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Fearless Girl statue is here to stay, requiring new site design or a relocation

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Fearless Girl statue is here to stay, requiring new site design or a relocation

Fearless Girl statue is here to stay, requiring new site design or a relocation. (Anthony Quintano/Flickr)

Less than a year after financial firm State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) installed its Fearless Girl statue opposite Arturo Di Modica’s classic Charging Bull in Manhattan’s Financial District, both sculptures may be relocated.

As first reported by Adweek, Fearless Girl, which was originally meant to be a month-long installation for International Women’s Day 2017, has proven so popular that the Mayor’s Office has begun negotiations with SSGA to make it a permanent fixture. The only problem? Fearless Girl is a victim of its own popularity, and throngs of tourists are making the patch of open space impossible to navigate through.

As a result, and because both sculptures have become intertwined, the city will either need to redesign the plaza for better accessibility, or move the pair to a more open location. While neither the Mayor’s Office, SSGA nor McCann New York, responsible for creating the statue, were willing to comment, it’s likely that the duo wouldn’t be moved very far.

The initial reactions to Fearless Girl weren’t entirely positive, as some viewed the installation as a cynical marketing ploy; the criticism only intensified when SSGA’s parent company State Street Corporation was fined $5 million for routinely underpaying female employees. Di Modica himself was shot down when he petitioned the city for Fearless Girl’s removal, although it should be noted that Charging Bull was originally dropped on the streets under the cover of darkness without permission. Bolstered by the good press, SSGA has reportedly looked into installing Fearless Girl copies in other interested cities, giving credence to opponents who claim that the statue is a free advertising ploy (the statue, which cost $250,000 to install, has generated over $7 million in investments for the company).

AN will follow up when we know exactly where the two statues will be moving to.


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