Today saw the unveiling of the latest sculpture to adorn the Fourth Plinth in the northwest corner of Trafalgar Square.
Hans Haacke’s Gift Horse depicts a skeletal, riderless horse, tied to the horse’s front leg is an electronic ribbon displaying live the ticker of the London Stock Exchange.
Haacke idea for the Gift Horse was developed by considering the sites historical background, contemporary London, and political conditions in today’s world.
Hans Haacke’s Gift Horse was inspired an etching by George Stubbs; the famous English painter whose works are represented in the nearby National Gallery at Trafalgar Square. Commissioned by the Mayor of London as part of the Fourth Plinth Programme, Gift Horse is the tenth sculpture to be unveiled on Trafalgar Square’s plinth.
The fourth plinth as it is known has quite an unusual history, it was intended to be used for a equestrian statue of William IV astride a bronze horse to match the statue of George IV which is on the other side of the square. However George IV spent so much money during his reign that there was not enough funds left for the statue.
Remarkably, considering the square is a major public area , the plinth was empty for more than 150 years. Eventually it was decided that temporary modern pieces of work would occupy the plinth. The final choice is often controversial but is a focus of interest which generates considerable media interest. Previous works on the Fourth Plinth have included:
Ecce Homo – Wallinger’s Ecce Homo was a life-sized figure of Christ
Bill Woodrow’s Regardless of History was a head crushed between a book and the roots of a tree.
Rachel Whiteread’s Monument, was a cast of the plinth in transparent resin placed upside-down on top of the original.
Marc Quinn: Alison Lapper Pregnant torso-bust of Alison Lapper, an artist who was born with no arms
Thomas Schütte model of a 21-storey building made from coloured glass.
Antony Gormley: One & Other 2,400 selected members of the public each spent one hour on the plinth.
Yinka Shonibare: Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle.
Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset : Powerless Structures, 13 ft tall bronze sculpture of a boy on a rocking horse.
Katharina Fritsch: Hahn/Cock, a 15.5 ft blue sculpture of a domestic cockerel
The Gift Horse will be in Trafalgar Square until 2016 .
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