[building babel]

Last week a Madrid museum admitted that they have "lost" a 38 tonne steel sculpture by Richard Serra which had been housed in a warehouse. A large bronze Henry Moore statue was stolen from a sculpture park in England in December. A huge modernist metal sculpture by Lynn Chadwick has just disappeared.

Soaring scrap metal prices, fuelled by the voracious Chinese economy, have resulted in the disappearance of many works of art around the world, to be melted down and sold.

Should we be worried?

The Archer at City Hall? Edward VIII on his hoss at Queens Park? That silly nekkid man on a plinth outside Union Station?

Are we world class enough to be next?

 

[interchange42]

Maybe Gumby goes to Smelter?

42

 

[allabootmatt]

...or the massive Serra scultpure being installed in the new international pier at Pearson.

 

[bizorky]

Art thieves in Toronto presently have a shoe fetish.

 

[Ed007Toronto]

There was a recent article on this in the paper. Manhole covers, electrical poles with live wires(!) and many other such items are being targeted by thieves around the world.

 

[building babel]

Most of the huge ferris wheel interactive artwork that was at Harbourfront's Power Plant Gallery in 2004 was stolen the following year in Holland.

 

[Archivistower]

Someone stole the ferris wheel? I'm really gotta move up from Chicklets!

 

[wyliepoon]

There was a recent article on this in the paper. Manhole covers, electrical poles with live wires(!)

In some Chinese city, thieves went into subway tunnels to steal wiring from the signal system, causing the subway system to shut down.

*****

Beijing cracks down on manhole cover thefts
From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!

March 15, 2005
New technology introduced to fight manhole cover thefts

Beijing's utilities are cracking down on manhole cover thefts by removing the incentive to steal them. A pilot program is using a new material with negligible recycling value in over 2,921 installations of various types.

"We are still looking for the perfect substitutes for the manhole covers," said city spokesman Wang Xin.

Over 240,000 covers were stolen from Beijing's streets in 2004, nearly half of the 600,000 installations scattered throughout the city.

The high recycling value of the metal used to manufacture the previous models led to a crime wave of thefts, driven by illegal scrap metal dealers who purchased them for approximately US$2.4 dollars.

The covers cost between US$145 and US$182 to replace.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Someone might mistakenly kidnap the silver Elvis "statue" that often performs in front of the Eaton Centre.

 

[building babel]

You guys can make fun all you want but I'm telling you pretty soon all the metal sculpture's going to be sucked out of the downtown area if this happens. We've got to get more bronze sculptures downtown, otherwise why will people go there? They'll all go to Vaughan or Mississauga instead. There is already too much of it out there in the suburbs anyway and when all the metal sculpture is stolen from downtown you'll be sorry. Make fun if you want. There should be alot more metal sculpture downtown, that's all I'm saying.

( p.s. Babel has just emailed Mayor Miller to see what , if anything, the City is doing to protect our precious bodily fluids ... I mean, our metal sculpture )

 

[fiendishlibrarian]

Damn, and here I thought this thread was about this:

 

[adma]

Perfect candidates for stealing are those 1967 sculpture-fair leftovers at High Park

 

[maxy505]

I hope somebody takes that stupid giant egg beater on Queen's Quay.

 

[building babel]

It has begun.

'Bitch Pack #1', a bronze doggie by artist Tom Dean, was stolen on Valentine's Day from a courtyard near Brassai restaurant on King West.

Other than a few form emails from various people at City Hall, I've heard nothing about what the City is doing to protect our sculptural heritage during this time of threat.

 

[The Burgher of TO]

can we start a task force to steal and melt down the torch's advertising mast?