About Art - Another Place

Another Place is a piece of modern sculpture by Antony Gormley that is now permanently erected on Crosby Beach, Liverpool, England, it was due to be moved to New York, United States in November 2006, but there was a controversial proposal to retain the work at Crosby. It was recently stated in the local paper, the Crosby Herald, that they may stay for up to a decade, but at a meeting on March 7th 2007, Sefton Council accepted proposals that would allow the sculptures to be kept permanently at Crosby Beach.

The sculpture consists of 100 cast iron figures which face out to sea, spread over a 2 mile (3.2 km) stretch of the beach. Each figure is 189 cm tall (nearly 6 feet 2½ inches) and weighs around 650 kg (over 1400 lb).

In common with most of Gormley's work, the figures are cast replicas of the artist's own body. As the tides ebb and flow, the figures are revealed and submerged by the sea. The figures were cast by Joseph and Jesse Siddons Foundry in West Bromwich.

Another Place was first exhibited on the beach of Cuxhaven, Germany in 1997 and after that in Stavanger in Norway and De Panne in Belgium.

As of March 2007 permission was granted to have Another Place permanently installed at Crosby. Initially, coastguard authorities expressed safety fears, saying people could become stuck in soft sand and be cut off by the tide when viewing the statues up close.

The planning committee decided to move 16 of the statues back away from an area used by small sailing craft. Three others are being re-sited away from bird feeding areas. The work on the 16 started on July 16 2007 and the plan is to put them in storage and return them in 2008. The full cost is expected to be £194,000 which will be paid for by Another Place Ltd, with funding coming from sources including The Northern Way and Northwest Development Agency. Find out more about the art of Antony Gormley at: www.antonygormley.co.uk