Antony Gormley

He’s a prolific and popular modern sculptor. One of his most well knownpieces is the huge Angel of the North, an enormous statue which stands on ahill to the side of one of Britain’s busiest roads in the North of England.
　　A feature of Gormley’s work is to make us look at the everyday world in adifferent way and that is something that I experienced with a recent work of hiEvent Horizon.
　　Every day I cycle to work through the streets of London. My journey takes meover Waterloo Bridge from where there are great views along the RiverThames. Most days I don’t see these views as usually I have my head down,fighting the wind as I try and pedal up and over the bridge.
　　 But some days I do stop and think how lucky I am. For many people it is anambition to come to London, to see these sights that I can see everyday. Sosometimes I do stop and take a look at the riverside skyline, to admire the view.
　　A few weeks ago I noticed something a little different. I couldn’t quite make itout but it looked like there was a person standing on top of one of the buildingsthat looks over Waterloo Bridge.
　　In the next few days I noticed more of these ‘people’ standing on top ofbuildings on both the north and the south banks of the river. Of course by thistime I had realised that they weren’t real people but they were statues, identicalstatues of a naked human figure which seemed to be popping up all over theriver bank.
　　 In all there were 31 and it wasn’t long before I discovered that they were allsculptures by Antony Gormley forming a piece of public art called EventHorizon.
　　Antony Gormley talked to the BBC Radio Four arts programme Front Row.
　　How did he describe Event Horizon them and what effect does he want it tohave?
　　Antony GormleyI think it is a sort of infection of the centre of town in order to get people to look at probablybits of London that they don’t bother to look at. I mean we’re all so busy, aren’t we. We’re allgoing somewhere; we’ve all got an idea about a destination.
　　Callum:  He describes it as a sort of infection, which is like a rash, a series of spots thatappear on your skin. The purpose of this ‘infection’ is to get people to look atbits of London they wouldn’t normally see. To make us stop and take a pausefrom our busy lives. Listen again.
　　Antony GormleyI think it is a sort of infection of the centre of town in order to get people to look at probablybits of London that they don’t bother to look at. I mean we’re all so busy, aren’t we. We’re allgoing somewhere; we’ve all got an idea about a destination.
　　Callum:  Gormley’s Event Horizon makes us look up but Gormley himself got adifferent perspective as he oversaw the positioning of the figures. He talksabout the topography of London, the topography – which means the shape ofthe landscape. And he talks about this as he sees it from the ITV tower, one ofthe buildings which has one of his statues on.
　　Antony GormleyI’ve learned a lot about the topography of London putting these in. I mean it was fantasticfrom the top of the ITV tower looking down and just seeing the texture of London and whatan extraordinary, in a way, mixture, of new and old, of the very very domestic and intimateand tight with its little gardens and then these huge new buildings.
　　Callum:  From the top of the building he was able to appreciate the mixture of styles andarchitecture in central London. The old and new, homes with small gardensnext to huge new buildings. He goes on explain more about Event Horizon,which he calls ‘the piece’ and what it means to London.
　　Antony GormleyIt’s an extraordinary city that seems to express in its architectural styles the same kind ofdiversity that it has in its ethnic mix. And I want, I guess it is, a big question that the piece isasking, who is included and who is excluded from, in a way, this built environment. I’mtreating London as if it were, in a way a natural landscapeCallum:  London is a manmade environment that is diverse architecturally as well asethnically. He says his piece asks a question, or makes us think about who isand isn’t included in this manmade environment.
　　Antony GormleyIt’s an extraordinary city that seems to express in its architectural styles the same kind ofdiversity that it has in its ethnic mix. And I want, I guess it is, a big question that the piece isasking, who is included and who is excluded from, in a way, this built environment. I’mtreating London as if it were, in a way a natural landscape with these exposed bodies thatwould normally be, as it were, protected by these buildings.