Dame Siân Phillips to unveil new W4th Plinth artwork

Image above: The earth from the Suomi NPP satellite

New artwork to be revealed at 1pm on Sunday 23 April

Abundance London will be revealing the artwork chosen to replace the current incumbent of the ‘W4th plinth’ on Sunday 23 April at 1pm.

The earth from the Suomi NPP satellite, which has been on display on the railway embankment on Turnham Green Terrace since January 2022 will be coming down and the new community artwork, chosen by the public, will be uncovered.

Actress Dame Siân Phillips will be unveiling it before she goes round the corner to the Tabard to be interviewed by theatre director Richard Digby Day before an audience to mark her 90th birthday in May.

‘A Birthday Conversation with Dame Siân Phillips‘ tickets here: tabard.org.uk

Siân Phillips made her name while still a student at RADA, where she was a contemporary of Diana Rigg and Glenda Jackson and famously turned down offers from Hollywood so she could continue to work in British theatre. Her first acting job was at the age of 11 and she is still working now.

The two volumes of her autobiography, Private Faces and Public Places we rereleased last year.

New artwork chosen from nearly 500 entries

Abundance London received nearly 500 submissions from artists to show their work on the W4th plinth, which the jury whittled down to just 15. The 12 which met the technical requirements for the space were put to a public vote and they have received thousands of votes.

“We are very excited about our winner” say the judges. “And the runners up were also so good we will be featuring them in future installations”.

The judging panel were Peter Burgess, who runs the Chiswick Art School, Sarah Cruz and Karen Liebreich, co-founders of Abundance London, Steve Nutt and Karen Wyatt, also of Abundance London, Tanya Saunders, who runs Make+Paint art clubs for children, and Georgia Simmonds, art and photography teacher at ArtsEd Day School and Sixth Form.Signed limited editions of the new artwork will be available for purchase. Harriet Benton Events will be providing drinks for the occasion.

The W4th Plinth art project was launched in September 2019 with an artwork by Sir Peter Blake, showing the Music Hall entertainers who had performed at the Chiswick Empire theatre. Since then there have been several other community artworks chosen for the space.