Is Sustainable Art Practice Possible?

Last week the issue of the validity and form of civic art was once again <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/jan/19/rachel-whiteread-calls-for-end-to-trafalgar-square-fourth-plinth-sculptures" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">in the news</a>, but not for the familiar reasons we’ve heard a lot about in recent years over the commemoration of questionable historical figures. The British artist <a href="https://gagosian.com/artists/rachel-whiteread/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Rachel Whiteread</a> called for the end of the <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/arts-and-culture/current-culture-projects/fourth-plinth-trafalgar-square" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Fourth Plinth project</a>, a popular public art competition funded by the London Mayor’s office. Every two years since 1999 a different artist has been commissioned to fill the empty fourth plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square with a work of art voted for by the public. This project is important. For a start it champions contemporary art. It’s a rare opportunity for artists to receive significant funding to make and show their work on a large scale in public. And it veers away from the traditionally figurative (and some may say safe) formula that most public sculpture commissions tend towards. Just think about the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ1RkFQopd9/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">recent sculpture of Diana</a> in Kensington Palace Gardens for example, or the statue of former British Prime Minister <a href="https://www.thegallerycompanion.com/p/thatchers-statue" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Margaret Thatcher</a> in Grantham. There’s nothing dull or traditional about the commissions for this prize. From Marc Quinn’s Alison Lapper Pregnant (2005) to Yinka Shonibare’s Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle (2010) and Heather Phillipson’s The End (2020) the art that we have seen over the years has drawn dramatic and thought-provoking attention to some of the most important issues of our day. <a href="https://medium.com/counterarts/is-sustainable-art-practice-possible-1215566d5e84">Website</a>