THE END - HEATHER PHILLIPSON'S 'DYSTOPIAN' CHERRY-TOPPED CREAM SWIRL LANDS ON FOURTH PLINTH

The Evening Standard 30 July 2020 - by Lizzie Edmonds

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A fly’s-eye view of Trafalgar Square will be beamed around the globe from the top of 

Live footage streamed from a camera drone perched on the cherry which tops Heather Phillipson’s 30ft swirl of whipped cream can be viewed by visitors on their mobile phones.

The “dystopian” installation on the north-west plinth — home to a rolling commission of public art since 1999 — was postponed by four months because of coronavirus.

Phillipson, 42, told the Evening Standard that she imagined the work, commissioned in 2016, would now be interpreted differently, saying the pandemic had “changed the way we look at everything.”

She said her work called The End was intended as a comment on: “Post-Brexit, pre-Trump politics. It was about the way we as a society were going. It is about the state and surveillance. The cream was about instability. It is usually exuberant but it is nutritionally deficient.”

She added: “Now is a moment of upheaval and potential unease, so it will be read differently to how it was intended when it was commissioned. It will resonate differently with different people.

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The sculpture, the 13th and tallest commission to adorn the plinth so far, will stay in place until spring 2022. The live footage can also be viewed remotely by logging into a website.

Ekow Eshun, chairman of the 

“I’m sure this will be a hugely popular commission that will inspire everyone who sees it physically and experiences it digitally.”

Previous Fourth Plinth commissions include Marc Quinn’s sculpture of the disabled artist Alison Lapper when she was pregnant and Yinka Shonibare’s replica of HMS Victory contained in a glass bottle.

Justine Simons, London’s deputy mayor for culture and creative industries, said: “When Heather’s work was selected two years ago, we could never have imagined the world we find ourselves in today, but we always knew this sugary swirl with a dystopian flavour would spark a conversation.”

To view the live footage visit