One and Other

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Over a period of 100 days from July to October 2009, 2,400 people stood on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square for one hour. They were free to do as they chose during this period in the spotlight. Nobody could predict what would happen or the scale of the response. Many thousands applied for the 2,400 slots and candidates were selected randomly. Millions watched the events as they were all filmed and available online. Hundreds of thousands continued to turn to the website long after the project itself was finished. The event was a phenomenon, which we are grappling to understand. The entire enterprise was the conceived by Antony Gormley, and can be seen as a further example of the artist’s ability to tap into the public consciousness. The book will contain studio portraits of all the ‘plinthers’ prior to their appearance. Photographs will be drawn from innumerable sources, especially from those donated by the ’plinthers’ themselves. The whole event has been remarkably photographed by Clare Richardson and the final edit will be drawn from a selection of 600 of her pictures of ‘plinthers and public by day and night. Lee Hall will be writing a text about the importance of the square itself as a location. Essays will be included from Richard Sennett and Hans Ulrich Obrist, the art historian, as well as by both an anthropologist and a psychoanalyst. All the ‘plinthers’ were subject to extensive interviews set up by an oral history expert and their voices will contribute to the creation of a book that is more than a document. The aim is to capture the emotional intensity and the personally transformative effect that was created by one of the most extraordinary works of public art in our time.

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Antony Gormley OBE RA is an English sculptor. His best known works include the Angel of the North, a public sculpture in Gateshead commissioned in 1995 and erected in February 1998, and Another Place on Crosby Beach near Liverpool. In July 2009 Gormley presented One & Other, a Fourth Plinth Commission, an invitation for members of the public, chosen by lot, to spend one hour on the vacant plinth in Trafalgar Square, London.