Wednesday, October 7, 2009

anthony gormley: one and other.*

I ran across Anthony Gormley's most recent project while browing the GOOD website (which is something pretty sweet all by itself.)



One and Other is a piece that has been going on since July, and will continue into next week (100 days total). The basics of the piece are that every hour, a different person is brought to a platform above Trafalgar Square in London. For exactly one hour, that person is allowed to do whatever he or she wants to do. Some people make art, some sing, others campaign for their favorite organizations. One man dressed in a ninja suit and knitted during his hour. This has been going on all day, every day since July 6th. At the end of the hour a cherry picker raises up to retrieve the last participant and drop off the next one. Random selection chose who would take part in this project. 2,400 participants were chosen out of over 32,000 applicants.


Other works of Gormley's include large-scale public sculptures which focus on explorations of the human body and the relationships between "self and other." According to Gormley's biography his work "has revitalised the human image in sculpture through a radical investigation of the body as a place of memory and transformation, using his own body as subject, tool and material."





Bodies In Space, 2001






Clearing IV, 2005




Flare, 2007




For this work Gormley aimed to create a “portrait of the U.K. now” that offers “the chance for you and I to have a look at the world from the point of view of art.” To ensure that the events are accessable worldwide, there is a live feed that shows what is happening hour by hour. You can also read about the people that are participating and their own interpretations of how they spent their hour.


I could prattle on about how cool I think this project is, but it's probably better if you all look for yourselves...




The roof of Sage is flat, no?




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