Iowa City panel tabs London artist for Black Hawk Mini Park public art project

IOWA CITY - Following months of discussion, interviews and public forums, the Iowa City Art Review Panel has selected London's Cecil Balmond as their preferred artist to create the pedestrian mall's signature art piece.

The Iowa City Public Art Advisory Committee will discuss the panel's recommendation at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in City Hall, 410 E. Washington St.

Balmond was selected from three finalists that included Vito Acconci of Brooklyn, New York, and Iowa City resident Hans Breder.

Iowa City Council Member Jim Throgmorton, member of the art review panel, said all three artists - each artist visited Iowa City to meet the panel - were impressive, but Balmond stood out.

'In the end I think it's correct to say the committee members all felt unanimously that Cecil Balmond was the most persuasive, the most compelling, and artistically the most interesting of the three in terms of specific ideas,” Throgmorton said.

If approved by the committee, Balmond will be included in a contract between the city and Genus Landscape Architects for the design of the public art piece planned for the Black Hawk Mini Park, on the north end of the downtown pedestrian mall.

Marcia Bollinger, Iowa City Public Art Program Coordinator, said the Iowa City Council will vote on the final contract for the pedestrian mall design.

'The hope is we can get through the design process with them in the next three to four months,” Bollinger said.

The pedestrian mall updates are part of the city's larger Downtown Streetscape Plan, which is scheduled to begin next year and includes a wide array of updates to lighting, street widths and sidewalks.

Part of that Streetscape Plan calls for a signature art piece for the north entrance to the pedestrian mall.

That's where Balmond, who will work with Genus to develop an art piece that works with the updates, comes in.

'I was really compelled by the artistic quality of his work and by the skill of which he spoke about his work and the effort he had gone through to understand Iowa City,” Throgmorton said. 'We wanted an iconic piece to stand out and reflect who we are in Iowa City, but also be notable.”

Balmond's art projects have spanned the globe, including India's Ranchi Cricket Stadium, Chicago's Wilson Station and Scotland's Star of Caledonia.

But an art piece, which Bollinger said has the potential to be considerably large in size, will come with a cost, of which will likely involve a fundraising effort.

'I like the idea of having it funded through fundraising rather than through the city,” Throgmorton said. 'I think it's quite important that we not spend so much money on this project that it appears to many people in the public that Iowa City is yet again spending a lot of money on the downtown.”

Bollinger said plans on a fundraising campaign will begin to take shape once Balmond - who has offered to help reach sponsors for the fundraising effort - has a more finalized design to present to the public.