Votes needed: Romanian born artist Andra Ursuta is on the shortlist for London’s Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth

In the heart of London’s Trafalgar Square, the Fourth Plinth stands as a beacon of contemporary artistic expression, and the next wave of installations promises to captivate and inspire. Among the distinguished group of contenders, Romanian born artist Andra Ursuta is shortlisted, as well as other six well-known artists.

The Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group has unveiled the models of proposals from these seven talented artists, inviting both in-person and online audiences to engage with the visionary concepts. From the bustling halls of the National Gallery to the digital realm, the public has been encouraged to offer their insights and preferences, shaping the future of Trafalgar Square’s artistic landscape.

For this competition, two winners will be next month. Their commissioned works will take center stage in 2026 and 2028, enriching the cultural tapestry of London and echoing across the globe.

Tschabalala Self, Thomas J. Price, Ruth Ewan, Chila Burman, Gabriel Chaile, and Veronica Ryan are among the seven artists shortlisted for the next commissions to grace the Fourth Plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square, considered one of the U.K.’s most important platforms for contemporary works.

“Featuring a hollow, life-sized person on a horse covered in a shroud and cast in a slime-green resin, Andra Ursuţa’s work is said to embody various histories of public sculpture at a time when there is increasing debate about the use of public space”, describes BBC the Romanian born artist’s work.

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On the official page of the competition, the work of art is described as the hollow, life-sized equestrian statue is covered in a shroud and cast in slime-green resin. It hovers at the edge of visibility. “Is it yet to be uncovered? Or is it an already cancelled public monument – a ghost of history, a parody of itself?”, mentions the description.

Moreover, the sculpture’s ‘sitter’ remains anonymous. „It might be made from life. Alternatively, a shroud may cover a pre-existing equestrian monument, which would then be 3D-scanned and eventually cast. It embodies multiple histories of public sculpture, of commemorative ritual, of the specific circumstances that led to the plinth’s vacancy. At the same time, the work points towards an uncertain future. It is made in a hyper-fragmented, paranoid time when public space, consensus, and community continue to dissolve. The sculpture contains narratives that are irreconcilable.”

The current artwork on the plinth recreates a 1914 photograph of Baptist preacher John Chilembwe and European missionary John Chorley. Since 1999 a different artwork has stood on the famous central London space for two years, with winners picked from a shortlist. The votes can be submit here.

Who is Andra Ursuta

Born in Salonta, Romania in 1979, she lives in London and New York. She’s also a constant present at the Venice Biennale, being selected in the official exhibition. As described by her representative curator David Zwirner, iver the past decade, Ursuţa has gained recognition for her inventive sculptural work that mines the darker undercurrents of contemporary society. Drawing from memory, nostalgia, art history, and popular culture and employing a variety of media, the artist merges traditional sculptural processes and new technologies to transform commonplace objects and materials into viscerally evocative sculptures and installations that give new, redemptive forms to subjective experience.