- Students are protesting against plans to install a new statue at the Imperial College of London.
- They say it could be interpreted to look like a man with a 10-foot penis standing on campus.
- The sculpture by Antony Gormley, titled "Alert," is meant to be installed this summer.
Students at the Imperial College London are lobbying against the school's plan to install a new sculpture on their campus, which they say could be interpreted as featuring a 10-foot horizontal phallus.
The statue by Antony Gormley, titled "ALERT," is a 20-foot stack of steel blocks that is meant to look like a person squatting on their haunches, according to the university's website.
It's to be installed in the university's Dangoor Plaza on its South Kensington campus this summer, the website said.
However, a motion released by students from the Imperial College Union has raised concerns that the sculpture may "hurt the image and reputation of the college" because of its "obvious" resemblance to a person standing with an erect penis, according to The Guardian.
The outlet published an analytical diagram breaking down the segments of the sculpture, as well as its different interpretations.
—spiritually elevated after seeing 127 (@sohabdsome) August 4, 2022
"Regardless of artistic intent, 'Alert' is interpreted by many as phallic," the students' motion read, according to visual arts magazine ArtNews.
"There is nothing inherently wrong with phallic imagery in art," the motion said, per the outlet, although it argued that the piece could be "considered inappropriate for a grand public display, given the statue's size."
"The name 'Alert' could also be understood as referring to the statue's phallus being erect," the motion added, per ArtNews.
An anonymous research postgraduate at the university who submitted the motion told visual arts publication The Art Newspaper that they doubted the protest would affect the statue's installation.
"I think that this is not the sort of thing that the college would pull out of or listen to students about," they said, per the outlet.
The Guardian reported that one of the students' main concerns was that the statue's phallic interpretation would be "exclusionary," especially in light of the gender imbalance in scientific research.
In response to queries on the statue's "phallic interpretation," an Imperial College London spokesperson told Insider: "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."