Anthony McCall presented a small-scale demonstration of Column in 2009
Plans for a giant steam artwork on the Liverpool skyline have been abandoned after 15 months of failed attempts to make it materialise.
Artist Anthony McCall designed Column, a spiral of steam that should have risen 10km (six miles) into the sky.
Arts Council England has spent £535,000 of Lottery money on the project, which was due to have run throughout 2012 as part of the Cultural Olympiad.
The Arts Council rejected accusations that it was a waste of money.
McCall said: "It is with profound disappointment that we have decided to draw our project to a close.
"My team has worked long and hard but, due to the many regulatory and technical challenges, we have not been able to bring Column to completion."
An artist's impression of Column, which was originally due to appear on 31 December 2011
Column was originally due to launch on 31 December 2011 and run for exactly 12 months.
The steam spiral should have risen from East Float dock in Birkenhead and been visible for at least 100km (62 miles) on a clear day, becoming a "nationally and internationally recognised landmark", according to the organisers' original proposals.
But it was repeatedly delayed. The Civil Aviation Authority was worried that it would interfere with aircraft and the Port Health Authority had concerns that it could cause Legionella.
Even after those fears were allayed, the steam-generating mechanism did not work properly and the column still did not appear.
Such vertical steam spirals occur occasionally in nature, when they are known as waterspouts, but nobody has managed to recreate one on this scale by man-made means.
The budget for McCall's project was originally £500,000, including a £40,000 fee for the artist. The budget subsequently rose by £35,410. None of the money will be recouped.
The mechanism for Column is in East Float dock in Birkenhead
Councillor Jim Crabtree, who represents Bidston and St James on Wirral Borough Council, said it was "a complete and utter waste of public money".
"They should have done their homework before committing £500,000, especially given what we've got going on today - people starving, we've got food banks all over the place. How many people could you feed with £500,000?"
Arts Council England executive director Laura Dyer said she was "disappointed" that the artwork had not been completed but that there was always a risk in commissioning groundbreaking artworks and that in a "very small number of cases" the risk would not come off.
"What became clear, in discussion with the artist and his project team, was that it just couldn't be done within the budget or the timescale on this site," she told BBC News. "I think there comes a point where you have to say we really tried, we worked hard to realise it, but it can't be done."
The Arts Council supervised the project adequately, she said. "We have had milestones along the way where we've managed and monitored the project.
"It is a project that was visionary and testing new approaches and new technical equipment. We did monitor that appropriately along the way but in the end it wasn't able to deliver the vision of the artist."
The project was originally announced in 2009, when the Arts Councils across the UK commissioned 12 artworks to coincide with the London 2012 Olympics.
McCall's plan was chosen from 172 entries for the Artists Taking the Lead project in the north-west. Elsewhere in the UK, the other 11 Artists Taking the Lead commissions - ranging from a set of three crocheted lions in the East Midlands to a new football pitch created in a forest in the Scottish Borders - have all appeared.
Ms Dyer added that every other Cultural Olympiad event went ahead as planned and that most of the money spent on Column had gone into the local economy. "So the investment has been into the region," she said.
"The final project, in all its magnificence, hasn't been realised, but it absolutely is not a waste of money."
The British-born, New York-based Anthony McCall is an internationally renowned artist who is known for using mist, light and projection to create ethereal "sculptures" in mid-air.
Troubled £535,000 Olympic art axed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22152127#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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