One & Other
Encyclopedia
One & Other was a public art project by Antony Gormley
Antony Gormley
Antony Mark David Gormley OBE RA is a British sculptor. His best known works include the Angel of the North, a public sculpture in the North of England, commissioned in 1995 and erected in February 1998, Another Place on Crosby Beach near Liverpool, and Event Horizon, a multi-part site...
, in which 2,400 members of the public occupied the usually vacant fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
, London, for an hour each for 100 days. The project began at 9am 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 Wellcome Trust
Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust was established in 1936 as an independent charity funding research to improve human and animal health. With an endowment of around £13.9 billion, it is the United Kingdom's largest non-governmental source of funds for biomedical research...
has posted online at its website its series of oral-history interviews of the 2400 plinthers.
Opening
The project was opened by the Mayor of LondonMayor of London
The Mayor of London is an elected politician who, along with the London Assembly of 25 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Greater London. Conservative Boris Johnson has held the position since 4 May 2008...
, Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008...
. 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. 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
Cherry picker
A cherry picker , is a type of aerial work platform that consists of a platform or bucket at the end of a hydraulic lifting system.- Design :...
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, the Guardian's top ten "plinthers" were:| Name | Performance |
|---|---|
| Gerald Chong | Demolished a cardboard replica of the London skyline, dressed as Godzilla Godzilla is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,... . |
| Amanda Hall | Constructed a full-size Gormley-style human figure from bread products. |
| Ollie Campbell | Pitched a tent, from which a live chicken and two blow-up dolls emerged. |
| Steve Cousins (The Balloonatic) | Performed in a red catsuit with a large, red balloon. |
| Sam Martin | Dressed as a football referee, Martin challenged members of the public and announced half-time Half-time In some team sports such as association football and rugby, matches are played in two halves. Half-time is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match... . |
| Jonathan May-Bowles (Jonnie Marbles) | Invited members of the public to text their secrets to him, which were then read aloud. |
| Neil Studd | Dressed as a living statue Living statue The term living statue refers to a mime artist who poses like a statue or mannequin, usually with realistic statue-like makeup, sometimes for hours at a time.... of Lord Nelson, in an echo of Nelson's Column Nelson's Column Nelson's Column is a monument in Trafalgar Square in central London built to commemorate Admiral Horatio Nelson, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The monument was constructed between 1840 and 1843 to a design by William Railton at a cost of £47,000. It is a column of the Corinthian... . |
| Liz Crow | Sat in a wheelchair wearing a Nazi military uniform, as a political statement on the rights of disabled people. |
| Susanna Meese-Simpson | Posed naked as if for a life study. |
| Paul Speller | Performed a succession of scientific experiments submitted by the public, including an experiment with a tin can telephone Tin can telephone A tin can telephone is a type of voice-transmitting device made up of two tin cans, paper cups or similarly shaped items attached to either end of a taut string or wire.- How it works :... . |
On 14 July at 8.00pm, poet R. N. Taber
R. N. Taber
R. N. Taber is an English poet and novelist.Raised in Kent, he graduated from the University of Kent during 1973. He is a librarian by profession, and currently lives in London. He has written for various poetry magazines and anthologies across England and America...
read a selection of his poems, while photographer Alex Boyd collaborated with Scottish Makar
Makar
A makar is a term from Scottish literature for a poet or bard, often thought of as royal court poet, although the term can be more generally applied. The word functions in a manner similar to the Greek term which means both maker and poet...
(Poet Laureate) Edwin Morgan for his time on the plinth. On 12 August at 1am, 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.