Illusionist and Magician Julius Dein makes The Angel of the North disappear to mark 25 years of National Lottery funding

Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North is one of the UK’s most famous pieces of public modern art, seen by 90,000 people every day. The artwork was erected on 15th February 1998 and over 70% of the total cost - £584,000 – came from National Lottery funding. In the video released today, Julius Dein shocks locals by making the iconic statue disappear, highlighting how different the landscape of the UK would look without the National Lottery.

Built to withstand winds of over 100mph and weighing an incredible 100 tonnes, Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North gives the appearance of being immovable as it looks out over Gateshead and the North East. In the video released today, Julius Dein works his trickery to suddenly leave the landscape bare of Gormley’s masterpiece, to the shock of locals who witnessed the illusion live, and his 6 million Instagram followers.

The vanishing structure illustrates what the UK’s art landscape would look like without the iconic art the National Lottery has funded in the UK including The Angel of the North, The Kelpies, The Tate Modern, Kew Gardens, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, National Portrait Gallery, Southbank Centre and the British Museum.

Dein worked with The National Lottery on the stunt to raise awareness of the impact funding has had on art across the UK and to highlight what life would be like without it – from the most iconic pieces we know and love to community art projects which touch our lives every day.

Data

The stunt comes as new research from The National Lottery showed that creativity forms a big part of lives across the UK.

A third (34%) of those surveyed currently take part in creative activities in their spare time with a further 43% saying they would like to do more. When asked how it made them feel, 57% said they felt happier after taking part in creative activities with over half (56%) claiming to feel more relaxed, and 2 in 5 (41%) saying that creative activity helped them feel mentally healthier.

Over £5 billion of National Lottery funding has been invested in theatre, music, dance, literature and visual arts projects since 1994.1 Around £6 million is awarded by The National Lottery to UK arts projects every week.2 40% of the population visit museums and galleries including 1,400 art galleries helped by National Lottery funding.3

Case studies

The Lowry has become Manchester’s most visited cultural attraction and its pivotal role in helping regenerate Salford’s docklands was confirmed by a report published in 2013. The Manchester think tank, New Economy, found that the venue had inspired a £1.4 billion revival of the area now known as Salford Quays. The area claims the BBC, ITV and Imperial War Museum North among its residents and employs more people than the docks did in their heyday.

Each year, the Lowry works with more than 35,000 local residents, many of them young people. Using the activity in its galleries and theatres it provides the opportunity to work with world-class actors and artists to tell their own stories. For example, one group of young people made a film co-starring the actress Maxine Peake which has been shown in every school in Salford.

“In the first part of my time here 90 per cent of my work was internally focussed – keeping the ship moving,” says Julia. “Nowadays 90 per cent of my time is spent working externally on things like a cultural programme across the whole city.”