The Floating Head, bobbing in the Canting Basin near the Glasgow Science Centre's gleaming crescent, seems unfazed when a bird settles on its wide forehead.

A bird pecked at the moss covering its face and chin like a crooked beard, bringing the seven-metre-long, 26-tonne floating sculpture to the Clyde by the tide.

In reality, it was commissioned from artist Richard Groom as the centerpiece of Glasgow's 1988 Garden Festival, but it was lost for decades — forgotten and unclaimed in a boatyard until a three-decade relocation and repair effort brought it back to its original site.

The artist's family was motivated to search for the artwork after a discussion during his burial in 2019.

“Myself and my family were so touched at Richard's funeral where so many of his friends and colleagues commented on all of his work, especially the Floating Head,” his brother Andy Groom stated. We soon realized we needed to locate, repair, and float it.”

The family learned the head had been kept in the Clyde Boat Yard for more than a decade after being saved from another dock site where it was due to be demolished, thanks to the Art Placement Group (SPG), an organization that seeks to bring sculpture to new audiences.

“We had no idea where it was,” Groom said. “It was listed as abandoned on the Clyde's banks, so I started calling scrap and storage yards, asking if they knew where a 30ft concrete head might be.”

The head, which is constructed out of a steel structure with a concrete render and is grafted onto the hull of a boat, was later partly repaired — some graffiti was removed, but the natural weathering and creeping moss remained.

“People still remember the Garden festival as a big highlight, they were aware of the focus on Glasgow and the visitors, and it also marked a turning point for the city from post-industrial to a cultural destination,” said Kate Robertson, co-director of the SPG.

In his sculpture, Richard Groom straddled this line, working with highly experienced shipbuilders to construct and float the massive edifice. The reconstruction of the once-thriving dry docks, which had become a symbol of an industry in perpetual decline, started at the Garden festival site.

The head will be unveiled during the Glasgow Doors Open Days event later this month, as part of a sculpture path through Govan, while Groom's family and the SPG look for a permanent mooring.

The owner of the property where it was abandoned is willing to loan the sculpture for a long time, but there are practical concerns about continuing upkeep if it is maintained in the water, as well as logistical difficulties in moving such a large artwork.

“It's quite intimidating in terms of scale,” Robertson remarked. “Bringing the sculpture back into public view is the best way to see what possibilities it has. We're constantly curious in what it takes to repurpose something.”

Thanks to Libby Brooks at The Guardian whose reporting provided the original basis for this story.