The Big Smoke

A few days ago, walking through Soho Square on the way to work I saw a drifter playing a Street Piano. With his Special Brew beside him he hammered out an emphatic freeform concerto, beguiling in its atonality. It was a quintessential ‘London Moment’ - unexpected, eccentric and passionate.

And now we have Antony Gormley’s ‘One and Other’ – the public art spectacle that enables members of the public to exhibit themselves on Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth – we can expect a lot more of these exuberant, spontaneous displays.

Not that we’ve had that many London Moments of late. It hasn’t just been the winter and financial meltdown, but a trend toward predictability in our quirkiness – take the yawnsome Hoxton hipsters or the empty ‘decadence’ of freesheet celebrities. For so long our spontaneity has been quashed by a passivity and lack of inspiration. Yet the first chance we get, we’re reveling in our freedom to entertain ourselves – and each other.

Punchdrunk’s Tunnel 228 had people embracing self-centred theatre; unlikely virtuosos serenade strangers with their musicality (or lack thereof) on Street Pianos. Now Gormley is empowering people to put themselves on a pedestal, giving them license to be as daft, serious, political or creative as they please.

One could pin a lot on Twitter - it is remarkable how the minute-by-minute commentary of 'One and Other' has so preoccupied people’s feeds since yesterday's launch. It’s like ball-by-ball cricket commentary, but with the public catching and throwing the balls themselves. The social media angle has only heightened the interactivity of the project, and spread joy beyond the plinth.

Something profound has changed here. London in the past week – with its alfresco drinking, Murray Mound shrieking and blazing sunshine – is more what one expects from the likes of Barcelona or Paris. Except it’s us that’s doing it, and you can tell. (Despite what misery guts like Simon Jenkins might say.)

Impromptu street-performance has restored a hitherto repressed playfulness to London, and it could not be replicated anywhere else. Trafalgar Square will not encourage the po-faced European ‘artiste’, but nor will it swing between pole-dancing Big Brother reject or dour Englishman. The self-styled 'Poo Man' – aka Oliver Parsons-Baker – is a case in point (pictured). He used his spot on the plinth to promote water sanitation, but he didn't just bellow from a loudspeaker, he dressed as a lump of poo – complete with fly.

It’s a Londoner’s unusual, defiant nuance that will be celebrated on that plinth. Wherever they come from, the 2,400 people having their 60 minutes of fame up there will be more than just a glimpse into a specific area of British life – cumulatively they will help restore the spirit of London.

What do you think – are you glad to see the public take over the fourth plinth? Who has been your favourite so far?