On a plinth,the live sculptures

Since the art project kicked off last month,hundreds of lucky winners have had their 60 minutes in the sunor,this being England,the wind and rainduring which they are free to do whatever they want on top of the plinth,as long as its legal.

One man became Britains mood ring,asking people to call his cell phone to tell him how they were feeling at the moment,which he then transcribed onto coloured poster board. A young woman held a sign proclaiming Introverts are people too, then sat down to read a book.

Rachael from London brought cleaning supplies and scrubbed the platform to a pretty shine. When all those menGeorge IV,Henry Havelock,Sir Charles Napierwere out doing important things,surely there was a woman at home,doing the cleaning, she said.

The project,titled One & Other,is the brainchild of Antony Gormley,one of Britains best-known artists. By putting ordinary,living people on the plinth,Gormley wants to push the bounds of sculpture and to offer a postmodern counterpoint to the squares statues of long-dead heroes of empire.

This is kind of a slice of life. Its a sample of now, Gormley said of his 100-day,round-the-clock experiment,also known as Fourth Plinth.

By the time it wraps up October 14,there will have been 2,400 plinthers,as the participants have been dubbed,each allotted an hour in the spotlight at any time of day or night. They are hoisted by cherry-picker onto the pedestalwhich is surrounded by netting to prevent a tumble onto the bone-breaking concrete below.

More than 30,000 people have applied for a slot; winners are chosen by computer,which selects only on the basis of geographical diversity. It makes no judgment about what the person plans to do up there.

Theres the predictable: people who use their hour to promote worthy causes,often to do with animals; buskers strumming their guitars or scratching out tunes on their violins; disgruntled activists railing against government policies.

But the wonderful and wacky have turned up,too: a swing-dance teacher who got the whole square sashaying; a P.E. teacher who gave an aerobics lesson while the crowds below chanted,You are art! You are art! and a person decked out as a giant CCTV camera.

Gormley drops in on the square as often as he can to keep an eye on the progress of the project,which is sponsored by private and public funds,including the London municipal government.

A few weeks ago,plinther Eric Page caused a stir by becoming the projects first nude. The burly exhibitionist modelled a succession of outlandish costumes,fishnet stockings and a sign declaring himself The Peoples Plinthess before wearing nothing at all,except an awful lot of hair. (Public nudity is not illegal here unless,in classic British fashion,it causes alarm or distress to others.)

Its possible to criticise the project as being not very British at all,despite its creators aims. This is,after all,a nation of reserved people who would generally rather swallow nails than make a public spectacle of themselves.