Goodbye to Gormley

The installation of 60 sculptures was finally taken down this week and all of a sudden the DLWP looked bare as the bodies, which had become a surprising part of our scenery, were hoisted away and left the town for good.

Love it or loathe it, the Gormley exhibition certainly proved a draw and summer-long success for the DLWP, with almost 50,000 visitors climbing the famous spiral stairs to see Critical Mass for themselves.

It estimated 48,739 people came to see the much-anticipated work, while 85,445 were counted into the Tomoko Takahashi exhibitions in the two galleries downstairs.

DLWP's David Rhodes said: "It is fantastic that the grants that we receive from RDC and the Arts Council allow us to stage prestigious exhibitions such as Critical Mass by Antony Gormley, one of the most famous artists in the world, and who at the time of Critical Mass's installation in Bexhill also had exhibitions in London and New York.

"It comes at a critical point for publicly funded arts and validates what we do here at the DLWP. We are yet to find out how the present government's intended cuts to the arts budget will affect us, but we are predicting that we will need to be proactive in the future if we are going to maintain this level of programming."

One visitor's comments received by the DLWP this summer read: "It has taken me three hours to get here (Sunday train service from London) and three hours to go home. I wouldn't have missed this for anything. I have had more pleasure from the AG exhibition and the TT exhibition than anything in London for 10 years. Plus the variety and enjoyment of the other visitors. I think that the original vision has been served."

These comments were welcomed by curator Jane Won who had the task of organising and overseeing the installation, collaborating with Gormley, and working with surveyors to find out where the iron figures should be ideally be placed to best suit the structure.