With the looming possibility of a 10-year prison sentence for damaging statues on the horizon, the past year has brought public art to the foreground like never before. Easily accessible art had been a saviour for many whilst galleries remain closed during lockdown. However, this year many have also questioned the kind of art that is exhibited in public spaces, and to what extent contemporary British society is reflected through its public art.

Before the word ‘lockdown’ entered our collective vocabulary, stumbling across a sculpture on a weekend walk was vaguely entertaining; rarely enthralling. Now, over a year into the pandemic, public art has become one of the only ways of experiencing artworks in a non-digital space. Since 1998, The Fourth Plinth in London has provided a platform for engaging with contemporary art, for anyone who passes through Trafalgar Square. In 2010, the plinth was occupied by ‘Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle’ by Yinka Shonibare, which asked us to reflect on Britain’s mercenary maritime history. In 2018, Michael Rakowitz used 10,000 date syrup cans to bring back to life a piece of cultural heritage destroyed by Isis. The sculpture was poignant, and opened up a conversation about persistence as an act of defiance. It’s predecessor was a 10 metre high bronze ‘thumbs up’ by David Shrigley. More parody than celebration; more cynicism than optimism; more aggressive than affirming. The variety on offer year after year provides a glimpse into the UK’s contemporary art world. Although commissions are chosen through public consultation and the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, “an independent panel of artists, journalists and curators”, it is the Mayor of London who ultimately decides what types of art the public will get to experience. The process is not much of an escalation in terms of a democratic selection than the statues of military leaders that came before it. However, it is hard to find an argument against a free display of contemporary sculpture on this scale. Millions of people each year are able to enjoy art in the public realm, without having to step inside a museum, enabling them to avoid supporting such institutions, most of which are deeply entrenched in a history of looting and the slave trade.

Today, the plinth is adorned by a 9 tonne, 9 meter giant swirl of whipped cream, a cherry, a fly, and a drone that transmits a live feed of Trafalgar Square. Heather Phillipson's ‘THE END’ “responds to Trafalgar Square as a site of celebration and protest”, although in what ways is not obviously apparent. ‘THE END’ is presented to the public as “a call to action, to put an end to the things that aren’t right in our society and to put them right.” Perhaps if the marketing around the piece acknowledged the absurdity it shares with Shrigley’s piece - instead of insinuating it is a piece overtly political art, akin to Shonibare’s or Rakowitz’s - it would receive better reception. It is interesting to note that ‘THE END’ is actually the first ever fully accessible artwork, with a braille panel included on the plaque, a tactile image of the work, and an audio description of the work available online. It is also the first Fourth Plinth artwork to carry out surveillance on the public. There seems to be a disparity between what the artwork is presented as, and what it actually achieves. On the one hand, it asks the public to be galvanised by it to “correct wrongs”. On the other hand, it fails to correct any wrongs as an artwork itself. It does not ask difficult questions about the history of the space it is located and experienced in, nor does it question the institutions surrounding it. If anything, it aids the powers that facilitate it through covert intelligence, in the name of contemporary art. Perhaps the live stream is a comment on the ultra-invasive surveillance state we currently live in. However, the sculpture does not do any of the heavy work of recognising this. Nor does it acknowledge the consequences that this surveillance has on the public physically protesting in Trafalgar Square.

Art is rarely made without controversy, especially when commissioned by an institution such as the Mayor of London. The institution claims that the art plays an important role in “casting a new light on London’s most historic square.”’ However, as thought-provoking as these sculptures may be, the majority does not address the violent colonial history relating to Trafalgar Square. In the middle of it stands a proud statue of Charles James Napier, a general who led the military occupation of the Indian province of Sindh (now Pakistan) in 1843 on behalf of the East India Company, and who was its colonial governor until 1847. Napier provoked a war with local leaders in order to provide a pretext for the occupation. Approximately 10,000 Indians were killed in the conquest. He admitted that economic gain was the only purpose of the colonial violence he perpetrated: "Our object in conquering India, the object of all our cruelties was money." There is also of course the column dedicated to Horatio Nelson. Afua Hirsch’s article provides a compelling argument as to why we should no longer be holding him on a pedestal of British historical nobility: “The black slaves whose brutalisation made Britain the global power it then was remain invisible, erased and unseen [...] The people so energetically defending statues of Britain’s white supremacists remain entirely unconcerned about righting this persistent wrong”. If anything, these contemporary public art pieces distract from the malicious past of the space they are set in. They serve as great propaganda for their environment - creating the illusion of radical modernity in a deeply traditional space. As Claire Armitstead puts it: “We love our artists, not least because they are a tourist asset, part of what makes Britain great in the eyes of those with money to burn: the project brings art and commerce into fortuitous alliance in the square of a million holiday snaps, with its pigeons and peanut vendors picturesquely framed by the colonnaded grandeur of the National Gallery“.

Last summer's Black Lives Matter protests and the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol raised the issue of ownership of public spaces, and the democracy of displaying art works with malicious pasts within the public realm. His was not the only public artwork with links to Britain’s slave trade, and not the only one removed following mass protesting. Colston’s statue had long been a focal point of local anger before it was rolled down to the harbour and was pushed into the water. Its demise brought relief. Unfortunately, with the current policing bill being considered in Britain, the future and legality of such protests and toppling of colonial artworks in the civil realm hangs in suspense. So where does this leave public art? The current collective mood does not seem accepting of art that does not overtly and effectively facilitate conversations about Britain’s criminal colonial history. Perhaps ‘THE END’ really should be the end of public art that is made without communal consideration.

Bibliography

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Illustrations

Birchall, B. - available at <https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/07/blm-protesters-topple-statue-of-bristol-slave-trader-edward-colston>

Court, C. - available at <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/mar/26/michael-rakowitz-invisible-enemy-should-not-exist-fourth-plinth-winged-bull-date-syrup-cans-defying-isis>

Kitwood, D. - available at <https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jul/30/heather-phillipson-the-end-for-the-fourth-plinth-trafalgar-square>

Noble, P. - available at <https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/world/europe/kill-the-bill-protests-uk.html>