LONDON.- The first group of participants for Antony Gormley’s One & Other, who have been selected to occupy the empty Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in July, were announced today, Sunday 14 June 2009.

The project, which is commissioned by the Mayor of London and produced in partnership with Sky Arts, will see a different person take their place on the Fourth Plinth every hour, 24 hours a day for 100 days and will run from Monday 6th July until 14th October 2009. Applications for the project are still open and can be made at www.oneandother.co.uk, or through the post.

615 participants have been chosen for the month of July from the 13,000 applications that have been received to date for the project. The selected participants come from all over the UK, from as far afield as Coleraine in Northern Ireland to the Norfolk coast, from Paisley in Scotland to the West Country. Participants range from 16 to 83, and list their occupations as everything from blacksmith to professor, scientist to refuse collector.

They include David Rosenberg, 41, a designer from London who plans to use his hour at nightfall to pedal his folding pink bicycle to generate the energy to light up a specially created suit he will be wearing, and Jane Spooner, 52, a university administrator from Sheffield. Gwynneth Pedler, 83, retired, from Oxford, whose last challenge was climbing the rigging of a Tall Ship, hopes to signal with semaphore flags from the plinth, if she can find some. Jane Wilson, a 26-year-old housewife from Largs, in Scotland, wants to be part of British history, while Paul Hutchinson a 44-year-old mediator from Belfast, plans to do something peaceful on the plinth.

Robert Bajaj, 43, a lawyer from Bournemouth said, “I wanted to take part in the project to be a part of something very unique and different! I love the works of Antony Gormley and London is a melting pot of cultural differences - my background will hopefully add to this on the day - my father is Indian and my mother Italian”.

Oliver Parsons-Baker, 26, an aquatic scientist from Birmingham, plans to highlight the importance of clean water for people’s health by dressing up in a poo costume for half his time on the plinth. Then he’ll change into a fish costume to illustrate the dangers of overfishing.

For Kay Lockley, 48, from Oldbury, her place on the plinth is an opportunity to raise awareness of Lupus, an incurable disease of the immune system from which she suffers. “By putting myself forward to go on the plinth I am both excited and terrified. Excited to be part of such a brilliant project and terrified to put myself in the spotlight“

Mari Beard, a 24-year-old barmaid from Cardiff, hasn’t decided what she’s going to do, but whatever it is, it will be fun.

Heather Pringle, a student from Hexham, will be celebrating her 20th birthday on the plinth. “I plan to celebrate in style, a good old fashioned birthday party. There will be cake”.

Anthony Pressley, 48, a hospital porter from Worksop, hopes to be able to take with him a large cut-out photograph of his father who died when he was a child. “I want to make it an almost statue of the ordinary man. Not a King. Not a General, just an ordinary man. Also, it would please my family”

Applications remain open until 1 September and places for the plinth will be allocated in a further three phases. Applicants who have been unsuccessful will remain in the draw for the remaining phases. The next draw will be on 1 July for places in August.

Altogether 2,400 participants will be chosen at random by computer algorithm. The population of the UK will be represented proportionally by choosing a certain number of people from each region. Participants can use their time on the plinth as they like – to perform, to demonstrate, or simply to reflect. Sky Arts will broadcast all the live action from the Fourth Plinth, twenty four hours a day, over 100 days, on the One & Other website, as well as screening a weekly programme live from the plinth.

Artichoke, an Arts Council regularly funded organisation, best known for bringing The Sultan’s Elephant to London in 2006 and La Machine to Liverpool last year - is producing the event as part of the 2009 Sky Arts Artichoke Season, which will underline Sky’s ongoing commitment to the arts, on screen, online and on the streets.