2:58am Wednesday 14th October 2009
© Press Association 2011
Artist Antony Gormley's Fourth Plinth experiment in London's Trafalgar Square is coming to an end and will probably be remembered for the loss of the great British reserve, as the living artworks flashed the flesh in public.
Gormley had predicted there may be a possibility that some 'plinthers' may seize the opportunity to go naked, but in fact many of the 2,400 hour-long slots since the event began have seen people shed their clothes.
Even in the dying days of the event, the boundaries have been pushed further. A plinther who called herself 'Lady Godiva' somehow dodged the blaze of publicity but conducted her entire session on the plinth completely naked but for a pair of knee length boots.
She was even transported on to the 10ft high structure without clothes and did her pre-plinth interview in the nude. In true Godiva style, she rode a steed, although in her case it was a child's rocking horse.
During the 100-day span of the artwork, called One And Other, participants have chosen to undertake a variety of different approaches. Some have adopted fancy dress, some have skipped around or danced to fill the time, others have sat bored for 60 minutes and many have highlighted chosen causes during their moment in the spotlight.
Plinthers have asked for jobs, dressed as faeces, set up tents and climbed in and out of a filing cabinet
Yet despite an array of bizarre and brave appearances, political sloganeering and campaigning, the memories that will probably live longest will be those of the people who bared all.
But while the participants were not shy, some onlookers have not been so liberal. One male nudist early in the three-month event was told by police to cover up after a complaint. Another naked plinther prompted a further complaint from a passer-by in the Square.
However police have not intervened on every occasion, only responding where there have been complaints, which has led to debates about whether it is legal or appropriate to go naked in public.
One & Other was due to finish at 9am on Wednesday when final plinther Emma Burns, a 30-year-old medical photographer from Darlington, Co Durham, finishes her stint.
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