Wednesday, 22 April 2009
A Vacancy
I'm getting very tired of Antony Gormley and this Trafalgar Square plinth business. Here he is, unveiling 'a model of his latest work', which appears to be the vacant plinth with added safety netting to catch people who are moved to throw themselves off it. The idea of letting anyone who wants to (and whose application is successful) stand for an hour on the plinth is, Gormley was saying on TV last night, an expression of the great British tradition of 'open democracy'. Really? What's democratic about raising yourself up on a plinth? I fear it's going to be an all too vivid expression of a more recent British tradition - that of open exhibitionism. Why am I on this plinth? Because I'm worth it - and now I'm up here I'm going to... Argh the mind boggles. Leave the damned thing eloquently vacant.
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A statue to the Unknown Taxpayer would be fitting; or even to the all-too-bloody-well-known taxpayer.
ReplyDeleteI hope Health and Safety insist that a portaloo is installed on the top of the plinth. Otherwise, what happens if someone is caught short during their hour up there? Indeed, I'm surprised James Dyson hasn't been asked to design an ingenious, best-of-British mechanism that disappears silently back into the plinth after use. I'd have thought it well worth charging tourists a fiver a go to try this one out. Could be a money-spinner.
ReplyDeleteI found his blokes on a beach, and the ones on the southbank to be pretty cheesy to be honest. I did like his room full of little people that I saw at the hayward (I think? cant remember now)
ReplyDeleteThey should put a statue of ozymandias on the plinth. Or just leave it empty and carve 'hubris' on the side. very banksy. they would love that.
Plinth, plinth, plinth. Plinth. A strange word that gets stranger the more you say it. Perhaps just label the plinth 'Plinth'?
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