One of the UK's most important platforms for contemporary art has been won by the artists Tschabalala Self and Andra Ursua. The Fourth Plinth commission will be unveiled in 2026 and the sculpture will be on the platform two years later. The winning works were selected by the fourth Plinth commission group chaired by Ekow Eshun. A maquette of the work that will be placed on the Fourth Plinth in 2026.
Lady in Blue pays homage to a young, metropolitan woman of colour who could be just one of many Londoners today. According to our correspondent Louisa Buck, Self discussed her works depicting Black and predominantly female figures, which both "embrace and confound collective fantasies and assumptions surrounding the Black female body". The most abstract form was a life-sized equestrian statue covered in a shroud and cast in a green substance. The project statement says it is made in a paranoid time when public space, consensus and community are dissolving. The tribute to the installation by the late Russian artist Ilya Kabakov was presented by Andra Ursua. The work that will be placed on the Fourth Plinth will be by Maquette.
The RSA launched the Fourth Plinth programme in 1998 with the support of the Cass Sculpture Foundation. The contemporary art initiative was launched in 1999 and has featured works by 14 artists. A statue of Alan Turing, the Second World War code-breaker, was proposed by a British government minister last year.