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
L Rhoda Molife
