This past Monday began a wonderful performance art piece in Trafalgar Square in London. I am thoroughly enjoying peeking in on the people of the United Kingdom as they create a living portrait of the UK over a 100 days from July 6 to October 14. Every hour for 100 days, a different person will stand upon the Fourth Plinth (see also), the massive base which would normally hold a statue of a king or warrior, and have that as their own space to do with as they please.
Antony Gormley on the Fourth Plinth from One & Other on Vimeo.
I have seen people just stand there, two have worked out on a rowing machine for their hour, one man danced for an hour and made jokes with the crowd, a woman has raised awareness of the plight of homelessness, and so much more. I have also learned that the British do actually say, "bloody hell!" That’s not just in the movies.
Visit http://www.oneandother.co.uk/ and experience this for yourself. This should be repeated in cities around the world!
This effort is huge! I’m just guessing that it is staffed full time by 15-20 people which would include fork lift operator, security including the entourage that escorts the lift every hour, bucket operator, camera operators, console/technicians, ambulance on standby, and so forth. One & Other is doing this in conjunction with sky ARTS and produced by Artichoke. The partners in the project are too numerous to list. Of course, the Fourth Plinth project wouldn’t be happening without the participants, the Plinthers. Nice work to all! Squirrel Queen likes it too.
