"It was beautiful as the postman was passing": The Headington Shark Story | Art and design

OIn the evening of April 1986, Bill Heine was sitting on the steps in front of his terraced house bought in Oxford, drinking a glass of wine, when he turned to his friend and told him asked a simple question: "Can you do anything to animate it? "

His friend, the sculptor John Buckley, provided an answer in the form of an eight-meter (25-foot) shark who would sit on his roof, perpetually appearing as if he had just been s & # 39; Crush from the sky in the house. This fiberglass fish, known as Headington Shark after the suburbs of Oxford, led Heine, a journalist and local businessman who died last week, to fight for six years of legal battle against the local council.

The process turned a relatively banal street into a beloved local landmark and resulted in one of the most remarkable triumphs of British eccentricity on the small bureaucracy.

"You can see Americans were taking off from Heyford outside Oxford to bomb Gaddafi in Libya," Buckley said. Buckley and Heine both wanted to make a powerful statement about the barbarity of war and the feeling of vulnerability and utter helplessness when disaster struck.

Heine also loved sharks, Buckley said.

The link with the war was more vague. Buckley said he had already been forced to swim in shark-infested waters after breaking a canoe in Mexico. "I was waiting for the bomb to come out of the water. I was ready for the big bite. It's as bad as looking at the sky and expecting something to come out of your roof, "he said.

The artist started work immediately after his discussion with Heine. He worked with a group of volunteers – mostly students and other anti-war activists – to build an artificial roof designed to hold the shark outside his studio. He did not tell them where he planned to put the sculpture. It took exactly three months and on Saturday, August 9th, at 5 am, Buckley was moving the shark sculpture on a trailer. A big crane was waiting for Heine.

"The crane just dropped it off and it was beautiful until the factor passed," Buckley said. "This first morning was amazing. On Sunday, it was global and it was like that for thirty years or so. "

The Oxford City Council immediately opposed the installation of the shark. At first they said that it was dangerous for the public, but engineers and inspectors declared it structurally safe.

Heine, an American who moved to the UK to study at Oxford University in the 1960s, then submitted a planning application that was rejected by the council. He appealed to the Secretary of the Environment and then to Michael Heseltine.

The council organized public forums allowing residents to express themselves in favor or against sculpture. Patrick Gray, an economist over 71, has lived in Oxford all his life. He was one of many to say in his favor: "People have only heard of it because the planning committee made this ridiculous decision to remove it," he said. Gray. "An inspector came down and had a public hearing. I made a small speech against what I felt like a municipal nonsense. "

Bill Dufton, the former director of Southern Arts, whose regional arts council office was based in Winchester, said, "Our policy was aimed at supporting public art of all kinds. This must be one of the most striking. "

Others have come from farther to defend the art. Peter Bibby, 70, traveled from London to speak in favor of sculpture at an audience. "The board said there was no artistic or artistic value, it was no different than a hamburger sign at Christ Church College," said Bibby. "I said it was an artistic value, no matter whether you approve of the art or not."

Peter Macdonald, Heseltine's urban planning inspector, has investigated and finally pronounced in favor of maintaining the sculpture, official decision that has gained a legendary status among urban planners for his defense of the art.

"In this case, it's not disputed that the shark is not in harmony with its environment, but it's not supposed to be in harmony with them," wrote Macdonald in his official decision.

"The council is naturally concerned about the precedent here. The first concern is simple: the proliferation of sharks (and God knows what else) collapse through the roofs of the city. This fear is exaggerated. In the five years since the erection of the shark, no other example has occurred … any control system must leave a small place for the dynamic, the unexpected, the downright eccentric . I therefore recommend that the Headington Shark be allowed to stay. "

A few years ago it was reported that the shark risked being removed and that the bank was threatening to repossess the property. Heine's son, Magnus, intervened and purchased the property to ensure that the beloved shark was not destroyed by "another group of bureaucrats unable to handle something that would not fit a standardized form" .

After Heine's death from cancer, at the age of 74, last week, many residents, including city councilors, paid tribute to his memory.

Gray described Heine as a "colorful character" who inspired people. He said, "We have already been visited by a 12-year-old American boy. He was unhappy and unhappy when he arrived, so we took him to see the house. He left with a big smile.