Administrative
Report
N.1., File # 23-7384 Meeting Date: 1/9/2024
To: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
From: CAMERON HARDING, COMMUNITY SERVICES DIRECTOR
TITLE
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION TO APPROVE THE DESIGN, LOCATION, AND COST FOR THE PUBLIC ARTWORK, “GATE WAVE” BY ARTIST VOLKAN ALKANOGLU
DIRECT STAFF TO PREPARE AN AGREEMENT WITH THE ARTIST FOR INSTALLATION OF THE “GATE WAVE” PUBLIC ART PROJECT FOR CONSIDERATION OF APPROVAL AT A
SUBSEQUENT MEETING
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On March 23, 2011, the Public Art Commission recommended the City Council enter into an agreement with Artist Volkan Alkanoglu to fabricate and install his original design, “Gate Wave” at the New Transit Center. On April 19, 2011, the City Council approved the Commission’s recommendation, at a then estimated cost of $75,000, to be funded by Proposition C Transportation Local Return Funds.
Construction of the Transit Center at 1521 Kingsdale Avenue was not completed until 2023. During that period of time, the cost of the public art installation grew to $275,000. The increase was primarily due to updated material pricing and changes to labor costs that arose following the artist’s move from Los Angeles to Portland. In addition, a variety of circumstances over the intervening years led to changes in the artwork’s location at the New Transit Center, from a prominent location in front of the building to a location on the west side of the parking lot. For these reasons the City Council, at the November 2, 2021 meeting, directed staff to work with the artist and Public Art Commission to find an alternative location for the “Gate Wave” installation.
On January 26, 2022, the Public Art Commission considered the direction from Council and unanimously approved Gateway Parkette as the new location of choice for the Gate Wave artwork.
The Artist was then asked to submit a proposal for the artwork at the new site. He has completed the updated proposal, which has a cost of $275,000. This item requests that the City Council approve the design, placement, and revised cost of the public art project, and direct staff to prepare an agreement with the artist for consideration of approval at a future meeting.
BACKGROUND
On January 2, 2009, the City Council created the Public Art Commission, and on December 2, 2014, the Council adopted Ordinance No. 3127-14 establishing the John Parsons Public Art Fund. The Ordinance defines the situations under which both private developers and the City are required to make contributions to the Fund and how those funds may be spent. The Fund balance is currently
N.1., File # 23-7384 Meeting Date: 1/9/2024
make contributions to the Fund and how those funds may be spent. The Fund balance is currently $1,009,283 and is available for any expense that furthers the goals of the City’s Public Art Program.
For the purpose of managing a successful Public Art Program, the Public Art Master Plan, adopted by Council on April 19, 2016, addresses, among other things, purpose and goals, artist selection, and conservation and maintenance.
A Brief History of “Gate Wave” by Volkan Alkanoglu
At its March 23, 2011 meeting, the Redondo Beach Public Art Commission considered three proposals from artists whom it had invited to compete for the new Transit Public Art Project and unanimously agreed to recommend the City Council approve the proposal “Gate Wave” by Artist Volkan Alkanoglu. On April 19, 2011, the Redondo Beach City Council reviewed the three submitted proposals and approved “Gate Wave” with a then project budget of $75,000. Because the Transit Center Project was partially funded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the FTA's funding guidance encouraged the inclusion of public artwork, the Gate Wave project was proposed at the time to be funded by dedicated transportation restricted Proposition C Local Return Funds. An agreement with the artist, however, was postponed until construction of the New Transit Center was set to begin in 2017.
Between 2011 and 2017, various City departments submitted modification requests to the Artist to accommodate changes to the new Transit Center’s Site Plan and to address public safety concerns and State Building Code modifications. Staff submitted these changes to the Public Art Commission for consideration at their January 25, 2017 meeting and reported that the contracting process with the Artist had begun and was expected to be complete in March of that year.
At two subsequent meetings on November 18, 2020 and September 22, 2021, staff reported increases to the estimated budget for “Gate Wave” bringing the new total to $275,000. Staff reported that the increases were due to the fact that, at the time of his selection, Mr. Alkanoglu was teaching at Los Angeles-based universities and was, therefore, anticipating being able to use local university students for research and assistance with installation. However, in the intervening years, the artist had relocated to Portland resulting in the loss of access to local university students and had experienced an uptick in demand for his work based on the completion of other significant public art projects. The cost for materials also increased during this period. However, by this time, the John Parsons Public Art Fund had been created and received funding. In order to help close the anticipated funding gap, the Public Art Commission recommended the City Council approve an additional $100,000 from the John Parsons Fund for the project at its November 18, 2020 meeting and another $100,000 at its September 22, 2021 meeting.
The final Transit Center design required a relocation of the artwork from a prominent location in the front of the building to a location on the west side of the parking lot where it would have far less public visibility. When considering the impact of these changes, the City Council, on November 2, 2021, directed staff to work with the Artist and Public Art Commission to find an alternative site for the project. On November 17, 2021, the Commission tasked one of its committees to find a new location for “Gate Wave” that would provide more visibility. At the Public Art Commission’s January 26, 2022 meeting, the committee recommended Gateway Parkette, located at Herondo Street and North Harbor Drive, and received unanimous support for the site from the full Public Art Commission.
Staff then worked with the Public Works Department to determine if the proposed site was structurally sufficient to support the art piece or if there were known challenges that would make the relocation cost prohibitive or otherwise infeasible. No major concerns were uncovered following a preliminary Page 2 of 4 N.1., File # 23-7384 Meeting Date: 1/9/2024
cost prohibitive or otherwise infeasible. No major concerns were uncovered following a preliminary review of the Gateway Parkette. On March 23, 2022, the Public Art Commission approved relocating “Gate Wave” to Gateway Parkette. In the continuing process of conducting due diligence, staff identified the existence of Southern California Edison (SCE) power lines under the parkette. SCE reported that the artwork could be located in the Gateway Parkette if it could fit within the boundaries they supplied to minimize impact to SCE facilities. The Artist is comfortable with the boundaries supplied by SCE.
The image below is the artist’s depiction of the artwork in its proposed new location. The Artist’s full proposal is attached.
COORDINATION
This report was coordinated by the Community Services Department with input from the Public Works Department.
FISCAL IMPACT
On January 18, 2023, the Artist informed staff that the $275,000 quote he had provided a year ago had not changed. Proposition C Funds are no longer available for the project due to its relocation from the Transit Center. Therefore, the full $275,000 cost of the Project will be allocated from the John Parsons Public Art Fund. The City Council approved $270,000 for the artwork as part of the FY 2023-24 budget process, so an additional $5,000 will be needed to fully fund the project. If the Council approves the project as conceptualized, a budget modification resolution will be prepared and presented with the artist agreement at a later date.
Allocations from the John Parsons Public Art Fund approved as part of the FY 2023-24 Budget Process are as follows:
N.1., File # 23-7384 Meeting Date: 1/9/2024
Line # Project Name Budgeted Amount
1 "Gate Wave" (new location) $ 270,000.00
2 Skatepark Mural $ 50,000.00
3 Lilienthal Street Sculpture $ 125,000.00
4 Bus Depot (Transit Center) Mural $ 150,000.00
5 Public Works Yard Mural $ 60,000.00
6 Esplanade Art Concept $ 100,000.00
7 Big Lots Retaining Walls Mural $ 35,000.00
8 TOTAL $ 790,000.00
9 Available $ 1,009,283.00
10 Balance $ 219,283.00
APPROVED BY:
Mike Witzansky, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
· Proposal - “Gate Wave” Public Art project Artist Volkan Alkanoglu