Another Place (sculpture)

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A portion of the installation showing the relation between three of the figures Another Place3 edit2.jpg
A portion of the installation showing the relation between three of the figures

Another Place is a piece of modern sculpture by British artist Antony Gormley located at Crosby Beach in Merseyside, England. It consists of 100 cast iron figures facing towards the sea. The figures are modelled on the artist's own naked body. [1] The work proved controversial due to the naked statues but has increased tourism to the beach. After being exhibited at two other locations, it was put on display at Crosby on 1 July 2005. After some controversy, Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council decided on 7 March 2007 that the sculptures should be permanently installed at the beach. [2] [3]

Contents

Construction and history

A view of one of the figures Another Place (5477).jpg
A view of one of the figures

The work consists of cast iron figures which face out to sea, spread over a 2-mile (3.2 km) stretch of beach between Waterloo and Blundellsands. Each figure is 189 centimetres (6 ft 2 in) tall and weighs around 650 kilograms (1,430 lb). The figures are cast replicas of Gormley's own body. As the tides ebb and flow, the figures are revealed and submerged by the sea, and are subject to corrosion by seawater and colonisation by marine animals. The figures were cast at Hargreaves Foundry in Halifax, West Yorkshire and the Joseph and Jesse Siddons Foundry in West Bromwich by foundryman Derek Alexander. [4]

Public reception

Another Place at sunset Anotherplacesunset.JPG
Another Place at sunset

Another Place was first exhibited on the beach of Cuxhaven, Germany, in 1997 followed by Stavanger in Norway and De Panne in Belgium. It was the subject of much controversy in Merseyside, although many people considered the figures to be beautiful pieces of art, and tourism in the local area increased. [5]

Originally, the statues were due to be relocated in November 2007. Those who use the beach for watersports were among the most vocal in their resistance to the figures remaining, citing safety concerns.[ citation needed ] The coastguard also expressed safety concerns, fearing that tourists could become stuck in soft sand and get cut off by the tide. [2] Conservationists, meanwhile, complained that bird-feeding areas had been compromised by the increased tourist traffic. [2] Art lovers and local businesses, on the other hand, lobbied for the statues to stay. Gormley himself supported the proposal to keep the statues at Crosby Beach, saying the location was "ideal". [6]

Barnacles growing on one of the figures Life-size cast-iron statue at Crosby Beach - journal.pone.0048863.g001-right.png
Barnacles growing on one of the figures

In October 2006, the local council refused to give permission for the statues to stay.[ citation needed ] The company Another Place Ltd was established to campaign for the figures' permanent installation and appealed the council's decision. [2]

In March 2007, permission was granted for Another Place to remain at Crosby Beach permanently. [2] [3] The approved plan provided for 16 statues to be moved from contentious areas and decreased the installation's area from 232 to 195 hectares. The cost of the work was estimated at £194,000, to be paid by Another Place Ltd with funding from sources including The Northern Way and Northwest Development Agency. [7]

In a press release, the Chief Executive of Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council, Graham Haywood, said, "Despite some controversy, this internationally renowned artwork has aroused national and international public and media support ... The Iron Men have placed Crosby and Sefton firmly in the spotlight and the knock-on benefits of this should be felt for years to come." [8]

In 2012, biologists from the University of Liverpool studied the colonisation of the statues by sessile intertidal organisms, such as invasive species of barnacles.[ clarification needed ] [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merseyside</span> County of England

Merseyside is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Welsh county of Flintshire across the Dee Estuary to the southwest, and the Irish Sea to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Liverpool.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antony Gormley</span> British sculptor (born 1950)

Sir Antony Mark David Gormley is a British sculptor. His works include the Angel of the North, a public sculpture in Gateshead in the north of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; Another Place on Crosby Beach near Liverpool; and Event Horizon, a multipart site installation which premiered in London in 2007, then subsequently in Madison Square in New York City (2010), São Paulo, Brazil (2012), and Hong Kong (2015–16).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Borough of Sefton</span> Metropolitan borough in England

The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. It was formed on 1 April 1974, by the amalgamation of the county boroughs of Bootle and Southport, the municipal borough of Crosby, the urban districts of Formby and Litherland, and part of West Lancashire Rural District. It consists of a coastal strip of land on the Irish Sea which extends from Southport in the north to Bootle in the south, and an inland part to Maghull in the south-east, bounded by the city of Liverpool to the south, the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley to the south-east, and West Lancashire to the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Formby</span> Town in England

Formby is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crosby, Merseyside</span> Town in England

Crosby is a coastal town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is north of Bootle, south of Southport and Formby, and west of Netherton. It abuts the areas of Blundellsands to the north and Waterloo to the south. It is approximately 6 miles (9.6 km) north of Liverpool City Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waterloo, Merseyside</span> Human settlement in England

Waterloo is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, in Merseyside, England. Along with Seaforth the two localities make up the Sefton Ward of Church. The area is bordered by Crosby to the north, Seaforth to the south, the Rimrose Valley country park to the east, and to the west the Crosby Beach and Crosby Coastal Park.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hightown, Merseyside</span> Village in England

Hightown is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England, located midway between the city of Liverpool and the coastal resort of Southport. It is 8 miles north of Liverpool city centre and is located on the coast near the boundary of the Mersey Estuary and Liverpool Bay. The River Alt joins the sea at this point and forms an estuary. There is a pumping station on the River Alt at Altmouth, built 1972, as part of a programme to alleviate flooding in the area. This is on the Altcar Rifle Range, a Territorial Army base originally established in 1860 by Lt. Col. Gladstone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thornton, Merseyside</span> Village in England

Thornton is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, in Merseyside, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire and situated to the north east of Crosby, it is a residential area of semi-detached and detached housing which dates mainly from the 1930s. Many of the houses, particularly those around Edge Lane and Water Street, feature notably long gardens. The A565 Liverpool-Southport road serves the area. At the 2001 Census the population of the village and civil parish was recorded as 2,262, falling to 2,139 at the Census 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seaforth, Merseyside</span> Human settlement in England

Seaforth is a district in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is north of Liverpool, between Bootle and Waterloo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crosby Beach</span> Beach near Liverpool, England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sefton Coast</span>

Sefton Coast is a 4605.3 hectare Site of special scientific interest which stretches for 12 miles (20 km) between Southport and Waterloo, which is end location of Crosby Beach. The site was notified in 2000 for both its biological and geological features. The coast has species such as grass of Parnassus, wild orchids, rare butterflies, sand lizards, natterjack toads and waders.

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References

  1. "Another Place by Antony Gormley". Sefton Council. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Gormley's statues stay out to sea, BBC News, 7 March 2007, retrieved 8 March 2007
  3. 1 2 "Iron Men to stay in Crosby", Crosby Herald, 8 March 2007, archived from the original on 4 October 2013, retrieved 8 March 2007
  4. "J&J Siddons - Foundry - Home". jjsiddons.co.uk.
  5. Ward, David (20 October 2006), "Gormley's iron men will have to go, planning committee rules", The Guardian, London, retrieved 3 December 2006
  6. Carter, Helen (26 October 2006), "Time waits for the cast-iron men", The Guardian, London, retrieved 1 December 2006
  7. "Iron Men are on the move", Crosby Herald, 19 July 2007, retrieved 22 July 2007
  8. Press release: Green Light For Iron Men, Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council, retrieved 22 July 2007
  9. Bracewell, S. A.; Spencer, M.; Marrs, R. H.; Iles, M.; Robinson, L. A. (2012). Thrush, Simon (ed.). "Cleft, Crevice, or the Inner Thigh: 'Another Place' for the Establishment of the Invasive Barnacle Austrominius modestus (Darwin, 1854)". PLOS ONE. 7 (11): e48863. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...748863B. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0048863 . PMC   3492251 . PMID   23145000.

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