Imperial College, London
Students are unhappy with the installation of an Antony Gormley sculpture
Students at London's Imperial College are upset about plans to put up a sculpture by Antony Gormley. They say the work is "phallic," which means it looks like a man's private parts. ALERT is a six-meter-high stack of canted steel blocks meant to look like a squatting person. It will be put in the newly built Dangoor Plaza as part of a major renovation of the university's South Kensington campus.
The work could harm the image and reputation of the university
But a motion put out by the Imperial College Union to stop the work from being put up says that it could "hurt the image and reputation of the college." The motion says this is because of how "obvious" it is that its shape is that of a person with a big, straight penis. It goes on to say that this interpretation means that the phallus in question, which Gormley meant to be a sticking-out knee, extends "about three meters horizontally," which is about half of the sculpture's total height. The motion says, "The artist's intended form may 'evoke our community of scientific research,' but the phallic interpretation does not." "The name ALERT could also be taken to mean that the statue's phallus is standing straight up," it says.
Imperial College, London
The university has one of the largest numbers of male students
The union is most worried about how the phallic meaning could be seen as "exclusive" because there are more men than women at Imperial College, both as students and as staff. The university has one of the highest numbers of male students compared to female students in the UK. In the 2020-21 academic year, only 39% of full-time students at the university were female.
The students try to prevent it from being installed
Students were not asked what they thought about the sculpture, and now they are trying to stop it from being put up. The motion says that "there is nothing inherently wrong with phallic imagery in art," but that the "phallic interpretation's focus on the penis could be seen as inappropriate for a grand public display, especially given the size of the statue." It also says that the statue's official publicity shows it from an angle that doesn't make it look like a phallus. This suggests that this interpretation and the current backlash were "not unexpected by some people in the college."
A former student donated the sculpture to the college
In a statement about his sculpture that was posted on the website of Imperial College, Gormley said, "This sculpture is alive, alert, and awake. It stands on the balls of its feet while squatting on its haunches and looking around." Brahmal Vasudevan, an alumnus and venture capitalist who is worth $1 billion, gave the sculpture to the college as a gift.
Installation should not be affected
"Even though the union supports it and senior college staff and Gormley's team may have seen the paper, I don't think it will affect the installation of ALERT," says a research pro graduate at the university who wrote the motion but wants to remain anonymous. "I don't think this is something that the college would care about or listen to what students have to say about."
This is not the first time that lewd things have been said about Gormley's sculptures. Last year, the artist put four iron sculptures on a beach in the English seaside town of Aldeburgh. The sculptures broke local planning laws and were called "sex toys" by locals.
Jean Dubreil