Today’s Geo Quiz takes us into the heart of London. We’re looking for a much-visited historic square. It’s the one named after an 1805 British naval victory.
The square has fountains and statues – including a big one of Admiral Nelson with four lions at his feet. Then there’s something called the fourth plinth.
It’s really just an empty stone pedestal. But in the past three months… some 24-hundred people have taken turns standing on top of it for an hour each.
It was part of an art experiment called the Fourth Plinth Project. Some gave speeches, others danced, or threw things to people below. Some wore costumes …some wore nothing at all.
We’ll sample some of that show…but first…we’re looking for the name of this famous square.
Geo Answer:
Alright time to step right up with the answer to our Geo Quiz. The answer is Traflagar Square in central London. The square with its statues, stately columns and bronze lions commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar.
But it’s an empty plinth or pedestal that was buzzing with activity lately. Since July, something called the Fourth Plinth Art Project has been going on.
Every hour, twenty four hours a day for 100 days, a different person has stepped up onto the plinth. They were invited to do anything they like, as long as it was legal … up on the plinth. Art or not — here’s how the artist who came up with idea, Antony Gormley, puts it:
“The most exiting thing I think as an artist is this will and taste for participation. Art is no longer unique and very precious objects of high price that are kept locked in temples of cultural high value, I think people are really using the space of art to ask questions who are we what do we care about where are we going?”
2400 people in all took turns standing up on the 4th plinth. Sandy Nairne was one of them. He’s director of the London’s National Portrait Gallery. So what did he do up on the plinth?
“Well I took a sketch book. I thought I’d never get a chance to draw that view again so I spent my hour sketching.”
So there he is up on the plinth…as hundreds of tourists stroll by…. creating art within art:
“I was part of an art project and quite happy to be one little part of it, there was clearly inventiveness, I only saw a fragment of it, but one could every now and then encounter something magical.”
Some used up their hour of fame haranguing anyone who cared to listen….others pitched their resumes…some pontificated on the nature of art, others danced around on the plinth or just sat and stared.
Here’s a small sampling of the variety show:
“I dressed up as a butterfly … I was replaced by a bee … I was on 600 in the morning…oh what a beautiful morning.”
You get the idea. So was it free speech in action or a lot of hot air? That’s for you to ponder. We simply note that … Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth, a plinth that was once designed to hoist up kings and generals, for 100 days gave ordinary people a chance to become art itself.
Discussion
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