Seven Proposals Unveiled for London’s Fourth Plinth

The Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group has revealed the names of the seven artists shortlisted for the 2026 and 2028 Fourth Plinth Commission. Chila Burman, Gabriel Chaile, Ruth Ewan, Thomas J Price, Veronica Ryan, Tschabalala Self, and Andra Ursuţa all have a chance at seeing their work grace the vacant plinth at the northwest corner of London’s Trafalgar Square. Maquettes of the proposals, created by the artists, are on view at London’s National Gallery through March 17.

This year’s proposals are diverse in appearance, but all embody a humanist perspective and can be considered anti-monumental, despite their likely finished size. Burman’s proposal,The Smile You Send Returns to You, features her father’s ice cream truck, while Chaile’sHornerois a sculpture of the mud-built nest of the titular bird, which makes its home in high places such as telephone poles and monuments. Ewan’sBelieve in Discontentmodels a black cat; Price’sAncient Feelingsdepicts the golden head of a woman whose features reflect a composite of historical sources; and Ryan’sSweet Potatoes and Yams Are Not the Sameoffers a sweet potato “island,” out of which more potato plants appear to sprout. Self’sLady in Blueportrays a confident Black woman captured midstride, while Ursuta’sUntitledis a slime-green resin sculpture of a shrouded horse and rider.

The competition was initially aimed at finding a permanent sculpture to occupy the stone post that had sat empty on Trafalgar Square’s northwest corner since 1841, after funding for a statue of William IV astride a horse proved difficult to secure. The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) conceived the Fourth Plinth Project in 1998, and in 1999, the first of many works to stand atop the pillar went up: Mark Wallinger’s Ecce homo, a life-size, nearly nude Christ crowned with barbed wire. In 2005, the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group was established to shepherd the commissions, on which the public votes. Turner Prize–winning artist Rachel Whiteread, whose Monument, an upside-down translucent resin replica of the plinth, won the commission in 2001, recently called for the commission to end, citing the near impossibility of finding homes for the works after their moment in the sun had ended.

The plinth is currently occupied by Samson Kambalu’s Antelope; Teresa Margolles’s Improntas (Imprints), a sculpture featuring the faces of 850 trans people, will ascend to the pillar’s top in September. Winners of the 2026 and 2028 commissions will be announced in March.