In July 2005, Crosby beach saw the installation of ‘Another Place’, a piece of modern sculpture by internationally acclaimed artist Anthony Gormley. His widely acclaimed work investigates the relationship between the human body and space. ‘Another Place’ was first exhitibed on the beach of Cuxhaven, Germany (1997) and after that in Stavanger, Norway and De Panne in Belgium. Originally the installation was due to be relocated in November 2006, but following a campaign for the permanent installation of the sculptures to remain on Crosby beach after
a highly successful response from local and tourist visitors ‘Another Place’ found itself a permanent home. In common with most of Gormley’s work, the cast iron sculptures are made from 17 bodycasts from Gormley’s body (protected by a thin layer of wrapping plastic) between the 19th May and the 10th of July. The sculptures are all standing in a similar way, with the lungs more or less inflated and their postures carrying different degrees of tension or relaxation.
The cast iron figures which face out to sea, spread over a 2 mile (3.2 km) stretch of the beach between Waterloo and Blundellsands. Each sculpture is 189 cm tall (nearly 6 feet 2½ inches) and weighs around 650 kg (over 1400 lb). The sculptures were cast at two foundries; Hargrreaves Foundry in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and Joseph & Jess Siddons Foundry in West Bromwich. The installation spreads 2 kilometre out to sea, with an average distance between the sculptures of 500 metres. They were all on a level and those
closest to the shore were buried as far as their knees. Gormley was awarded the Turner Prize in 1994, his other best known works of note include the controversial sculpture ‘Angel of the North’, a public sculpture near Newcastle upon Tyne in the North of England and ‘Event Horizion’, a multi-part site installation which premiered in London in 2007, around Madison Square, New York City in 2010 and in Sao Paulo in 2012. To view more of Anthony Gormley’s sculptural works visit his website.