony Gormley, the nation's foremost creator of public artworks, was deliberately indelicate about public sculptures that have followed his trailblazing Angel Of The North.

In a formidable, pull-no-punches, Gerald Ratner-style denunciation of the genre, he described most modern public artworks as 'crap'. Whatever would he say about the county's £450,000 concrete carbuncle. And would we be able to print it?

Do you think Quantum Leap was a waste of money, or does it beautify the banks of the River Severn?

Send us your views.

Check out the live webcam view of Quantum Leap here

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