Hecklers

Or what a difference a plinther makes. Friday late night proved to be drunk heckler central as expected. The fascinating bit to come of it is how much the plinther can affect the heckler experience. Friday's 11pm slot featured a fill in who was a 30ish male. He faced a constant stream of requests from the crowd including requests to strip and requests to jump off the plinth. His approach - rationally talk through the requests. It seemed by the end that he was worn, having had such difficulty facing a less than supportive crowd.

Then midnight hits and Maria_S_1 hops out with energy bubbling forth. She immediately wins over the hecklers by laughing and playing her way naturally through them. Didn't look like they fazed her a bit really. When they yelled for her to get naked, she simply replies that her mom is there and might get cross. A beat passes and you hear faintly, from the heckler, "Tell mom I said I'm sorry." That was hilarious. Brilliant, brilliant stuff that can be found here: www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/Maria_S_1

For some reason it looks as though they aren't posting the anonymous performances at this point but if the Friday, 11pm is posted, it is worth taking a look at the two back to back to see how different the plinthers' experiences are. Their personalities, their attitudes made for such wildly different experiences.

Maria's range goes from fiddling to tossing cakes to gardening to making cakes. She is like a full HGTV slate come to life. Worth a watch for sure!

Godzilla plays tetherball

Gotta love this performance. One of a kind: www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/geraldc

There should be a stop motion version of this with the destruction lasting 7 seconds.

Another beautiful day in Trafalgar Square

And everyone seems happy.

Notable is the number of plinthers who offer their chair to the next plinther. Wonderful gesture.

A-levels

Imogen_S asks the question on all our minds - Are A-levels getting easier? A delightful romp through some sample A-level questions punctuated by flying cupcakes. Loved this little show: www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/Imogen_S

Where the name comes from?

Is this the true source of the project name One and Other?

Craptivism

A plinther defines for us: www.flickr.com/photos/11833575@N05/3838798875/in/pool-oneandother

Silence

Having a live feed is an amazing thing. The sirens, the sound of the fountain, kids playing in the distance, people talking in the square are all audible when the plinther is silent. Multiple camera angles, the sounds, and the accents of the plinthers make it seem as though I've taken brief vacations to London every day this week. Amazing to have this portal into life in Trafalgar square.

Two thumbs up for virtual art travel!

The exchange

My new favorite part of the plinthing is the exchange. When the cherry picker rises to remove one plinther and deposit a new one there is a rare exchange. It is a moment when both mics are on. You have the handler asking questions but the main action is between the newly departing plinther and the one just showing up for a shift. It is always cordial, but there is so much emotion going on beneath the niceties. The new plinther usually seems a unique mix of excitement and apprehension. It is a brief, raw moment that few continue into their plinth session. But during that moment you can sense the excitement and the wonderment of an ordinary person stepping into the spotlight. Those are the moments you can best picture yourself with the best view of the plinth possible just before you are thrown to the wolves. What a mix of emotion. What an amazing experience for these lucky souls!

I made the plinth!

Well, sort of. Oliver_L ascended the plinth today with the goal of reading texts submitted to his number for a full hour. Awesome. About 31 mins into his hour I got mine on the air. It was an important message for Allen (my friend who loves plinthing as much as I do) that you'll have to listen to for yourself: www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/Oliver_L

Awesome job Oliver!

A note about timing

I think I saw somewhere, most likely on SkyArt's site, a clip with Gormley himself ascending in the night to mount the plinth. He comments that it is quite intimate up there since you can't see much of anything through the intense lights. I think I'd prefer to be up there in the night. Dawn would be remarkable while splitting hte distance between day and night. But short of that, night would be preferable because the city changes at night. And there you are, safely tucked away in plain site to do as you please. I think the hecklers and passerbys would be more interesting at night too.

Lucky those plinthers working the night shift!

Wednesday - dawn - no music

My favorite plinther thus far is Wallsy from Wednesday morning. I caught him as I was going to bed Tuesday night after being out celebrating a friend's b-day. Early in his hour he sang a song to his wife, one of the only people in the square as dawn broke. A nutter sitting on a wall requested Wallsy sing some Clash but he didn't know enough of the words to make a go of it. A second request for Wallsy to sing whatever song he likes creates a problem.

Wallsy, eager to please, begs two minutes time to rack his brain to find a song he knows the words to and can sing. He walks to the other side of the plinth to concentrate. Five mins later he yells to his wife to ask her what songs he knows. She offers no solution. Another 10 mins go by with occasional mumblings, mostly to himself, wondering what songs he knows. He never arrives at an answer. Instead he spends most of the rest of the time in silence, listening to news on a tiny portable radio and reading the paper as the lights continue to gradually come up in the city.

Unremarkable exchange perhaps but the subtlety astounds me. First of all, tracking the light and city sounds as the city awakes is pretty amazing and peaceful. I've always loved dawn, just hate the next 4 hours of the day intensely. Secondly, Wallsy couldn't think of one song to sing a bit of for the man politely sitting on a wall, enjoying his morning. That to me is amazing. At any given time I have three songs playing in my head. May not want to sing them out loud but they are there...and this guy has none over the course of 50 minutes. Amazing. I didn't know people were made that way.

See it here: www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/wallsy

Wish I'd seen the cam

I wish I'd seen this performance: www.flickr.com/photos/m_j_b/3800835717/in/pool-oneandother

Best Halloween costume ever. Love the kick ass camera!

Update: found the performance for Francesca_H www.oneandother.co.uk/participants/Francesca_H

And then Howard D fished

Yeah, he did. But without a pole and he wasn't fishing for things - just answers written on paper. So I think my idea is still safe even though Howard did a version on Tuesday night.

Allen, why didn't you tell me he was fishing!!

Christmas August 25th

Patsy S rocked the plinth Christmas style tonight. I love christmas songs! Ken and I used to play them for months in our LA office and we were soooo happy those days.

Fishing for wankers

My idea Tuesday was to fish up there. People have been shouting, throwing, and floating things down to those in the square but I have yet to see anyone move material in the opposite direction. I'm more of a taker than a giver when you get down to it so passing out candy or poems or art doesn't excite me. I'd flip it and get things from the people down below. I'd lower a fishing line with a bag attached and take contributions from people. Maybe a chocolate croissant or a fancy binder clip. I'd have souvenirs to take home with me.

I'm also very inspired by the bad dancing I've seen. Well, inspired by those who have music, kind of creeped out by those who didn't have any music but kept on dancing anyway. The dancing I've seen up there is the kind of dancing I myself CAN do. So I'd definitely spend some time dancing, perhaps with headphones in so I'm the only one who can hear the music. then I can be the creepy one.

I also like the idea of getting naked. In a bar, on a sports field, around the airport doesn't seem like fun but to be in the position of a statue, and then get naked seems appropriate. that is the kind of public nudity I can get behind.

That's my plan...perhaps we'll have to organize one on this side of the pond for me to execute.

Tuesday's entry - ME!

By Tuesday I was trying to enter myself in the draw for a spot in October. Sadly I couldn't complete my entry because I don't live in the UK. Bummer. I get it, but bummer. Now I track London fares for a weekend trip. Never been to London, and never thought I'd get there before many other countries but I'm enthralled and would love to take in the spectacle in person before the run ends. Plus I hear there is some good theatre in town.

Monday's Tiki dance

Becci's Tiki dancing was hypnotic. She had the whole hand thing going but it got really good when she ditched the mask and kept dancing. Good times!

Highlights

I found the highlights on SkyArts pretty early on and loved them. So many great dancers. And the rain footage. Something beautiful about someone on display, hunched under an umbrella hiding out from the rain. Finally up there on display for their allotted hour and the poor plinther ends up cowering in the rain...but yet a smile. And then you know the plinther is enjoying their time despite the rain. But to be up there exposed, and hiding is an interesting tension I enjoyed.

There was also the one of an older gentleman who dresses up like one of Gormley's statues with the wide wings. And he puts on a dress and ends up naked by the end of his performance. He ends with a message urging everyone to get an HIV test since many don't know they are positive. It is a beautiful little edited vignette you should check out yourself here: www.skyarts.co.uk/site/plinth/?id=14

But really my favorite highlight is this guy dancing: www.skyarts.co.uk/site/plinth/?id=22 The narration is hilarious! He dances, knows he isn't a good dancer, but is having the time of his life up there. At one point he says there is nobody in the square watching his performance which conjures this beautiful image, theatre of the mind style, of an empty Trafalgar Square just before dawn with Ricki (Plinther 0765) dancing his ass off on a well lit stage. There is no dip in enthusiasm, no phoning it in because the audience has gone to sleep, no he keeps on keeping on, just doing his own thing as best he can. Awesome.

One & Other

I first read about One & Other in the LA Times sometime in the last week. www.oneandother.co.uk About half way through the project but plenty of steam left in it. I was pretty much immediately transfixed by the idea and execution. A snapshot of UK residents displayed amongst long dead white men statued in bronze form. This living, fourth plinth has provided a magnificant view into the personalities, talents, and habits of the randomly choosen few I've had the pleasure of seeing. As my obsession drags on, my perception of the project shifts and I see new things. I believe this blog will follow this shift as I continue to watch (and perhaps visit) through October.

To the Plinthers!