When David Bowie died, the world lost an irreplaceable talent. This is the opening line to the Crowdfunder page to erect the Aladdin Sane lightening bolt opposite Brixton tube station. The monument will serve as a permanent memorial to the late icon, born David Robert Jones in Brixton on 8th January 1947. Should the project be funded there are some great rewards for supporters. However, is this really the memorial we or the legend himself really want?
And She’s Hooked to the Silver… Pendant?
As of 1st March 2017, the crowdfunder has 19 days left to go with £45,834 raised of the hefty £990,000 target. In return for pledges, you can expect rewards starting with your name on the memorial website for £20. But with only 615 supporters so far and 5% of the target raised, why not go all and receieve a real prize? For £200 you can get a silver pendant by bespoke Hatton Garden jewellers Robert Glenn. This is the same lightening bolt design in hallmarked sterling silver with the memorial logo. Given the price of rock’n’roll jewellery like that of The Great Frog in Carnaby Street this seems a worthwhile investment to a good cause. For £600 the same piece is available in gold.
For more affordable middle-range pledges of £150 there are a limited number of fine art prints for sale. These high quality prints feature energetic depictions of Bowie by Camberwell graduate Daniel Fisher.
Is This Pretty Thing The Next Day?
So what do we really think of the proposed memorial to Bowie? The so-called ‘Ziggy Zag’ appears a rather abrupt symbol quite literally pasted onto the artists impression. Sure, the contrasting green of the Body Shop next door could change in the decades this monument could last, but it’s still quite ‘loud’!
There is a tongue-in-cheek irony in the sheer brutality of the piece. It is a simple, flat simple penetrating the ground like the real life Man Who Fell to Earth. But is this just a bit simplistic for a more ornate, layered and changing personality? Bowie may have been very present in the culture of the late 20th Century, but the visual smack in the face on exiting Brixton tube doesn’t seem quite the same effect. This was a man who foreshadowed his own demise in his work and kept the whole process secret. Does this oversimplify his reclusive nature by superimposing his revolutionary persona?
Why Turn and Face the Strange?
Brixton is proud of its Bowie connection- except his family moved to Bromley when he was six. Nevertheless, the mass vigil of 10th January 2016 certainly sealed Brixton as a geographical reference for all Bowie fans. This is undoubtedly thanks in part to the now famous mural there by Australian street artist James Cochran. Is this memorial not enough?
Actually, the amount of messages written on the wall has meant repainting has had to be done, with a notice requesting fans write outside the face and surrounding spheres. This shows a satisfying and compassionate compromise for people to connect with Bowie’s legacy. The real question is will people be allowed to write on the Ziggy Zag? This great structure could just by its material and 3D shape make a far more durable platform for messages. This would tone it down and absorb it into the culture and community of Brixton for years to come. We are paying for it, so we should be able to shape it. If mourners laid messages on brickwork in 2016 then fans generations down can mark the new structure in fifty years, preserving the contemporary but making space for the future.
Should you think this project a worthy cause, visit http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/bowie ‘This project will only be funded if at least £990,000 is pledged by 12:00pm 21st March 2017’
-Stewart Vickers @VickHellfire
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