RoboCop Statue Update: It looks like the RoboCop statue could soon find its permanent home. Towards the end of 2022, it was reported that a deal was being reached that would make Detroit’s Eastern Market the final destination for this cultural landmark. The Eastern Market is run by a nonprofit that manages the market, but the area itself has been home to a wide variety of vendors, restaurants, businesses, art and culture for more than 150 years. It sounds like the perfect home for the RoboCop statue.
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RoboCop is a Detroit hero and an American icon, and it’s a shame that he doesn’t yet have a statue honoring him in Detroit. Well, at least one that the public can actually visit.
But we’re finally so close to getting it!
For years now, we’ve seen the prototypes and various stages of development for the 11-foot-tall, two-and-a-half-ton bronze statue. But after a crowdfunded effort to make it happen – raising more than $67,000 – and a decade of work, the statue is completed and ready for its forever home.
Which, at this point, remains a mystery. Originally, the Michigan Science Center was going to house the statue, but they have since balked at the notion, releasing an odd statement on the matter:
“Due to unprecedented pressures from the coronavirus pandemic, resources must now be entirely focused on our core mission of serving Michigan’s students and families.”
What could be more in line with your core mission of serving Michigan’s students and families than by giving them a chance to pay their respects to one of the greatest heroes in the state’s history?
But I digress, as once again, it is unknown just where this incredible piece of public art might permanently end up.
So What Happens to the RoboCop Statue Now?
Now, if Detroit drops the ball on getting this statue in its rightful place, the state of Wisconsin – Stevens Point specifically – will gladly take it. After all, RoboCop actor Peter Weller is a Stevens Point native. And if Stevens Point doesn’t work out, maybe they can just put the RoboCop statue where Doveland, Wisconsin once allegedly stood.
But still, it just seems fitting that the statue should find its forever home in Detroit. Not just because the movie takes place there, but because this entire campaign was started by Detroit-based collective Imagination Station, and the statue itself was built by Venus Bronze Works, which is also based in the city.
One of the bigger hang-ups is that just moving the statue to a new location could cost tens of thousands of dollars. It would be a pain-staking process, but the bronze RoboCop statue should stand up well to the elements wherever it ultimately ends up.
It feels like we’ve been looking at these pictures of the RoboCop statue being built for such a long time – which, at this point, it has been. It seems impossible to believe we’ve even gotten to this point – the people wanted a RoboCop statue and got one?! Is this what being in a functioning democracy might feel like, where the power of the people is properly recognized and wielded?
When it comes to one day finally getting to see the RoboCop statue in person and paying one’s respects, it now seems like it’s only a matter of time.
