Artists battle for fourth Trafalgar plinth

Artist Antony Gormley has admitted that participants in his proposed new art work for the empty fourth plinth in London's Tragalgar Square might include some people who would want to attempt suicide by jumping off the platform. Gormley is among a number of high-profile British artists vying for one of the country's most contentious art spaces and has proposed that members of the public stand on it for an hour at a time, 24 hours a day. Over the year he estimates 8,760 people could get their 60 minutes of fame through One and Other.
 
The 1995 Turner Prize winner, whose works include the 65ft statue The Angel of the North, admitted to the Daily Telegraph that his plan might attract the suicidal as well as political extremists and strippers. He said: "The world is a stage and all the people must be invited to walk on to it. I hope that it will be a cross between reality TV and Speaker's Corner. Some people may choose to remain silent, others will declaim."
 
London-born artist Tracey Emin proposes a sculpture of four meerkats, "as a symbol of unity and safety". She said that she had noticed "whenever Britain is in crisis or, as a nation, is experiencing sadness and loss (for example, after Princess Diana's funeral), the next programme on television is Meerkats United".
 
The bookies' favourite is a scale model of Nelson's ship Victory inside a giant glass bottle by Nigerian-born artist Yinka Shonibare. The other submissions are Jeremy Deller's The Spoils Of War, which uses a burnt-out car from Iraq, sculptor Anish Kapoor's Sky Plinth, an arrangement of five polished dishes, and Make War, Not Art by Bob & Roberta Smith (aka artist Patrick Brill), a 60ft sculpture which carries neon slogans about peace powered by the sun and wind. A decision on the project is expected in the spring. ·