It was a sight most people could never have imagined seeing at one of London�s most famous landmarks. Scottish art student Collette Rayner took the plunge and spent an hour�rowing against the London rush hour� in a paper boat as artist Antony Gormley�s latest spectacle on the empty fourth plinth surrounding Nelson�s Column.
David Kirkpatrick
It was a sight most people could never have imagined seeing at one of London's most famous landmarks.
Scottish art student Collette Rayner took the plunge and spent an hour "rowing against the London rush hour" in a paper boat as artist Antony Gormley's latest spectacle on the empty fourth plinth surrounding Nelson's Column.
The 19-year-old Fifer who attends Glasgow School of Art was up early, 6am precisely, after being chosen at random as one of 2400 participants in Gormley's One & Other who will entertain the public atop Trafalgar Square's newest attraction, which runs until October 14.
She is only the second Scot to appear at the attraction which London-based Gormley, best known for his statue The Angel of the North, and his works in steel, terracotta and concrete, believes is allowing ordinary people to express their bodily forms as "living statues".
Other "exhibits" have included an engineer dressed as a cow, a cyclist who pedalled to light up his suit and a man playing hip-hop while making tea.
Ms Rayner said she first heard about the opportunity to take part in Gormley's piece at the school.
Familiar with the artist's work, Ms Rayner, who's father was also a sculptor, has a special appreciation of statues and is awed by Gormley's portfolio.
She said: "With art you have to want to visit it, to go to a gallery and see it there but sculptures are involved in people's lives."
Ms Rayner said that rowing the boat on Wednesday was a cause of calm and reflection for her. Linked to her fond memories of the sea, she hoped her nautical performance would give other people a reason to smile.
However, Ms Rayner said she was warned that her time would fly by and indeed it did, joking: "I've spent longer waiting at bus stops."
For 100 days, participants will have one hour to do as they please so long as it's legal. Their stage will be the famously empty fourth plinth which has remained vacant, due to funding inadequacies, since being commissioned in 1841.
Stuart Holmes, an anti-smoking protester, hijacked the plinth ahead of housewife, Rachel Wardell, as Gormley's first living statue.
Since then, the plinth has seen a host of participants from all across the country including several creative Scots all eager to make the most of their 60 minutes of fame.
Artist Neil Scott, 23, from Perthshire, filled the 7am slot on Thursday using his time to connect with his own creative talents. Originally intending to sketch passers-by and hand the drawings out, a quiet morning left him penning the landscape in "a world of my own".
A surprisingly peaceful sanctuary above the noise of the streets, Mr Scott quickly forgot about the cameras and used the rare vantage point to capture the day on paper.
Identifying a comparison with reality television, Mr Scott doesn't view his time in the spotlight as important but focuses on the chance for viewers to respond to an individual and to question what constitutes art.
Involving a broader audience in the artistic process and opening up a forum for public participation is one of Gormley's skills and an endeavour Mr Scott was enthusiastic to be part of.
Edinburgh writer, Bill Coles, 44, a former journalist on The Sun who has written a fictional book about Lord Lucan, took on the persona as the notorious seventh earl of Lucan who vanished after the murder of his children's nanny.
Armed with billboards declaring "Lucan see who's on the plinth" and "Lord Lucan plinth of darkness", Mr Coles, who was on the plinth on Thursday, aimed to amuse the throng of people who watched his debut.
Trying to hold his pose as a statue for the hour, Mr Coles elicited smiles and laughter from those watching with the exception of some confused Americans. "It was utterly surreal," he added.
