The Tees Valley Giants was intended as a £15 million series of five art installations by sculptor

Anish Kapoor Sir Anish Mikhail Kapoor (born 12 March 1954) is a British-Indian sculptor specializing in installation art and conceptual art. Born in Mumbai, Kapoor attended the elite all-boys Indian boarding school The Doon School, before moving to the UK ...

and structural designer

Cecil Balmond Cecil Balmond OBE is a Sri Lankan–British designer, artist, and writer. In 1968 Balmond joined Ove Arup & Partners, leading him to become deputy chairman. In 2000 he founded design and research group, the AGU (Advanced Geometry Unit). He cu ...

. The artwork was planned to be created in the towns of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdivision had a population of ...

and Stockton on Tees in the

Tees Valley Tees Valley is a mayoral combined authority and Local enterprise partnership area in northern England, around the River Tees. The area is not a geographical valley. The LEP was established in 2011 and the combined authority was establish ...

area of England. The project was launched in July 2008 by

Tees Valley Regeneration Tees Valley Regeneration was an urban regeneration company covering the Tees Valley area of North East England and at one time was the largest urban development agency in England. The headquarters were at Cavendish House, Teesdale Business Park ...

. If completed, the project would become the world's biggest public art project.

The structures

Five structures were planned: however only one, ''Temenos'', has been unveiled. However, in September 2012, Kapoor insisted the other projects would go ahead. But by September 2016 no progress had been announced.

''Temenos''

''Temenos'' was the first sculpture for the Tees Valley Giants project to be announced. It is approximately long and high and cost £2.7 million. The steel structure consists of a pole, a circular ring and an oval ring, all held together by steel wire. The structure is situated in the Middlehaven area of

, close to where the

Transporter bridge A transporter bridge, also known as a ferry bridge or aerial transfer bridge, is a type of movable bridge that carries a segment of roadway across a river. The gondola is slung from a tall span by wires or a metal frame. The design has been use ...

is located; construction work started in autumn 2008, was completed by spring 2010, and officially presented to the people of Middlesbrough on 10 June 2010. The name '

Temenos A ''temenos'' (Greek: ; plural: , ''temenē''). is a piece of land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, such as a sanctuary, holy gro ...

' comes from the Ancient Greek (τέμενος < τέμνω, temno, to cut) term for land cut off and assigned as an official domain, especially to kings and chiefs, or a piece of land marked off from common uses and dedicated to a god, a sanctuary, holy grove or holy precinct. ''Temenos'' was funded by the Government Initiative,

The Northern Way The Northern Way was a collaboration initiated in February 2004 between the three northern regional development agencies (RDAs), Northwest Development Agency, One NorthEast and Yorkshire Forward at the instigation of the then Deputy Prime Minist ...

, the regional development agency

One NorthEast One North East was the regional development agency for the North East England region. History It was established in April 1999. The North East received government aid for regeneration. In June 2010, it was announced that One North East was t ...

, the

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...

, the

Northern Rock Foundation Northern Rock Foundation was an independent charity and company limited by guarantee in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1997 when the Northern Rock company was floated on the stock exchange. Following the near-collapse of the bank and its na ...

Middlesbrough Football Club Middlesbrough Football Club ( ) is a professional football club in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadiu ...

and BioRegional Quintain.

Other structures

The other four structures were never formally announced, and in June 2012, the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

revealed that plans for them had been put on hold: it currently seems unlikely that funding for them will be secured. In September 2012, Kapoor insisted all of the structures would go ahead, but the project then slipped out of the news until May 2018 when Stockton Council was hoping to revive the scheme by seeking funding from

Tees Valley Combined Authority The Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) is the combined authority for the Tees Valley urban area in England consisting of the following five unitary authorities: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees ...

for a second sculpture.

References

External links

Anish Kapoor Official Site
{{Anish Kapoor Places in the Tees Valley Buildings and structures in Hartlepool Buildings and structures in Middlesbrough Redcar and Cleveland Buildings and structures in Stockton-on-Tees Outdoor sculptures in England Sculptures by Anish Kapoor Borough of Darlington Steel sculptures in England 2010 sculptures