Oded Hirsch’s The Lift (2012) a few times since the start of this years Biennial. Today I took a few quick shots of it in the rain (see gallery at the bottom of the page).
It’s an interesting piece and is attracting a fair amount of attention since it appears in the middle of the Liverpool 1 shops. I like it but not as much as say Rotating Yates’s Wine Lodge Building or Do Ho Suh’s Between.
There seem to be a lot of pieces of art in public spaces that break through pavements (eg the waterspout at the Sea Odyssey earlier this year) at the moment and its becoming a bit of an overdone cliche. It also lacks detail. Its more of an impression of a lift than a lift: there are a couple of wheels on the front but if it had had a bit more engineering to it (cable, safety gear etc) it would look less like a large metal box and more like a lift.
Still if you’re going to put art in public places it needs to attract attention and engage with passers by which this seems to do very well.