Antony Gormley: For the people, by the people
Antony Gormley tells Terry Grimley he wants to put Midlanders on a pedestal.
Antony Gormley, the sculptor who began by using his own body as the basis for his sculptures, would now like to use nearly two and a half thousand other people’s.
Gormley, creator of Angel of the North and Birmingham’s Iron: Man, is the latest artist invited to propose a temporary installation on the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.
His idea is to offer it as a stage where a cross-section of the British population can present itself as living sculptures for an hour at a time. Called One & Other, the project will see a continuous relay of 2.400 selected volunteers occupying the plinth for 24 hours a day for 100 consecutive days this summer.
Having a gender balance and a proper geographical representation of the country are the main imperatives – in fact. almost the only ones. Subject to this, the selection of applicants will be made randomly by computer.
It’s because Gormley wants to ensure that the West Midlands is as well represented as anywhere else that I was invited to talk to him. But it turned out that the first thing he wanted to talk about was the latest on the Midland Metro city centre extension in Birmingham. This isn’t because he is a tram anorak, but because the route though Victoria Square would necessitate Iron: Man being relocated.
“I was lobbied about it quite hard about three years ago, and then it went quiet and came up again briefly about two years ago,” Gormley told me.
We were speaking ahead of yesterday’s news of moves to pursue the city centre extension only as far as New Street Station, but even so I was able to reassure him that, thanks to the Government’s lack of interest in public transport outside London, his masterpiece is unlikely to be threatened by trams for a good while yet.
And so we turned our attention to One & Other. Gormley explained that the idea, which first came to him about five years ago, was a natural extension of having made pieces like Field, the huge crowd of small terracotta figures, and Another Place, the 100 figures placed along a three kilometre stretch of shoreline in Crosby, Merseyside,
“I thought the plinth was just the perfect opportunity to use real time and living bodies to make a monument that represents a particular time in a particular place,” he said.
“The idea of using Trafalgar Square, which is London’s living room and a place of protest and a celebration of national identity, was irresistible. It’s very, very important that this is a portrait of the UK now.
“We’re celebrating the life of the whole of the UK, and we will need around 200 people from the West Midlands. So far it’s going well – we’ve had something like 15,000 applications already.”
As the plinth is sufficiently high to mean that anyone falling would sustain major injuries, a discreet safety net has been designed. Naturally it will be made fully accessible to wheelchair users.
Once they are raised on to the plinth, it is entirely up to individuals how they make use of their hour. They can stand, sit, address the crowd, busk or even sleep. They are not required to pose nude, but Gormley has said he will be a bit disappointed if no-one takes their clothes off.
So, I asked him, will this be a bit like Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame, generously multiplied by four?
“It’s quite like a Warhol screen test in that I don’t think people realise that they are going to be contributors to an archive. There will be a webcam on the website and the thing will be distributed live on the internet.
“We’re discussing how the archive could be preserved and how it could be useful. We could interview people before and after their appearance. It could represent something of great future historic value.”
Gormley says he hopes the project will not be monopolised by exhibitionists, but it is difficult to miss the parallel with Big Brother.
“It’s using the format of reality TV, but they are very different. It’s an extraordinary thing, isn’t it, how little it takes for us to be on TV for a week, but I’m not interested at all in celebrity culture for itself. I’m interested in what it is that causes people to cross over that threshhold from being a citizen to being an image.”
Gormley has himself applied to take part, but insists that he will be getting no preferential treatment and will take his chances along with the rest. He urges me to put my name forward as well, and maybe I will. It might be interesting to write a review of my own contribution, perhaps live on my laptop as I recline in a deckchair above Trafalgar Square. Watch this space.
* How to book your place on the plinth:
One & Other will run 24 hours a day for 100 days from July 9 to October. 14 Participants will be selected by computer to reflect the population of the UK by regions. Participants must be aged 16 and over on July 6, 2009 and must live or be staying in the UK. The plinth will be accessible to those with disabilities.
Each participant will spend 60 minutes alone on the plinth. Volunteers may take equipment or props, provided they can carry it themselves.
Anyone wishing to take part should sign up for more information at www.oneandother.co.uk or send a large, stamped self-addressed envelope (with stamps attached to the value of £1.08) to One & Other, c/o Artichoke, Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6AB.
