New York lets ‘Fearless Girl’ hold its ground for now

The popular “Fearless Girl” sculpture will stand outside the New York Stock Exchange after city officials voted on Monday to extend the sculpture’s temporary permit for 11 months. The decision comes with the condition that the city, the owner of the sculpture, and the artist return with the process of deciding the final fate of the artwork in six months.

While the vote has resolved concerns in the short term, critics question how the bronze sculpture disrupted the city’s normal public art process for five years. Critics also question why its hedge fund sponsor, State Street Global Advisors, they say, tried to sideline the sculpture’s creator in discussions about the future of the sculpture. (The artist is in an ongoing legal dispute with State Street.)

“To dispel the cynicism about rising corporate power, New York City must protect its public spaces,” Todd Fine, a historian who mobilized support for the statue, said in an interview. “Today’s decision was a victory for basic fairness and artist rights.”

“We appreciate that the ‘Fearless Girl’ statue will remain in its current location in front of the New York Stock Exchange,” State Street said in a statement Monday, noting that it “will work with” the Department of Transportation. , PDC and the artist in connection with our desire to keep the ‘Fearless Girl’ statue at its current location for an extended period of time.

In November, State Street asked the Landmarks Preservation Commission to continue the work for the next 10 years, assuring that the company would fund its maintenance and repairs. Instead, the panel voted unanimously to keep the sculpture on Broad Street’s historic cobblestones for another three years and deferred the final decision to the Public Design Commission, a panel appointed by the mayor to oversee the city’s art collection.

The commission seemed inclined to include the artist on Monday.

“I want to hold people’s feet in the fire and solve it,” commission chairman Signe Nielsen told the meeting. “Apart from pursuing a process where the artist is able to regain control of his piece, how do we move forward here in order for this piece to remain in the public domain?”

When “Fearless Girl” first appeared in the Financial District in 2017, it received mixed reception. While some saw the statue as a brazen act of corporate feminism from a company with its history of gender discrimination claims, others saw it as a symbol of economic empowerment. After the statue moved up the stairs of the New York Stock Exchange, thousands continued to gather each year to take selfies with the girl.

The popularity of the statue certainly depended on the vote of the Public Design Commission, as did an ongoing legal dispute over copyright and trademark agreements between State Street and “Fearless Girl” sculptor, Kristen Wisble. In 2019, the company sued the artist, claiming a breach of those agreements, saying that Visible caused “substantial and irreparable harm” to “Fearless Girl” by selling bronze replicas. The artist filed a counterclaim alleging that State Street impeded her ability to spread the artwork’s message of gender equality.

Of his deal with State Street, Wisble said, “What happened to me is wrong.” “I was cheated.”

(State Street did not immediately respond to questions about the ongoing lawsuit.)

In an interview last week, Wisble said she was turning to her legal representation after spending $3.2 million on the lawsuit. She said she still plans to issue a set of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, based on the statue in the coming months to further reduce its costs.

And because State Street applied for the original city permit for “Fearless Girl” directly through the Department of Transportation, Wisble said she was largely excluded from discussions about the fate of her job—a public Unusual in the art process which generally takes precedence over the opinion of the artist.

State Street has worked hard to ensure the future of “Fearless Girl”. According to state disclosure forms, the company spent $15,000 on direct lobbying by Nielsen and Sarah Carroll, chair of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Edward Patterson, a spokesman for the hedge fund, said the company hired a consultant because of the city’s complex process for public art.

Meanwhile, elected officials have complained that their opinion on “Fearless Girl” was not considered prior to the Public Design Commission’s decision. In a letter to the panel, the chairman of Community Board 1 said the hedge fund was not sufficiently engaged with local residents.

“A major step in the public engagement process is being skipped now that the review is underway,” wrote chairman Tammy Melzer. “There are major concerns about this example that it sets in sending the message to other applicants that it is acceptable to accept community boards and public engagement.”

Councilman Christopher Marte, a Democrat from an area that includes the Financial District, also wrote with concerns about the deal, supporting a permanent plan for the sculpture. “It does not seem feasible to exist indefinitely as a temporary act owned by a private entity,” he wrote.

The Public Design Commissioner agreed with the councilor on Monday, clarifying in his statement ahead of the vote that a limited timeline would force artists, hedge funds and the city to work together on a process to ensure ” Fearless Girl” Find a permanent home.