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The Fourth Plinth of Trafalgar Square Shoulders New Art

by Zoe Strimpel
Fri, 9 Nov 2007 at 12:11 AM
updated Fri, 9 Nov 2007 at 12:20 AM

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On a different end of the installations scale from Banksy's yellow flower that went up last week in a quiet street in East London, a new 8-ton, 15-foot glass sculpture of a hotel was unveiled on Wednesday in Trafalgar Square by the London mayor Ken Livingstone. The model, by the renowned German artist Thomas Schütte, is the latest work to appear on the square's "fourth plinth," replacing Mark Quinn's odd but wonderful sculpture, "Alison Lapper Pregnant." The fourth plinth stands in the northwest corner of the square and was originally intended to shoulder a statue of King William IV (lack of money meant it never happened).

Not everyone will love "Model of a Hotel 2007," which cost over $500,000. For example, those who would prefer more traditional artistic materials (marble or stone, for example) for somewhere as grand and old as Trafalgar Square may not appreciate the edifice of screaming red, yellow, and blue glass. The Times reported that one onlooker, a retired chef from London, called it "a load of rubbish," while the engineer Barry Gray said it reminded him of "some boring office block you wouldn't look twice at."

The colors undoubtedly look out of place, but they fit with an admirable London habit of pushing the boat out in grand, old public spaces. The neon purple lights of the Southbank, which jostle with the stately glow from Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, are an example of this spirited tactic.

The goal of this piece is to "collect and reflect the light ... like a bright jewel." On a gray day the thing looks a little garish and grating, but in the sunshine (we have not had sun since its unveiling) it will no doubt radiate, rainbow-like, around the square. In case it doesn't, each artwork on the fourth plinth is exhibited for only 18 months.

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