Put on a Pedestal in London: Anyone

Empty Plinth in Trafalgar Square being Occupied by 1 Person per Hour for 3 Months

(CBS)  In London's Trafalgar Square they've had a problem for 141 years.

Ever since they built it to commemorate Horatio Nelson's victory over Napoleon's navy.

One pedestal has remained empty because no one could agree what to put on it.

Now they're putting anybody on it, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips.

One person per hour, round the clock for the next three months, 2,400 people. Living sculpture, it's charitably called.

"I think it's absolutely right that instead of putting an individual hero up there that it can demonstrate that we can all be heroes," says Stephan Stockton.

The problem is some heroes are more interesting than others. Stephan Stockton just stood there.

Others have tossed paper airplanes, performed with puppets, or supported their favorite causes.

To the artist who developed the concept, it's a portrait of modern Britain.

"It's the composite picture of those 2,400 hours that'll tell us something about the nature of the U.K. now," says installation artist Anthony Gormley.

Or the nature of U.K. installation art.

Anybody can apply to be a plinther. The winners are chosen by lottery. Inevitably, the slogan has been "someday your plinth will come," which, for many, is the only amusing thing about the plinth.

There are lessons for the plinthers here. Fifteen minutes of fame may be better than a whole hour.

And keep moving - before the birds of Trafalgar Square deliver the same verdict on you that they have on the real statues.