THE END by Heather Phillipson

Explore the artwork currently featured on the Fourth Plinth

THE END (2020) by Heather PhillipsonMayor of London

THE END Stands Tall

Right now, on the Plinth, reigns the tallest piece to date: THE END by London-born, multi-media artist and award-winning poet Heather Phillipson. Its unveiling was delayed from March to July 2020 as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and after being selected alongside The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist by Michael Rakowitz in 2017.

THE END (2020) by Heather PhillipsonMayor of London

A Giant Swirl

This 13th commission is made of steel and polystyrene with a sprayed polyurethane hardcoat, stands 9.4m tall, weighs 9,000kg and likens a giant swirl of whipped cream, topped by a cherry, a fly and a drone that transmits a live feed of the Square. 

THE END (2020) by Heather PhillipsonMayor of London

Watching Me, Watching You

At first THE END seems playful, but the sugary swirl has an unexpected twist - the drone’s camera watching us, watching it. The live feed of the Square is picked up by the camera and can be watched on a dedicated website www.theend.today giving a view as seen by the sculpture's  ‘eye’. 

THE END (2020) by Heather PhillipsonMayor of London

Full Access to THE END

THE END is also the first fully accessible commission on the Fourth Plinth. There is a braille panel included on the plaque, a tactile image of the work and an audio description on the Greater London Authority’s website. 

THE END (2020) by Heather PhillipsonMayor of London

Magnifying The Wonder of Co-habitation

"I’m honoured to have been selected to make work for such a significant public site, and to see THE END scaled up for its ultimate size and context – one in which the surrounding architecture and its population are participants in a mis-scaled landscape, magnifying the banal, and our co-habitation with other lifeforms, to apocalyptic proportions.”  ~Heather Phillipson

Credits: Story

L Rhoda Molife

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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