THOMAS SCHüTTE UNVEILS NEW WORK FOR FOURTH PLINTH IN LONDON’S TRAFALGAR SQUARE

German artist Thomas Schütte has unveiled Model for a Hotel, the newest commissioned sculpture for the fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square in London. Richard Dorment, writing in The Telegraph, is impressed: It is “unique among the works already commissioned for the fourth plinth . . . a miracle of engineering that weighs four tons and looks like it would blow away in the first strong breeze.” The abstract composition of glass panes in red, yellow, and blue changes “from hour to hour,” a sentiment reiterated by Mark Hooper at The Guardian. As BBC News notes, the sculpture replaces Marc Quinn’s Alison Lapper Pregnant and will be on view for eighteen months. London’s mayor, Ken Livingstone, who unveiled the artwork, said, “Thomas Schutte’s sculpture is very different from the previous work on the fourth plinth—the use of color will provide a striking contrast to its surroundings, and I am certain that Model for a Hotel_ will generate a huge amount of discussion.” Bloomberg reports that Livingstone also said that some predicted that the sculpture would soon be covered by pigeons and their droppings. If that happens, he remarked, hawks will be called in.