London - 'This is brilliant. This is what it's all about,'
said London Mayor Boris Johnson as he opened an eye-catching art
project that will turn thousands of ordinary people into living
monuments for an hour each over the next three months.
Housewife Rachel Wardell, 35, became the first participant to
scale the seven-metre-high fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar
Square, standing silent for an hour in aid of her chosen cause -
raising money for a charity to help victims of child abuse.
'It is quite peaceful up there, though you can hear a lot of the
conversations below,' she reported from the top of the plinth,
surrounded by a safety net.
'I wanted to be able to represent a normal, everyday stay-at-home
mums who aren't normally a feature of major artworks - to show my
kids now, and when they're older, that you can do, and be part of
anything, no matter how ordinary you are or feel,' she explained.
Before the show began, an anti-smoking protestor briefly scaled
the empty plinth, which since 1999 has been used to bring new art to
the public in London's central square, dominated by the Nelson
column. But his protest was accepted in good humour, and only added
to the excitement.
In the past few years, British sculptor Marc Quinn's controversial
statue Alison Lapper Pregnant and a contemporary model for a hotel by
German artist Thomas Schütte have adorned the plinth, which was
originally built for King William IV, who ruled from 1830 to 1837.
'Do these toga'd baffoons cast in bronze around Trafalgar Square
deserve any more celebration than this person up there?' asked
Johnson in a reference to the military heroes and statesmen dotted
around the square.
For Britain's leading sculptor, Antony Gormley, who conceived the
idea of the project he has named The One and Other, it's all about
democratizing art.
'I thought it was an interesting idea to pluck people from their
daily lives, or from the street, and see what they look like as a
representation.'
'What is life, and what is art?' asked Gormley. 'There is a
distinction between what somebody looks like and what they are. It is
the transformation of an impulse into an act. And an hour is just
long enough time for the subject to think in a lot of different ways
about who they are.'
The oldest 'plinther,' as participants have become known, is
retired teacher Gwynneth Pedler, who at 83 plans to go up the plinth
in her wheelchair to prove that she 'is still in the world.'
Oliver Parson-Baker, a 26-year-old aquatic scientist, plans to
highlight the global shortage of clean water by dressing up in a yet
unidentified 'pooh costume' for half his time on the plinth. He will
then change into a fish costume to illustrate the dangers of over-
fishing.
David Rosenberg, a 41-year-old designer, plans to be on the plinth
at night when he will pedal his pink folding bicycle to generate the
energy to light up a specially created suit he will be wearing.
Australian Scott Cupit, a 41-year-old dance teacher who has just
started his own dancing school in London, will dance on the plinth
for a whole hour.
Meanwhile, Anthony Pressley, from Britain, wants to make his a
appearance a statue of an ordinary man. 'Not a king. Not a general,
just an ordinary man.'
Of the 14,500 people who applied to become statues, 2,400 have
been chosen to take part in the project until October 14.
They will stand, squat or sit on the plinth 24 hours a day, in any
weather, arousing the curiosity of tourists and Londoner alike.
Participants have been chosen at random by a computer and can do
anything they want on the plinth as long as it is legal.
'It could be tragic but it could also be funny,' said Gormley of
his extraordinary and unpredictable project.
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