Going with Russ L’s battle request here, which was:
Brasso The Bull vs That Big Ceramic Fish – who will be the civic-animal-monument champion?
Both pieces of modern public art are very nice and incredibly photogenic, there’s no denying that. Here’s the fish:
Created by John Kindness and sitting on Donegall Quay, it’s made up of ceramic tiles depicting text and images about Belfast past and present. It also contains a time capsule containing information about the city.
But there’s one big difference between Belfast’s Fish and Birmingham’s Bull. Some stand next to the fish. Some braver people reach out and touch it:
Photo by Jeremy Hughes
But no-one seems to feel too comfortable sitting on the fish. People don’t clamber over it as if he was a big friendly dog the way they do Laurence Broderick’s bronze bull The Guardian:
Photo by Abrinsky
You see it all the time when you walk through town. People on his back. People hanging frm his horns:
Photo by cactusinthesea
And people swinging from his tail:
Photo by mintchocicecream
So there you have it. Birmingham’s Bull wins this one easily. Because people like to sit on him.
