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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

2002

  • Work on this object began.

2015

2024

  • You found it!

B Of The Bang

This is a B of the Bang. It was designed by Heatherwick Studio and Thomas Heatherwick and made for (as the client) New East Manchester. It is dated 2002. Its medium is rolled sheet steel.

What shape should a monument make against the sky?
Tapped to design a sculpture to commemorate the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, the studio considered the passion of competitive athletes. The eighteen-story structure —scaled to activate a stadium in a bleak landscape and serve as a gateway— resembles an exploding firework. Hundreds of steel spikes bursting from a single point create a dynamic silhouette. The title refers to runners training to start on the "b" of the pistol’s "bang"— not to wait for the "g." A recent technical problem led the city to dismantle the project.

It is credited Courtesy of Heatherwick Studio.

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Its dimensions are

H: 5600 cm (183 ft. 8 3/4 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/85006423/ |title=B Of The Bang |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=26 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>