In London's Trafalgar Square, thousands of random people are getting an hour in the spotlight as human art, in the "One & Other" exhibition.
London’s stately Trafalgar Square is full of statues of lions, kings, generals, and other figures of nobility. It contains one empty statue base, or “plinth,” for a statue of a horse that was never built. Instead, for one hour on Monday, the Fourth Plinth served as a platform for a man named Scott Illman, who, decked out in a town cryer’s uniform, shouted about the London bars he owned to passersby on the street below.
It may sound tacky, but according to Antony Gormley, organizer of the new “One & Other” exhibition, it’s human art.
Illman’s advertisement may not be to everyone’s taste, but that’s exactly the point: the art exhibition gives 2,400 random applicants the opportunity to spend one hour each on the podium, doing whatever their hearts desire.
“In a way, this place is all about people who have done great and heroic deeds in the past,” Gormley told NPR. “I’m more interested in now. I’m more interested in, in a way, discovering what we are now. And this is a way of doing that.”
A woman on the exhibition’s first day released 60 green balloons from the podium, in honor of 60 different charities. One man, wearing a sign that says “In the Name of Love,” sings a half-decent medley of show tunes about love, followed by a recitation of love sonnets.
Other “Plinthers,” as they are known, have a wide range of ideas for what they’ll do with their time in the spotlight: a woman named Jo, who was selected to stand on the plinth, says that, being an English teacher, “I may have to recite a bit of Shakespeare while up on the plinth… If I’m feeling really brave I might sing (not for long, it might scare the pigeons.”
“I will definitely be contemplating how it feels to be a statue watching down over all the people below, rather than my usual position of someone looking up. Maybe that is why it feels so special.”
If you’re planning to be in London within the next few months, it’s not too late to apply for your own hour on the Fourth Plinth: the One & Other website is taking applications until September 1st.
Whether or not you have the chance to stand in the spotlight, though, it’s always fun to be a spectator. If you can’t make it out to the Square, check out the view of the Plinth from the streaming live webcam (at your own risk—we have no idea what you’ll see!).