-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(micro)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Come and see Antony Gormley's terrific Another Place, 100 cast-iron statues on the beach at Crosby.
The cache itself is not in the prettiest place ever but I was unable to attach anything to the iron men themselves and everywhere else seemed like it may not be muggle-proof, this was the best compromise. Anyway you're not here for the cache, you've come to see the statues, right?
As an added bonus the cache includes the co-ords for the "Inspired" cache which you could bag on the way home.
Crosby Beach may not seem like the obvious choice for a famous artist, but Crosby seems to have struck gold as the only place in Britain to house Antony Gormley’s Another Place installation. Previously the work has been shown at Cuxhaven in Germany, Stavanger in Norway, De Panne in Belgium and its next stop was due to be New York in November 2006, but there was a controversial proposal to retain the work at Crosby. It was locally reported 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.
Winner of the Turner Prize in 1994, Antony Gormley is best known for his controversial sculpture ‘Angel of the North’ which dominates the skyline near Newcastle. He also displayed another of his recent works ‘Field’ at the Tate Liverpool in 2004, a display of thirty-five thousand miniature figures made by a Texca family of brick-makers in Mexico.
Another Place is a massive installation on Crosby Beach that consists of 100 cast-iron figures, moulded from the artists own body in the style that has become synonymous with his work. The ghostly life-size figures are dotted along three kilometres of the Crosby shore, sparse in some areas and getting more congregated as they reach the sea front, so onlookers can catch the detail of those near and the shadow of sculptures in the distance out to sea in one eyeful.
The figures themselves have a sense of serenity and thoughtfulness, as they stare out to sea, all facing in the same direction and in the same pose, they appear as though they’re partaking in some sort of ancient ritual from which they cannot be distracted or shaken from. This is made all the more eerie as people have a tendency to stand beside the sculptures, looking out to sea as if expecting to discover what they’re looking for, making it impossible to tell which is which! On closer inspection the figures are vague in detail and rusty, punctured with several plug holes where iron was poured in the casting process - conjuring images from the Warner Bros ‘Matrix’ and the umbilical cord like tubes coming from Keanu Reeves (or is that just me?)
One of the intriguing aspects of this work is that each visitor will see a different piece of art, whereas I visited the beach at low tide when all of the figures were visible, another person will find the sculptures waste high in sea water, tips of heads almost visible in the distance, and others may find they can see no figures at all. Imagining this scenario it’s easy to understand why some people think the artwork is about death, and have even expressed concerns that passers by might think the sculptures are swimmers drowning, although a second look would show anyone that that wasn’t the case.
The official line is that the work is a response to the individual and universal sentiments associated with emigration, sadness at leaving, but the hope of a new future in another place - or at least that’s one explanation! Speaking with Antony Gormley he described the work as "a whispering communication with forgotten levels of history" as well as "a kind of acupuncture of the landscape, but also acupuncture of people’s dreamworld". Predominantly though it’s clear that Gormley wants the work to be about the people, he seems to love the way it takes on a new life with every new person that visits with their own memories and connotations he says:
"Each person is making it again… for some it might be about human evolution, for others it will be about death and where we go, where our bodies finally belong, do they belong to the earth and the elements? And I think that’s what’s amazing about in a way the work of now - contemporary art, it’s no longer representing the ideology of a dominant class it’s actually an open space that people can make their own."
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Lbh ner ybbxvat sbe n terra pbagnvare nccebk 2" ol 1".
Fvg ba gur ybj jnyy jnyy arne gb gur ynfg srapr cbfg naq ybbx oruvaq lbh jurer gur pbapergr svavfurf, ybbx haqre fnvq pbapergr. Or pnershy abg gb chfu gur pbagnvare gbb sne va be gur arkg frrxre jvyy abg or cyrnfrq!