The Bambuco Bridge was a temporary outdoor

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

in the form of a

simple suspension bridge A simple suspension bridge (also rope bridge, swing bridge (in New Zealand), suspended bridge, hanging bridge and catenary bridge) is a primitive type of bridge in which the deck of the bridge lies on two parallel load-bearing cables that ar ...

spanning the

River Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, made entirely from bamboo wood. The

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

was designed and built for the ''SummerTyne'' festival, part of the

NewcastleGateshead NewcastleGateshead is a brand-name associated with the joint promotion of culture, business and tourism within the conurbation formed by Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead. With the use of printed matter and a web-site, the organisation produces, ...

initiative.

History

The 'bridge' was actually a sculpture and could not be used for human or vehicular transport. The sculpture opened for its three-day run at 10:00 on 18 July 2008, and closed on 20 July; the opening coincided with the start of the ten-day SummerTyne festival. There was a light show at 21:00 on 18 July to officially mark the occasion. After the three-day period, the bridge was dismantled in late July. Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead commissioned the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

-based firm Bambuco to create the bridge sculpture from 20 tonnes (in 800 pieces) of bamboo in 2008, the 80th anniversary of the construction of the Tyne Bridge. The sculpture's construction started in late June 2008. It was located between the

Tyne Bridge The Tyne Bridge is a through arch bridge over the River Tyne in North East England, linking Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead. The bridge was designed by the engineering firm Mott, Hay and Anderson, who later designed the Forth Road Bridge, ...

and the

Gateshead Millennium Bridge The Gateshead Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian and cyclist tilt bridge spanning the River Tyne between Gateshead arts quarter on the south bank and Newcastle upon Tyne's Quayside area on the north bank. It was the first tilting bridge ever t ...

and spanned across the river, at a height of . The sculpture—which had its legs next to on the Gateshead bank and the law courts on the Newcastle bank—was also at a slight angle across the river. The founder of Bambuco, Simon Barley had the initial idea of a bamboo bridge over the Tyne, but died in 2007 before the project could be undertaken; Bambuco toyed with calling this bridge the ''Bridge of Si's'', a play on

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Bridge of Sighs The Bridge of Sighs (Italian: ''Ponte dei Sospiri'', vec, Ponte de i Sospiri) is a bridge in Venice, Italy. The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone, has windows with stone bars, passes over the Rio di Palazzo, and connects the New Priso ...

Image gallery

Image:Bambuco Bridge 2.jpg, The Gateshead tower of the sculpture Image:Bambuco Bridge 3.jpg, The Newcastle tower of the sculpture Image:Bambuco Bridge 4.jpg, The sculpture with the

in the background

References

External links

{{commons category, Bamboo Tyne Bridge
Bambuco

Bamboo bridge
at

Newcastle City Council Newcastle City Council is the local government authority for the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne. The council consists of 78 councillors, three for each of the 26 wards in the city. It is currently controlled by the Labou ...

Bamboo Bridge feature
at

BBC Tyne BBC North East and Cumbria is one of BBC's English Regions covering Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Gateshead, South Tyneside, City of Sunderland, County Durham, Northumberland, most parts of North Yorkshire & Cumbria. The region provides ...

Opening night image gallery
at ''The Journal'' Outdoor sculptures in England Wooden sculptures in the United Kingdom 2008 sculptures