The next two Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth designs have been announced
In among the lion-bothering tourists and levitating Yodas of Trafalgar Square stands one of most talked-about slabs of rock in the world: The Fourth Plinth.
Originally built in 1840, the plinth was intended to hold a statue of William IV, but stayed empty for 155 years until 1999, when it was decided that it would host a rolling programme of temporary, contemporary artworks.
We've had it all, from a limbless pregnant woman to a giant blue cock, a naked Jesus, skeletal gift-horse and most recently a giant thumbs-up, courtesy of serial prankster David Shrigley.
So, what's next? Click through the gallery to see the 2018 and 2020 Fourth Plinth statues
A recreation of the Lamassu, a winged bull and protective deity, which was destroyed by ISIS in 2015, Michael Rakowitz' tries to unravel the destruction of war.
“It’s a real honour,” said the American whose Iraqi grandparents fled the country in the 1940s. “[The plinth artwork] is happening at a time which is especially meaningful, considering the enormous number of people that are forced to leave Iraq and Syria and are seeking sanctuary. This piece becomes a kind of a placeholder for those human lives that can’t be reconstructed … whether it’s cultural genocide or the burning of books, it’s the destruction of artefacts that always accompanies a human catastrophe.”
