One & OtherI’m excited about being a guest blogger for Antony Gormley’s One & Other Art project: the living monument of Trafalgar Square. Art critic Brian Sewell better watch out, he has competition ;) - take a look here.

I’ll be providing commentary and opinion throughout the project, alongside my fellow guest bloggers: Vincent, Jane and Hugo.

For those of you who don’t know: every hour, 24 hours a day, for 100 days without a break, a different person will make the Fourth Plinth their own. Once selected, the individual can use their time on the plinth as they like. One & Other is open to anyone and everyone from any corner of the UK.One & Other

I have the chance to express my voice of opinion on this historical Art venture - a great opportunity! Hopefully this wont be a hard task, there’s lots to say! I received some text this morning from a 'panegyrical performer' for my first blog post next Thursday. All will be revealed!

In the meantime, here are some facts I’ve searched out about One & Other :

Five facts about Antony Gormley

  1. As a young man, Gormley travelled to India, returning to London three years later.One & Other
  2. The Artist has used his own body as subject, tool and material.
  3. One & Other isn’t his first large scale art installation; others include Allotment, Critical Mass, Another Place, Domain Field, and Inside Australia.
  4. His most celebrated British sculptures include: Angel of the North and Quantum Cloud on the Thames in Greenwich.
  5. Gormley’s Awards:  the Turner Prize in 1994, the South Bank Prize for Visual Art in 1999, Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1997, and in 2007 he was awarded the Bernhard Heiliger Award for Sculpture.

Five facts about Trafalgar Square and the Fourth Plinth4thPlinth

  1. With its position in the heart of London, Trafalgar Square is a tourist attraction and one of the most famous Squares in the World.Fourth Plinth
  2. The name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar (1805), a British naval victory of the Napoleonic Wars.
  3. The Fourth plinth is on the northeast corner of the Square and was designed by Sir Charles Barry and in 1841 -it was meant to hold a statue of William IV, but remained empty due to insufficient funds.
  4. It was in 1999 that the Royal Society of Arts conceived the Fourth Plinth Project; art work from three contemporary artists temporarily occupying the plinth.
  5. The famous pigeons of Trafalgar Square are considered a problem by some; the sale of bird seed in the square was ended in 2000!

Five facts about Artichoke (Producers of One & Other)

  1. Artichoke is a creative company that puts on extraordinary shows that change the way people look at the world. They work with the best creative minds to produce events that live in the memory forever.Artichoke
  2. They are the people behind the staging of 'The Sultan’s Elephant’ in 2006.
  3. Artichoke is producing a festival of light in Durham in November 2009, and in Cambridge in 2010. For further information about Illuminata.
  4. Artichoke is delighted to announce that One & Other is the first event in a series produced over the next couple of years in partnership with Sky Arts.
  5. Hardly anyone knows that a secret tunnel runs deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean. In May 2008, more than a century after it was begun, the tunnel was finally completed. An extraordinary optical device called a Telectroscope was installed at both ends which miraculously allowed people to see right through the Earth from London to New York and vice versa. Artichoke helped this vision come to life last year!

Five facts about Sky Arts (Sponsors of One & Other)

  1. From Monday 20 October, Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 2, Sky Arts 1 HD and Sky Arts 2 HD will broadcast 36 hours of combined arts programming every day into millions of homes in the UK and Ireland.SkyArts
  2. Sky Arts 1 serves up contemporary programming, such as live rock concerts, documentaries and the celebrity ‘hijack’ series.
  3. Sky Arts 2 is the home of Sky Arts’ more classical art content, fantastic new shows to look out for include a four part series called The Forgotten Painter – Edward Seago presented by Selina Scott; a new series of spectacular HD Metropolitan Operas including performances of Romeo & Juliet , Macbeth , Tristan & Isolde , La Fille du Regiment , Peter Grimes , La Boheme , Hansel & Gretel and Manon Lescaut.
  4. The Sky Arts Artichoke Season is an ongoing partnership between Sky Arts and creative producers Artichoke.
  5. You can follow Sky Arts on Twitter: @SkyArts.