Five speculative scenarios for Phineas statue’s future
Future 1 (this future is now!)​
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Stored in a wooden crate in basement of the UCL Students Union building (or off site UCL storage) ​
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What is gained: relatively cheap option that requires minimum maintenance, but does provide an opportunity for the statue to be used at a future time and place, and can conveniently be forgotten about now. ​
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What is lost: Uncertain future for the statue, at risk of loss/damage, reputational damage, missed opportunities for UCL to come to terms with Phineas statue’s historical legacy. ​
Future 2
Accessioned into UCL Collections and curated and conserved by UCL ​ ​
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What is gained: high standards of long-term care are assured, provides an opportunity for Phineas’ statue to be used at a future time and place. A conventional response to fallen statues.
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What is lost: Complex and costly option that means other museum collections work does not get done. May not be accepted as part of UCL Collections anyway. Should museums act as mausoleums for what we want to forget about?
Future 3
Exhibited in a permanent location on the UCL campus, with information that engages in the complex colonial legacy of Phineas at UCL (2 could lead to 3 and vice versa).
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What is gained: Provides a focus for debates about the historical legacy of UCL’s past.
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What is lost: Uncertain status of the statue as part of UCL estate, significant long-term costs of display and care? ​
Future 4​
Offered to other institutions as a long-term loan ​
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What is gained: High standards of long-term care are assured, with minimum cost to UCL, and UCL has the option of regaining access to Phineas’ statue in the future. ​
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What is lost: May not be an attractive offer for other institutions (maybe Kings College?). UCL would loose control of the narrative around Phineas. Missed opportunities for UCL to come to terms with its historical legacy, by sweeping this issue under the carpet.
Future 5
Disposed of in a form of theatrical destruction
as a sacrifice to historical injustices (e.g. floated
down the Thames to a watery grave, half-buried
in the Quad and allowed to decompose as a new
tree grows from it) ​
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What is gained: Provides a creative radical and
enduring opportunity for UCL to address its
historical legacies to account for inter-generational injustice.
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What is lost: Statue’s materials are lost, which opens UCL up to culture war criticism about its destruction of the statue. Removes an opportunity for the original statue to be used at a future time and place.
