Sculpture for hire at Cass - Eighty works available in radical offer

The Cass Sculpture Foundation has launched what is thought to be the world's first rental scheme for monumental public sculpture. It has already loaned several large-scale works internationally for short periods from its base at Goodwood, near Brighton on England's south coast.

The foundation was established in 1992 to promote and commission sculpture by Wilfred Cass, serial entrepreneur and philanthropist, and since then it has commissioned 160 works from 120 artists, most of them British. The foundation has expanded its operations in recent months with a push to provide London with 50 major new sculptures in time for the Olympic Games in 2012-the foundation's 20th anniversary. Artists already commissioned include Tony Cragg, Phillip King and Thomas Ostenberg.

The works commissioned are all for sale, with profits split between the artist and the foundation, which ploughs any income back into further commissions. All 80 sculptures currently held at Goodwood are now available for either sale or loan. Monthly rental fees are between £500 and £13,000, depending on the sale price of the piece, although the foundation may negotiate attractive deals in cases where an artist will get significant exposure. The lessee is required to pay for transport, insurance and other costs, although the foundation will provide the expertise.

The loan scheme may appear to be a response to the recession, but Mr Cass told The Art Newspaper that the experience of working on the commissioning programme for the fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square had influenced his thinking.

"We've come to the conclusion that public sculpture shouldn't stay around for too long," he said. "People get tired of it once they have seen it for a while-they just don't see it any more. In the long term, rental might even become our main policy."

Another advantage of renting as opposed to buying public sculpture, he said, is that it is far easier to get planning permission in the short rather than the long term for large structures.

The scheme has still to be launched officially, but Mr Cass is already hailing it as a success, with possible bookings in London this summer at Covent Garden, Marble Arch and the Royal Academy, which will show Bryan Kneale's Triton III, 2007. Six works have already been exhibited for just two weeks in an exhibition at BMW's Munich headquarters.


Article by Bruce Millar, first published in The Art Newspaper, April 2009.