Taking Middlesbrough to a plinth

Natalie Boxall BBC Tees

Local lass Kim Richards spent an hour on the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square as part of the Antony Gormley's One & Other living monument.

Kim became one of just 2,400 people from across the UK to be allocated a place on the plinth after applying on-line.

Kim Richards will spend an hour on the empty fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square

As a graduate trainee in the council's policy and performance department, she explained her interest in the project: "I heard about it on the news and applied on-line - I didn't expect to hear anything so I was gobsmacked to find out I had been chosen.

"I really like Antony Gormley's work and it's a once in a lifetime chance to do something that will never happen again.

"Middlesbrough gets a lot of stick and suffers from negative perceptions, and people don't realise all the great things that go on here.

"I'm looking forward to playing my part in redressing the balance - I will be wearing my lovemiddlesbrough T-shirt and waving my lovemiddlesbrough banner with pride!"

About One & Other

The project, by Angel of the North sculptor Gormley, sees ordinary members of the public given the opportunity to occupy a space created in 1841 and normally reserved for statues of Kings and Generals.

Every hour, 24 hours a day for 100 days from July 6 to October 14, different people will make the plinth their own - and Kim's stint took place between 8pm and 9pm on Saturday, 15 August 2009.

Those selected are free to do as they please during their hour - to demonstrate, to perform, or simply to reflect. The rules are simple: you must occupy the plinth alone for the whole hour and you can take anything with you that you can carry.

Explaining the idea behind the artwork, Antony Gormley said: "In the context of Trafalgar Square with its military, valedictory and male historical statues to specific individuals, this elevation of everyday life to the position formerly occupied by monumental art allows us to reflect on the diversity, vulnerability and particularity of the individual in contemporary society."