© James O Jenkins
The current Fourth Plinth display - Thomas Scüttte's 'Model for a Hotel'

Shortlist announced for Fourth Plinth

28 November 2007

Works by six top artists have been shortlisted for display on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square. The shortlisted artists are:

• Jeremy Deller
• Tracey Emin
• Antony Gormley
• Anish Kapoor
• Yinka Shonibare MBE
• Bob & Roberta Smith

The Mayor of London is due to announce the selected artist in 2008. Models of their works will be on display in the National Gallery from 8 January with an invitation for the public to make comments.

This set of works is part of a rolling programme of commissions to add a new sculptures to the Fourth Plinth. The work selected this time will replace the recently unveiled ‘Model for a Hotel’ by Thomas Schütte – a specially engineered, colourful glass sculpture of a 21-storey building.

Schütte’s sculpture, which is made in red, yellow and blue glass and weighs over eight tonnes, was selected from a shortlist of models that went on display in the Gallery in 2004. It replaced Marc Quinn’s work ‘Alison Lapper Pregnant’, which was on the Fourth Plinth until October this year.

The programme to commission and select works for the Fourth Plinth is now led by the Mayor of London’s Office. The scheme was first run in 1998 by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).

So far five works have been added to the Fourth Plinth, which is in the north-west corner of Trafalgar Square opposite the Sainsbury Wing of the Gallery. Before this scheme existed, the plinth had been empty since it was built in 1841.

Go to the Fourth Plinth website for more information

‘Fourth Plinth’, an exhibition of the models for the next commission, goes on display at the National Gallery from 8 January until 30 March 2008

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