Imperial College London students kick off about ‘phallic’ statue by Angle of the North sculptor

Students are fighting the installation of a new sculpture at Imperial College London which they claim looks like a man exposing his penis. 

The sculpture, by artist Antony Gormley, is named ‘Alert’ and made up of stacked steel blocks meant to resemble a person squatting down. 

But students at the university say the sculpture has a clear other interpretation. They claim that when viewed from a certain angle, the figure appears to have a three-metre-long erect penis, nearly half the height of the whole statue.

A student’s motion to stop the installation said it may, ‘hurt the image and reputation of the college’.

‘Alert’ is due to be installed as the centrepiece of the campus’s Dangoor Plaza this summer. Mr Gormley said the sculpture is a figure ‘balancing on the balls of the feet’ representing an alert, alive and awake person.

The student union said: ‘While the artist’s intended form may ‘[evoke our] community of scientific research’ the phallic interpretation does not. The name Alert could also be understood as referring to the statue’s phallus being erect’.

Students claim they were not consulted about the installation and that prior college information about the statue had not shown it from all angles.

The motion to block the statue said: ‘This suggests that this interpretation, and backlash, was not unforeseen by some individuals within the college’.

Students are also worried that having a penis on display may exclude female students who are in the minority at Imperial College. 

Female students made up 41.8 per cent of the full-time student body in the 2020-2021 academic year, according to official statistics. 

Alex Auyang, chairman of the union which is based at Silwood Park in Berkshire, and who launched the motion also wrote: ‘Some may consider the male form of the phallic interpretation exclusionary, especially if it is meant to ‘[evoke our] community of scientific research’, which has issues with gender ratio and exclusion.’ 

He also told the Art newspaper: ‘Despite the support within the union, and that the paper has apparently been seen by senior college staff and Gormley’s team, I doubt that it will affect the installation of ALERT. 

‘I think that this is not the sort of thing that the college would pull out of or listen to students about.’

And later when asked by the Times if his motion had been tongue-in-cheek, he said: ‘I think it’s fairly clear that the motion has a sense of humour behind it, but my points stand.’ 

The sculpture was given to Imperial College by alumnus Brahmal Vasudevan, and his wife, Shanthi Kandiah.

Mr Vasudevan said on the gift: ‘I am deeply proud of my connection to Imperial and have fond memories of my time on campus as a student. I share the College’s vision for a vibrant public space, and am proud to bring this iconic, world class piece of art by Antony Gormley to the heart of campus. 

‘The inspiration arose from my idea of bringing about a collaboration between Antony as a leading English artist with this great English university.’

Speaking on the sculpture, Antony Gormley said: ‘Through the conversion of anatomy into an architectural construction I want to re-assess the relation between body and space. 

‘Balancing on the balls of the feet while squatting on its haunches and surveying the world around it the attitude of this sculpture is alive, alert and awake.’ 

An Imperial College London spokesperson said: ‘Sir Antony Gormley is one of the world’s foremost living artists, and we are grateful to have been gifted one of his iconic sculptures.’ 

This is not the first time Mr Gormley’s sculptures have provoked controversy. 

The Yorkshire-born artist has been creating sculptures since the early 1980s, with his first exhibition coming in 1981. 

Many of his pieces focus around the human body, and he has regularly used his own body to create metal casts for his work.

His pieces are often displayed on a huge scale. The most well-known work is the Angel of the North in Gateshead, which originally caused controversy due to it being placed at a former colliery pithead baths back in the 1990s and since has been well loved. 

Standing at 66ft tall, it has a wingspan of 177ft and overlooks the A1 and A167.

A sculpture by him entitled ‘Doubt’ placed in front of Wells Cathedral in Somerset has left locals unsure, with one branding it ‘hideous’.

The cast iron creation was put on the cathedral in February 2021 after businesses raised nearly £2,000 to transport it.

Sir Antony says it is an appropriate place for it because faith sometimes includes feelings of doubt.

But some locals have been left less than thrilled with the metal art, opining it ‘not amongst his better work’.

When it was installed, David Pulsford thought it ‘out of place on a cathedral’ while a Twitter user called GlastoHawk simply said ‘hideous’.

The statue has been put onto a specially constructed plinth to make sure it does not damage any of the historic cathedral.

His sculptures put on an East Suffolk beach last year were also compared to ‘sex toys’. 

And were formally withdrawn in March 2021 following a complaint by the artist Sir Antony Gormley saying they had been installed at the wrong angle.

The four cast iron sculptures, each measuring up to 4ft long and weighing up to a tonne, Titled ‘Quartet (Sleeping)’, was created in 2001.

They had been installed on Aldeburgh beach by local art collector Caroline Wiseman last August.

Locals had raised concerns that the 3ft pieces, titled Oval, Peg, Penis and Snowman, looked like sex toys, or even rabbit droppings.

Ms Wiseman, who has sold the pieces, described Sir Antony’s intervention as ‘controlling’ and ‘small-minded’. 

An Alan Turing sculpture which is set to be constructed at the mathematician’s alma mater was also said to threaten the ‘existing character’ of the Cambridge College, Historic England claimed. 

The 12ft steel structure, designed by Sir Antony Gormley, will commemorate the Second World War code-breaker, who attended King’s College in Cambridge between 1931 and 1934.

Sir Antony’s memorial will look over the chapel at the College in a reminder of Turing’s achievements, but Historic England has warned the statue ‘would be at odds with the existing character of the College.’

The organisation said King’s College ‘comprises a magnificent ensemble of historic buildings frequently depicted in the famous view from the Backs’ and the sculpture would ‘harm its significance’.

It said the proposal would ‘introduce a prominent sculpture into this sensitive scene, in a manner at odds with its character’.

In a new application, submitted to Cambridge City Council in May, King’s College said it is ‘very keen to make some public acknowledgement of Alan Turing and his relationship with the College, the University and the City of Cambridge’.

It said: ‘Given Turing’s huge intellectual importance and his influence on contemporary science and culture, it is very apt that this acknowledgement should be in the form of a sculpture by an internationally admired contemporary artist, whose work also often depends on the use of sophisticated computing software.

‘Antony Gormley’s sculpture is designed to reflect both Turing’s brilliance and his vulnerability; but at the same time the sculpture also embodies the transformation of the industrial into the information age – a transformation in which Turing played such a crucial part.’

It rejected a suggestion by a councillor that the sculpture be placed outside the front of the college.

‘We fear that, if the sculpture were placed outside the College, the sense of its integration within the life of the College would be lost, and that there would be a risk that it would take on the status of an isolated icon or some kind of trophy,’ King’s College said. 

A decision on the application is due to be made by planning officers.

Meanwhile, when sculptures by Sir Antony Gormley of his own naked body were put on a Liverpool beach they also courted controversy. 

The 100 life-size body cast-iron figures, which weigh 650kg, are called ‘Another Place’ and are installed on Crosby Beach.

The naked figures, which face towards the River Mersey Estuary, did provoke annoyance from resident but as they drew people to the local area they were made a  permanent attraction under the ownership of Sefton Council. 

In 2017, students at the University of East Anglia were also furious by a statue of a man on the edge of their library roof which they believed suggested suicide. 

It was from Gormley’s Event Horizon exhibition of human figures on rooftops and a petition was launched to tear it down but it was also defended at the time. 

Despite the anger at some of his works, he won the Turner Prize in 1994 with Field for the British Isles and was knighted in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to the arts. 

Meanwhile Sir Antony has also lashed out at the public and also said in 2020, it would be ‘absolutely legitimate’ to ban mobiles inside galleries after he was forced to ask visitors to put their devices away when viewing his installation at London’s Royal Academy last year.

The Cave – made from 100 tons of sheet steel – presents a dark maze of walk-through chambers.

Sir Antony said: ‘It was totally wrecked, with people using their phones either to light the way or take photographs. We had to say: ‘Please don’t use your phone because you’ll ruin your own experience and everyone else’s.’ ‘

Exhibition visitors now put a ‘selfie opportunity’ and ‘I was there’ mindset above anything else, he warned.

Although his work often involves participation from others, Sir Antony admitted he is ‘resistant to the increasing influence of the virtual in our lives’.

He has not the only one to have come under fire for his artwork with several sculptures creating controversy in recent years. 

In 2020, Maggi Hambling’s design, which depicted a nude figure atop a 10ft ‘swirling mingle of female forms’, was unveiled in Newington Green, North London.

Hambling was bombarded with criticism online as feminists asked why the figure of Mary Wollstonecraft atop the £143,000 statue had to be naked. 

In 2017, a bizarre statue of Cristiano Ronaldo was mocked all over the world after being installed at Madeira airport. 

Emanuel Santos, 40, who was the artist who crafted the bronze bust of the footballer ace to mark the renaming of the airport to Cristiano Ronaldo Airport.

The former airport cleaner, who comes from the same Atlantic island as Ronaldo, claimed ‘you can’t please everyone’ as he addressed the ridicule towards the bust.

In 2011, a statue of Andy Murray was made for the tennis ace complete with warrior clothing, although Andy doesn’t appear thrilled by the likeness. 

It was unveiled at the Shanghai Rolex Masters tournament at the Qizhong Tennis Center in Shanghai on October 11. 

Aside from the failed art works of the famous, Britain’s sculptures from colonial times have also faced calls to  get rid of them. 

Slaver Edward Colston was toppled at the height of the BLM protests in 2021. The bronze memorial to the 17th century slave merchant was pulled down during a protest on June 7, before being dumped in Bristol Harbour.