New Designs For Fourth Plinth Unveiled

The contenders for the next artwork on the Fourth Plinth have been released. And yes, before you ask, that is a giant Battenberg pictured above.The tumescent cake is called, obviously enough, Battenberg. The brick sculpture is by artist Brian Griffiths, who wants us to think of the Victorian era (the marriage of the Queen's daughter was commemorated by such a cake) and how it is a "link with a British past that has slowly crumbled".Also catching the eye is Katharina Fritsch's ultramarine Hahn/Cock (a fitting barnyard counterpart to the forthcoming Spitalfields goat), while Hew Locke turns the statue of Field Marshal, Sir George White into a fetish object called Sikandar (a familiar trick for this artist). The selection is rounded out by Mariele Neudecker's It's Never Too Late And You Can't Go Back (a fictional mountainscape), a barmy device that drives a pipe organ via an ATM, and Powerless Structures, Fig 101 by Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset: a boy on a rocking horse.In a bold move, the organisers have invited people to comment on each of the designs; they've also added a Facebook-style (or Londonist-style for that matter) 'Like' button on each. Some of the quips thus far — "mmmm, cock" for example — suggest that a high level of debate will ensue.The current Fourth Plinth piece, Nelson's Ship, runs until October 2011.