Artists are being invited to bid to brighten up new utility cabinets installed around the Old Steine.
Brighton and Hove City Council has put in the cabinets as part of the final phase of the Valley Gardens revamp, which is nearing completion.
It’s inviting bids for artists who would like to put murals on them to prevent tagging.
There’s £2,000 up for grabs – £1,000 for two cabinets to the south of the Old Steine, and another £1,000 for three by the art deco bus shelters outside the Royal Pavilion.
The tenders say artwork relating to the Palace Pier (e.g. murmurations) is preferred for the Old Steine cabinets, and murals reflecting the Royal Pavilion (e.g. dragons) or art deco themes for the bus shelter ones.
The bus shelter artworks must also be mindful of the proximity to the war memorial.
What are these cabinets for and why are they in such a prominent position in a Conservation area? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to site them underground out of sight altogether?
Yeah, great idea. So they can flood in the winter and be really hard to work on when something goes wrong…
Putting exposed copper cables underground susceptible to flooding is not a good idea. These cabinets will be airtight and ventilated.
If they seriously believe that putting murals on them will prevent tagging then the council is more seriously deluded than I thought.