CityLife

Gormley and Sissay stand up for north west

SEEKING POETIC JUSTICE: Lemn Sissay

POETIC justice in the eyes of Mancunian writer in exile Lemn Sissay would be for Manchester to dominate this summer’s extraordinary One And Other art project.

Lemn has been recruited as an ambassador for the living art event organised by Antony Gormley which will utilise the fourth plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square and see 2,400 people given an hour to do whatever they see fit on the lofty platform.

“Antony Gormley was quite reasonably concerned that the venture might attract a London-centric demographic and so he asked me to spread the word about the project back in Greater Manchester,” explains Lemn, who now uses his skills as a performance poet at London’s South Bank Centre, where he is artist in residence.

“It’s a genius idea and I think the people who take part in this have the opportunity to pretty much do whatever they want on top of that plinth,” he tells me.

“You could simply stand there or you could bring the tools you use in your work. I really do hope that Manchester people take up this opportunity.”

In the interests of fairness and providing each region of the country with an equal opportunity, 277 of the 2,400 places on the platform will be offered via an online lottery to north west residents.

Trafalgar Square

So far more than double that number have applied. But of the 9,200 current entries overall, almost half have come from the capital.
So who would Lemn particularly like to see in Trafalgar Square when the 100-day event starts on July 6?

“It would be a waiter from Rusholme, John Thomson in character as Bernard Righton, Shobna Gulati and the actress Stella Grundy, because there’s something about Stella which is particularly Mancunian.”

As for Gormley himself, the man behind the Angel of the North says that even he has to apply if he wants to become one of the thousands. But he says it’s unlikely that he’d be able to spend his hour sculpting.

“One of the rules is that participants leave the plinth as they find it and my art form being such a messy business, I don’t think they’d take too kindly to my carrying a load of plaster to the top of the plinth.

“That’s just one of the rules. The others say things like ‘participants mustn’t get drunk or carry an offensive weapon.

“That’s led some people to ask ‘what about nudity?’ I say that the nude is to art what the ball is to football.”

Visit oneandother.co.uk to register for the chance to do your thing on the plinth.