Most of the sculptures that have appeared on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square are in storage, and only one is currently on display in the UK. Here’s what happened next.
1999 Ecce Homo by Mark Wallinger
Wallinger said: “Trafalgar Square and the approaching millennium constituted the context for Ecce Homo; it was where it belonged. Permanence is a radical step. I’m content to hope there might be other contexts for other artworks that might get along together on a more permanent basis.”
After being taken down from the plinth, Ecce Homo has appeared in several European locations including Vienna, Venice, Swansea, and Milan. In 2017 it was shown on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral and it was last in Innsbruck in 2021.
2000 Regardless of History by Bill Woodrow
Woodrow’s sculpture was part of a group show in a sculpture park in Goodwood, West Sussex, in 2002. He said the work is “currently in storage pending a possible new siting”.
“Talks, negotiations, planning etc are currently being held.”
2001 Monument by Rachel Whiteread
Monument has not been seen in public since coming down from the plinth, and it was too heavy to be included a retrospective show of her work at Tate Britain in 2017. Whiteread said: “I just haven’t really found the right place to put it. When you make monumental work that’s just how things go sometimes.” She produced 15 smaller versions to help fund the work.
2005 Alison Lapper Pregnant by Marc Quinn
Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian
Lapper said: “The last I heard was that it was off the M25 being cleaned somewhere. It had to be cleaned because the pigeons pooed on it. Whether that was rotting my nipples I’m not sure. It certainly didn’t do me any harm being up there. I was very grateful for the opportunity.”
A spokesperson for Quinn said: “The Alison Lapper Pregnant sculpture is currently in storage, which isn’t near the M25.”
2007 Model for a Hotel by Thomas Schütte
Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian
A spokesperson for Schütte said the work was currently in storage.
2009 One and Other by Antony Gormley
This was conceived as a living sculpture in which members of the public could apply to appear on the plinth for timed segments. Video of 100 hours of those appearances has been archived in the British Library. A book was also made about the project.
2010 Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle by Yinka Shonibare
The work is the only fourth plinth commission to be permanently relocated elsewhere in the UK. It is now part of the collection of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London.
2012 Powerless Structures, Fig. 101 by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset
The work is now on permanent view outside the Arken Museum of Modern Art in Ishøj, Denmark. Asked about a possible group show for all the fourth plinth works, a spokesperson for the Berlin-based duo, said: “It would be a unique challenge, since many of the pieces have been designed to be seen from below, and are proportioned as such.”
2013 Hahn/Cock by Katharina Fritsch
The piece was first acquired by the US Glenstone Foundation before being permanently donated to the National Gallery in Washington.
2015 Gift Horse by Hans Haacke
Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP
Haacke’s spokesperson said that since appearing on the plinth, the work has been shown in Munich and Chicago, and was last seen in New York in 2020. It is now in storage but is expected to appear at a retrospective of the artist’s work at Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt in 2024.
2016 Really Good by David Shrigley
Shrigley said: “Lots of people have asked me: ‘Where is it now, can I have it?’ We’ve had various negotiations or proposals for public collections to put it in. The problem is it weighs several tonnes, so even if we gave it to a public collection they would still have to find the money to build a structure it would go on.”
2018 The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist by Michael Rakowitz
Rakowitz has agreed to donate the work to Tate Modern if it can share custody of it with Iraq. He said: “Because of all the upheaval with Iraqi governments, there hasn’t been any opportunity to finalise the terms yet. Having pieces sitting in storage is always a bummer, but most museum collections are always in storage. The one thing I didn’t want to see happen with it was for it to disappear into a private collection.”
2020 The End by Heather Phillipson
Phillipson said: “The work is currently in storage, while we look for a longer-term home for it. If anyone is interested in finding or offering a home for it, that would be even better.”
