One for all the conspiracy theorists
In late October I was passing through a Trafalgar Square which was being used for a one day Muslim festival, and had the nagging thought that something was amiss with the statuary, in particular that the remarkably unattractive Alison Lapper statue was missing. I have been snooping around on and off for a while trying to track down an image of the Muslim festival where I could clearly see either the statue, or its absence.
Turns out I was right, and the statue was removed in early October, with a new épater les bourgeois artwork having gone up today.
Note that the Greater London Authority and that man Livingstone are in charge of doing things to the Fourth Plinth.
Turns out I was right, and the statue was removed in early October, with a new épater les bourgeois artwork having gone up today.
Note that the Greater London Authority and that man Livingstone are in charge of doing things to the Fourth Plinth.
Labels: Livingstone, London, The arts
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on Wednesday, November 07, 2007 at 2:30 pm.
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I shall be miles away amidst warbling tits ..tra la
I always thought the 4th Plinth was always intended to be replaced every so often.
I understand Muslims might have been affected by the nakedness, whereas we Westerners were probably more concerned with the missing limbs.
The replacement is an abstract model of a 21 storey building, I wonder if it was put up in time, might have made some good target practise.
Ian - Indeed yes, but I was intrigued by the timing.
My issue was not so much with what was depicted, more that it was rendered in such an ugly fashion - machined, reconstituted marble, I think.
Well, Ian, I would have thought the muslims would have enjoyed the missing limbs,keen connoiseurs of amputation that they are. They'd have thought the limbs were severed as a punishment for getting pregnant outside marriage. Or for going out without a veil. Livingston was crazy not to leave it up for just one more day.
My issue, Croydonian, was with what was depicted. It was in yer face ugliness for the sake of it. Also, I always thought it had another creepy undermessage: the lurking presence, given that she was pregnant, of a man who would be excited by a blind woman with no limbs. Yech!
"Model for a Hotel 2007 ... Schütte's utopian vision will have a POWERFUL IMPACT on Trafalgar Square."
Does it?
Alison isn't blind.
My mistake.
There is still no reason to put a statue of this individual on our square of national heroes.
The denigration of the qualities of Britain and civilisation from Greek statuary onwards, was the point.
Sorry this woman agreed to be a weapon in the war against 3,000 years of the artistic tradition of the West, but maybe she was blind to the problem.
Understood.
One could argue she is one of the more "ordinary" hereos of our time (my in-growing toe nails are not in the same league). Her story is certainly well known, even outside the UK.
But then, gen why (whine?) are "hereos" for getting out of bed, it seems...innit.
"With funding from Arts Council England". The artist is German. I'm confuseds this an EU thing?
"Sarah Weir, Executive Director, Arts Council England, London, said: 'We are delighted to continue to work in partnership with the Mayor's Office to bring great art to more people."
Err, where is the great art in a model of a non-existant hotel? I am a philistine?
If you're referring to this Lapper individual, what is heroic about her? Did she choose to be born armless and legless? Of course, if you are a Buddhist or a Hindu, you would say 'Yes'. So in other words, it's her own fault.
Either way, I have a strong distaste for everything about this individual.
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