The president of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort, and the vice president and councilor of Public Works, Jacobo Medina, visited this Monday several projects that are underway in different parts of the island and that have funding from the first island institution.
This September 25th a special stop was made on the road, the day that marks 31 years since the fatal traffic accident at the Tahiche roundabout that took the life of our most universal artist, César Manrique.
During the visit, both were able to verify the state of the two wind toys that are being repaired by the technicians of the Cabildo's Mobile Park, with the forecast of being able to install the sculpture “Fobos” in the Tahíche roundabout next December and, later, place the work designed in honor of Pepín Ramírez, in the airport roundabout.
Despite the difficulties in completing the repair and assembly tasks, both of the Tahiche sculpture and the airport wind toy, Oswaldo Betancort and Jacobo Medina, assured that they are working hand in hand with the César Manrique Foundation so that both mobile structures return to occupy the place and the movement for which they were designed.
The wind toys, key in Manrique's work
The wind toys are an important part of César Manrique's sculptural work, and as heavy iron structures, composed of spheres, circles, pyramids, etc., it requires solid materials and a correct assembly that favors the rotary movement generated by the wind.
It should be remembered that in 1990 a mill was located in Arrieta: a heavy and spectacular iron "weather vane" painted red that moves smoothly indicating the direction of the wind. When the artist unfortunately passed away, it was found that he left several sketches of new structures. Subsequently, the workshops of the Mobile Park of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, where a good part of his previous sculptures were executed, built and placed the wind toys throughout the island.