On 10 Feb, 14:06, "tim....." wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote:

Excerpt from BBC News online...

---quote---
A giant white horse has been chosen as a new £2m art commission
for south east England dubbed "Angel of the South".

OT - When they commission these things, is 2m the actual cost of employing
people at normal, amd in the street, hourly wages to make it, or is it a
huge (IMHO unnecessary) fee paid to the artist for their contribution?

Does anyone know?


It is the cost for the whole commission - that's the cost of
constructing it plus an amount for the artist. Mark Wallinger
certainly isn't going to get outlandishly rich from this, though he
will get paid. Of course it will mean he gets a lot more exposure, so
securing his reputation and leading on to future work. Unless it all
goes very wrong!

It should be noted this is a privately (not publicly) funded project -
Eurostar, LCR and Land Securities (developer of the Ebbsfleet Valley)
are behind it.

Here's a bit more info:

---quote---
The Ebbsfleet Landmark is a rare example of large-scale private
patronage: the three Patrons are Eurostar, London & Continental
Railways and Land Securities (who are developers of Ebbsfleet Valley).
The project’s patrons recognise their responsibility as ‘placemakers’
at the beginning of the 21st century. They acknowledge the vital
importance of creating a sense of community in Ebbsfleet Valley, one
the four key transformational projects in the Thames Gateway as
identified by the Government. As a statement of belief in the power of
art to enliven, to cohere and to transform people’s lives, it creates
a challenging precedent for future large-scale regeneration projects
to match.
---/quote---

Of course I suppose one can argue about just how private LCR actually
is!

Anyway the above quite is taken from page 6 of this press kit on the
project (PDF):
http://www.ebbsfleetlandmark.com/web..._Press_Kit.pdf

More information can be found on the website of the Ebbsfleet Landmark
project he
http://www.ebbsfleetlandmark.com/