Anthony Gormley's One & Other Project
World-renowned artist and ex-Goldsmiths student Anthony Gormley won the commission to do up the fourth plinth for 100 days this summer. It was in the form of the “One & Other” project (6th July-14 October 2009) where for one hundred constitutive days, 2400 selected members of the public got to occupy the fourth plinth for an hour, each doing whatever they wanted and I was lucky to be one of them..
The fourth plinth on the northwest corner, designed by Sir Charles Barry, built in 1841 was intended to hold an equestrian statue of William IV, but remained empty due to insufficient funds. Now the Great London authority assumes responsibility for the fourth plinth and have there own continuously changing exhibitions.
The key question through the 100 days was “Is it art?” Can one really answer that question objectively? The truth is art is subjective and personal to whomever that interacts with it. In my opinion it was art. Gormley is known for his work around his body form but this work of his was quite the opposite. It was about the “one” person and the “other” people who interacted with it. Normal people were given the chance to become living art by simply entering a draw on the “One & Other” website and painting a portrait of Britain in the 21s century.
Perhaps part of the reason for its success was the online aspect of it. As well as in Trafalgar Square, Plinthers could also be viewed online through the website on a 24hour web cam stream, which let people from all over the world catch the action. The people watching online became a community through sites like twitter dubbed “twecklers”. Their aim was to comment on people’s hours with a lot of banter on the way. Then there was the actual Plinthers, who also became a community through sites like facebook. The project was also sponsored by Sky and lead to an hour long program every week hosted by Clive Andersons on Sky Arts.
So 2400 people? What exactly did they do with their hour? You had people who entertained, wore outrageous costumes, or created artwork, or even just being themselves, some raised awareness and money for a cause and of course there were a handful of nudists!
I used my hour to raise awareness and money for Palestine and Gaza. A cause very close to my heart.
On the 23rd August at 5pm I was teleported to the plinth on a JCB and I was left there to do something for an hour. Before that I was interviewed in the welcome cabin and told to sign the legal paperwork. My hour wasn’t very well organized. My original idea was to throw water balloons into the public to represent real bombs but the water balloons just did not fill up, so I had to switch to plan B. That was simply speaking and raising awareness about Palestine. Armed with a megaphone and a cardboard box that was meant to represent the Gaza wall I was set to take over Trafalgar square. Little did I know how windy it would be up there! Within 15 minutes in my facts sheet had flown off. I was pretty much left empty handed and had 45 minutes to kill! So my hour consisted of a LOT of improvisation and battling a dodgy megaphone. I was also trying to grab people’s attention as there was some other form of live organised entertainment happening in the square too. I may not have had the whole of the squares attention but I had a few. I’m sure I had attention online though. It was also my parent’s 24th wedding anniversary that day and I was able to wish them a happy anniversary from the top of the plinth.
Looking back on my hour now there was a lot I could have done differently. If I was to do my hour again it would be so much better as I have now got involved in the Palestine twinning campaign and I am more educated in the matter. But at the same time I’m proud of my hour. It may not have been the most entertaining or organized but it achieved my goal, which was to raise awareness this being successful as later on twitter that day people had gone on Google and started exchanging links with each other. My hour can be viewed on: http://www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/arfy
The plinth for me and many other Plinthers has been a life changing experience. After my plinth hour it led me to getting more involved in campaigns about Palestine. On the 14th October, the last day of the “One & Other” project, many Plinthers including myself visited the square again to witness the last hour, this being a final opportunity to meet the twecklers and other Plinthers again. It felt like an old school reunion, the only difference being we had never met before. It was an amazing experience for me to meet others who had watched me and hear things like, “Your hour was great, you did well up there.” I’m gutted I didn’t get into twitter while the project was on but I did join it later to keep in touch with people I met through the project. I also got to meet Antony Gormley himself, it was great to see the artist and his living statues.
The project has been described as marmite; you either loved it or hated it. I believe it was a huge success but maybe because of the huge use of technology in this project, I don’t think it would have been much of success say 20 years ago. To me it was perfect and I believe it has created a living portrait of Britain in the 21st century. I look forward to this project being taken to other countries but for now I have the “One & Other” archives to watch. I look forward to the project getting officially archived by the British library and to being part of history!
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