PR photo of Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth, via the Guardian UK.
Noted British sculptor and Turner Prize winner Antony Gormley is seeking to recruit up to 2,400 volunteers to participate in his latest work, One & Other, atop Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth.
Participants will have an entire hour atop the plinth, and are free to do anything legal. Gormley has commented that he expects there to be “naked riots,” and that he would be “upset if at least one person did not take their clothes off.” The only requirements for partake in One and Other are that participants are over 16 years of age and are residents of the UK while the show is on display. Applications will be accepted through a website designed for that purpose, and Sky Arts will broadcast coverage of the plinth. Video coverage of the plinth will also be streaming live at the National Portrait Gallery in London. The website will notify participants in three tranches starting in April.
On the motivation and objective behind the ‘sculpture,’ Gormley had this to say:
“The idea behind One & Other is a simple one. Through elevation onto the plinth and removal from the common ground, the body becomes a metaphor, symbol, emblem – a point of reference, focus and thought. In the context of Trafalgar Square with its military, valedictory and male historical statues to specific individuals, this elevation of everyday life to the position formerly occupied by monumental art allows us to reflect on the diversity, vulnerability and particularity of the individual in contemporary society. It could be tragic but it could also be funny.” — via the Guardian UK
Gormley won the opportunity to display One and Other through a process run by the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group. Other artists who have exhibited on the plinth include Marc Quinn, Rachel Whiteread and Thomas Schutte.
Sculpture site: One and Other
Antony Gormley’s Fourth Plinth: make an exhibition of yourself [Times UK]
Antony Gormley wants you for the fourth plinth [Guardian UK]
Trafalgar Square fourth plinth art ‘will cause arrests’ [Telegraph UK]
Gormley on his plinth: ‘I would be very upset if nobody took their clothes off’ [Independent]
Gormley Invites Brits to Lord Over Trafalgar Square [ArtInfo]
Volunteer plea for plinth artwork [BBC]
Gormley puts public on pedestal [BBC]
