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Katharina Fritsch's 'Hahn' approved for the Fourth Plinth

Date uploaded: May 13, 2013

Westminster Council has approved plans to display a giant blue French cockerel on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, London. Artist Katharina Fritsch's 14ft (4.3m) sculpture, entitled Hahn, is due to go up on 20th June.

Calling for the planning application to be rejected, The Thorney Island Society Conservation group registered a planning objection and wrote to Westminster Council, branding the bird as 'a feeble distraction'. The Society's chairwoman, June Stubbs, said that the fibreglass bird would be 'totally inappropriate, however fanciful and dramatic it might appear to be… We cannot see any logical reason for the proposed sculpture to be placed on the fourth plinth. It is unrelated to the context of Trafalgar Square and adds nothing to it but a feeble distraction'. However, the council approved the plans saying it 'will bring colour to Trafalgar Square'.

Hahn will replace Powerless Structures Fig. 101 - the sculpture of a boy on a rocking horse. Submitting her work to the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, Fritsch said it symbolised regeneration, awakening and strength.

Click here for more information on this news story on the Guardian website.

'Hahn' by artist Katharina Fitsch. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

'Hahn' by artist Katharina Fitsch. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images