In 1972 the Peter Stuyvesant Foundation supported by City Sculpture Project invited some of the most important sculptors of the day to make large-scale projects for busy urban centres across the UK.

From Nicholas Monro’s 5.5m tall statue of King Kong in Birmingham, to Liliane Lijn’s revolving cone in Plymouth, and Keith Arnatt’s unrealised billboard poster project for Cardiff, the project rethought sculpture’s relation to place.

The aim of this fascinating and ambitious moment in the history of public sculpture in Britain was to open dialogues between artworks and people in urban environments outside of London.

This issue of the Henry Moore Institute’s journal Essays on Sculpture is dedicated to this landmark event for public sculpture, and coincides with an exhibition celebrating this 1972 landmark presentation of sculpture.

Featuring unseen archive material, interviews with the participating sculptors and an essay by Jon Wood narrating this rich history in British cities including Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield, Cambridge, and Southampton.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition at Henry Moore Institute, Leeds (24 November 2016 – 26 February 2017).