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]
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]
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]
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]
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.
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).
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.
Formby is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, 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.
Waterloo is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, in Merseyside, England. It is part of the Liverpool City Region. Together with Seaforth, the two localities make up the borough's Church ward. 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 Crosby Beach and Crosby Coastal Park.
Sefton is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. Located to the south west of Maghull and to the north east of Great Crosby, it is on the flood plain of the River Alt. The village is bisected by the B5422, Brickwall Lane, which cuts also through the site of the moat of Sefton Old Hall, a recognised National Monument. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as 772, increasing to 855 at the 2011 Census.
Ainsdale is a village near Southport, in the Sefton district, in Merseyside, England, situated three miles south of the centre of Southport. Originally in the historic county of Lancashire, at the 2001 Census it had a population of 12,723. By the time of the 2011 census, only figures for Ainsdale (ward) were available.
Freshfield is an area of Formby, in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, situated at the northern end of the town. It has no local political distinction or representation and is included as part of the two council wards which make up Formby, nor is it any longer separated in a physical sense from the town.
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.
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.
Seaforth is a district in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is north of Liverpool, between Bootle and Waterloo.
Crosby Beach is part of the Merseyside coastline north of Liverpool in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, England, stretching about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) North-West from the Seaforth Dock in the Port of Liverpool, through Waterloo, where it separates the sea from the Marina. The beach was awarded Keep Britain Tidy's Quality Coast Award in 2011.
Sefton Central is a constituency represented since its creation in 2010 by Bill Esterson of the Labour Party.
Blundellsands is an area of Crosby in the ceremonial county of Merseyside, England and in the historic county of Lancashire. The area was created as a suburb for wealthy businessmen from Liverpool by the Blundell family of Crosby Hall in the middle of the 19th century.
Sefton Council, or Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It is a metropolitan borough council and provides the majority of local government services in the borough. The council has been a member of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority since 2014.
Event Horizon is the name of a large-scale public sculpture installation by the British artist Antony Gormley. First displayed in London in 2007, they were later displayed in New York, downtown São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Gormley describes his statues as "...showing solitary figures installed in groups yet retaining their sense of solitude and reflection."
Sefton Coast is a 4605.3 hectare site of special scientific interest in England which stretches for 12 miles (20 km) between Southport and Waterloo, ending with Crosby Beach. The site was notified in 2000 for both its biological and geological features. It has species such as grass of Parnassus, wild orchids, rare butterflies, sand lizards, natterjack toads and waders.
Brighton-le-Sands is an area of Merseyside, England, in the borough of Sefton. It is located close to Crosby, situated between Blundellsands to the north, Waterloo to the south and Great Crosby to the east.