Gormley-OneandOther-4thPlinth-TrafalgarSq-20090706

Gormley-OneandOtherplaque-4thPlinth-TrafalgarSq

''One & Other'' was a public art project by Antony Gormley, in which 2,400 members of the public occupied the usually vacant fourth plinth in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson comm ...

, London, for an hour each for 100 days. The project began at 9 am on Monday 6 July 2009, and ran until 14 October. The first person to officially occupy the plinth was Rachel Wardell from Lincolnshire. A documentary art book by Gormley, entitled ''One and Other'', was published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 14 October 2010. The

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has posted online at its website its series of oral-history interviews of the 2,400 plinthers.

Opening

The project was opened by the

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. Minutes before the official launch Stuart Holmes, an anti-smoking protester, managed to clamber onto the plinth and displayed a banner calling for a ban on tobacco.Abhinav Ramnaraya
"Fourth plinth protester upsets Antony Gormley project"
theguardian.com, 6 July 2009 Gormley urged him to do the "gentlemanly thing" and give up his place to the first official "plinther", Rachel Wardell. He did so and descended in the

cherry picker An aerial work platform (AWP), also known as an aerial device, elevating work platform (EWP), cherry picker, bucket truck or mobile elevating work platform (MEWP) is a mechanical device used to provide temporary access for people or equipment t ...

used to carry participants to and from the plinth.

Participants

Members of the public could apply for an hour on the plinth via the project's website. Gormley himself applied but didn't get a place. Reviewing the event afterwards, ''

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''s top ten "plinthers" were: Asked for his favourite, in 2015, Gormley stated that choosing was unfair but, when pushed, selected an

agoraphobic Agoraphobia is a mental and behavioral disorder, specifically an anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe with no easy way to escape. These situations can ...

woman, who sat in the middle of the plinth, curled up into a ball. He also said he had liked a woman from the first day of the event, who was accompanied by a Cuban mariachi band that performed beneath the plinth, and people who used the opportunity to commemorate war dead. On 14 July at 8.00 pm, poet R. N. Taber read a selection of his poems, while photographer Alex Boyd collaborated with Scottish

Makar A makar () is a term from Scottish literature for a poet or bard, often thought of as a royal court poet. Since the 19th century, the term ''The Makars'' has been specifically used to refer to a number of poets of fifteenth and sixteenth cen ...

(Poet Laureate) Edwin Morgan for his time on the plinth. On 12 August at 1 am, a naked plinther was asked to cover up by the police. Streamed live online by SkyArts, the exhibit quickly developed a cadre of regular Twitter followers who provided a running commentary of events on the plinth. The videos, later looked after by the

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's web archive function, are currently not available and there are no plans for them to become available.

References

External links

Archive of official website

Review by Adrian Searle

Review by Jonathan Jones in September

...And in October

Why I made an exhibition of myself on the plinth

Resistance on the Plinth
{{DEFAULTSORT:One and Other Sculptures by Antony Gormley Installation art works Outdoor sculptures in England Performances 2009 sculptures Trafalgar Square