Cardiff Bay: The Story Stone

Cardiff Bay has yet another piece of public art, this one to mark the 25th anniversary of the Barrage that closed off the once-tidal Bay and the natural outlets of the Rivers Taff and Ely to create a lake that now has water quality so poor that you definitely wouldn’t want to swim in it. But, hey, let’s celebrate the creation of the Cardiff Harbour Authority whose job it is to look after these murky waters. 

The artwork is the creation of sculptor Ben Dearnley, whose website says:

This project brings together the ancient world of standing stones with a modern twist. Within this huge piece of Welsh slate we have some of the stories of this wonderful regeneration of Cardiff Bay.

The mock standing stone is a 2.4-metre-tall piece of Welsh slate, with three stained-glass windows set into it. Each window shows different aspects of the Bay, pre- and post-Barrage, including the workforce that is now constantly required to clean up the rubbish that flows down the two rivers; some of the local wildlife: Salmon, Great crested grebes; and people walking, running, cycling and sailing in and around the Bay. If you’re interested in the artwork’s creation, the project page on Dearnley’s website includes many photos of the work in progress. 

If I sound cynical about the project, it’s because I am. There are two main reasons, neither of which is a reflection on Dearnley’s creation, which I actually quite like. The first reason is because, as I think I’ve mentioned in previous blogs about Cardiff Bay’s artworks, the Council (of which the Harbour Authority is a part) seems ever ready to commission and pay for new pieces but appears to allocate zero funds to maintaining them, with the result that many have now literally crumbled away or are eyesores. 

The second has to do with the area where this new piece is located, its surrounding ‘garden’ incorporating what was once a small and very necessary pond for small birds, until the machinery which operated its hydraulic system stopped working. Even then, the pond held a small amount of water and native plants until, under the pretext of ‘health and safety’ – that small amount of water was deemed a hazard even though the large unfenced lake a few metres away wasn’t – the Harbour Authority dumped a large quantity of stones and boulders in the pond to make it ‘safe’, which, of course, rendered it unusable by birdlife. 

What could have happened was a repair, even an enlargement of the former pond, and the installation of an artwork that encompassed or surrounded the water in such a way as to allow birds in but prevented access to dogs and their humans, thus rendering it safe. Something like an inverted hemisphere-shaped stainless-steel net, for example (this is not a product endorsement but a quick google found the website of a company called Creative Pond Covers Ltd which manufactures bespoke pond covers, exactly the sort of thing I’m envisioning). With a little imagination, this could have been a win for art and creativity, as well as benefitting the natural environment … but it isn’t.