The students of a university in London are trying to block plans to erect a sculpture over claims its shape could be seen as "phallic" - even though it's supposed to depict something very different.
Sir Anthony Gormley crafted the sculpture, titled Alert, out of a 20ft stack of cantilevered steel blocks that are meant to resemble a squatting human figure, and the piece is due to be installed at Imperial College London's newly built Dangoor Plaza in South Kensington later this year.
However, students of the public research university have been left less than impressed by the figure, because part of the design that is supposed to portray legs in a squatted position instead looks like an "erect penis".
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In a statement on the Imperial College London website, Sir Anthony said of the sculpture: "Through the conversion of anatomy into an architectural construction I want to re-assess the relation between body and space. Balancing on the balls of the feet while squatting on its haunches and surveying the world around it, the attitude of this sculpture is alive, alert and awake."
But a motion released by the Imperial College Union and seen by The Guardian claims that the figure could "hurt the image of and reputation of the college" because of its "obvious" resemblance to a penis.
The union said: "While the artist's intended form may '[evoke our] community of scientific research' the phallic interpretation does not. The name Alert could also be understood as referring to the statue's phallus being erect."
They also claim that students were not consulted about the installation, and state that while there is "nothing inherently wrong with phallic imagery in art", the statue could be considered inappropriate for a grand display in the centre of an area used by students, staff, and the public.
Also raised as a concern in the motion was the idea that the statue's phallic imagery could be seen as "exclusionary", especially as scientific research has been the centre of issues surrounding gender ratio and inclusion.
And what's more, the union states that official imagery used by Imperial College London to showcase the sculpture "chose an angle" that hid the part of the statue that seemed phallic, suggesting that the interpretation was "not unforeseen".
The sculpture was given to Imperial College by the alumnus Brahmal Vasudevan and his wife, Shanthi Kandiah.
Sir Anthony Gormley - who is one of Britain's leading sculptors with previous works including the Angel of the North in Gateshead - is no stranger to controversy over his designs, either.
Last year, his Quartet (Sleeping) sculptures in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, were found to have violated local planning laws and were likened by local residents to "sex toys".
An Imperial College London spokesperson told The Guardian: "Sir Antony Gormley is one of the world’s foremost living artists, and we are grateful to have been gifted one of his iconic sculptures."
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