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    Boy on a rocking horse sculpture unveiled on iconic Fourth Plinth

    By Adam Parris-Long | Yahoo! News – Thu, Feb 23, 2012

    A child riding a rocking horse has been unveiled as the latest sculpture to be placed on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth.  

    ‘Powerless Structures, Fig. 101’, created by artistic duo Elmgreen and Dragset, was chosen ahead of five other shortlisted entries to take up residence on the highly-prized spot, taking the place of Yinka Shonibare’s ‘Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle’.


    “We have taken our starting point from the features that are already in Trafalgar Square, where you have sculptures depicting war lords on horseback looking authoritarian,” said Dane Michael Elmgreen.

    “This work is telling us that if we change our set of souls there might be a future that could be without war. This is a celebration of ordinary life that goes on between the more spectacular events like wars or other crises.”

    Antony Gormley’s popular One and Other (2009), Yinka Shonibare’s Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle (2010).

    Artistic collaborator Ingar Dragset added: “The audience on Trafalgar Square is so diverse so it is impossible to imagine what people will think. To us there is also a personal narrative in the work, in the way that we also felt that we may not be able to live up to expectations or masculine role models in society.”    

    The 4.1m golden bronze sculpture is the fifth permanent artwork to be installed on the Fourth Plinth over the last seven years.  

    Marc Quinn’s Alison Lapper Pregnant (2005), Thomas Schütte’s Model for a Hotel (2007) Antony Gormley’s popular …

    It was left empty for more than 150 years after funds to complete an equestrian statue on the plinth dried up. Three temporary works were installed onto the plinth from 1998 before the Fourth Plinth Programme was established to regularly display temporary artworks.

    ‘Powerless Structures, Fig. 101’ is said to explore “issues relating to contemporary modes of living”, and will remain in Trafalgar Square for a year. It will then be replaced by Katharina Fritsch's “Hahn/Cock”, a giant cockerel symbolising “regeneration, awakening and strength.”   
     

    92 comments

    • Sirius Bizniz
      Sirius Bizniz  •  London, England  •  3 months ago
      all great cavalry leaders had to start somewhere
    • Some hope
      Some hope  •  Kettering, England  •  3 months ago
      What a load of C**P. Nelson must be spinning.
      • Mark
        Mark 3 months ago
        He's turning a blind eye to it
    • MICHAEL
      MICHAEL  •  London, England  •  3 months ago
      And another waste of money
      • Hayley McKenzie
        Hayley McKenzie 3 months ago
        Yah, they could have given it to those benefits people and they could have bought a few grams of #$%$ from it, huh.
    • Jolly Jessy
      Jolly Jessy  •  3 months ago
      Am I the only one to think they are fantastic? I think I am!
      • cluckcluck
        cluckcluck 3 months ago
        Some of the things they've put on the plinth have been interesting but it's getting a bit tiresome now: another comment on Britain's imperial past blah blah. The problem is the square itself: a noisy overcrowded traffic island. The fourth plinth is like scratching at a sore. It and the imperial history it represents needs to be allowed to slip quietly into oblivion beneath a sea of vegetation like any well kept cementery.
        BTW you may not be the only one who likes it but you won't find many of those who do saying so on Yahpoo. Most people here hate everything. :)
    • adrian
      adrian  •  Manchester, England  •  3 months ago
      Toyshop clearance sale?
    • tom b
      tom b  •  3 months ago
      It tells us what? Give me a break, most people see a kids play horse and a kid, only pompous morons see "no war" etc.
    • Emma James
      Emma James  •  Brighton, England  •  3 months ago
      whoever`s idea these were must have the brains of a rocking horse....
    • togglesblock
      togglesblock  •  St Albans, England  •  3 months ago
      Marc Quinn’s Alison Lapper Pregnant (2005), Was not sulptured by Mark Quin, he took the photos, yes! but the actual sculpture was done in Italy by a couple of old stone masons who get no credit at all..
    • Pete
      Pete  •  3 months ago
      and they actually make a living out of this??
    • Martin Horan
      Martin Horan  •  Edinburgh, Scotland  •  3 months ago
      Ah, so Webmaster G. thinks that people who fought for our freedoms are English warmongers. When we were under the threat from Hitler and Stalin some of us in the other parts of Britain were happy to have Englismen who were willing to lead us against real warmongers. It would be interesting to know which part of Britain Webmaster lives in. If there's anything wrong witht the English it's their over-tolerance with those they share their country with who want to overlord it over the English. If we still had Nelson, Wellington (who was Irish) and Churchill we wouldn't be in the s**t we are now. And by the way, Blair is Scottish. More to the point: if we had real sculptors, like E.H Baily who created Nelson's statue, we wouldn't have #$%$ like a stupid rocking horse giving them a platform to make anti-English statements rather deal with the actual subject.
    • Some hope
      Some hope  •  Kettering, England  •  3 months ago
      If they can't do better than all these bits of rubbish, why not simply remove the plinth.
    • ROBERT
      ROBERT  •  3 months ago
      Not sure who is the most foolish here, the guys who made this or us for calling it art- we have a habit in Britain of making ourselves look daft. By the way who paid for it?
    • T Rat
      T Rat  •  London, England  •  3 months ago
      Why do they keep doing this to us?
    • THOMAS
      THOMAS  •  Ilford, England  •  3 months ago
      Where in the world does this fit into our historical past, which is something we should be celibrating in Trafalgar Square.
    • Norma S
      Norma S  •  3 months ago
      Saw this today just after its unveiling - Yup! it's as bad as the photo suggests and totally out of context!! Rubbish
    • gene
      gene  •  Cardiff, Wales  •  3 months ago
      Seem they Spend there Cash on Any Old Rubbish. Don't Know what Lord Nelson thinks about it all.
    • Ray
      Ray  •  London, England  •  3 months ago
      put a failed multi millionare banker on one.
    • I.W.B.H.I.I.C.S.R.
      I.W.B.H.I.I.C.S.R.  •  Ilford, England  •  3 months ago
      - terrible and non negotiable!
    • Dave
      Dave  •  London, England  •  3 months ago
      Is this what rubbish taxpayers money is being spent on?
    • ScholarOfBabylon
      ScholarOfBabylon  •  Birmingham, England  •  3 months ago
      Just put a statue of a ship there and be done with it ffs
     Post a comment
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