"Your Move" - Yes, 1971

While John and I were in London this past week -- staying at a hotel on Southwark Street, in a part of London which is known as the "Bankside" area -- we had dinner one evening at a Pizza Express along the south bank of the Thames, not far from where we were staying. John had found it earlier in the day, when he did some exploring in the area.

On the way back to the hotel, we walked by a new, modern office building called the Blue Fin building. On its west side was an interesting statue of a man holding something which looked a bit like an arrow. I was curious who it depicted but could find no plaque either on the statue or anywhere on the building. We walked around it for a few minutes before we noticed something. We realized that the statue's coat was slightly flapping in the breeze! How interesting, we thought, that the sculpture had made part of the statue out of a flexible material. And then we moved on, heading back to the hotel. In the back of my mind, I thought that I should do some web research later, to find out more about the sculpture.

So I've done that research this evening. And to our surprise, our discovery isn't just any old London statue. It's animatronic, responding to those who are viewing it!

You can go to the Greyworld website section for the statue, named "Monument to the Unknown Artist", and even see some video (in the section called Movies) of what kind of movements it can make. Incredible...it's hard to believe it's real!

And you can bet your bottom dollar (or Pounds Sterling) that next time I'm in the area -- which will be the week after next -- I'm going to spend some time hanging around that amazing piece of art. And I promise I'll take the camera as well!

Janet