VOX POP

‘For me, what appears on the fourth plinth is an international statement about public art, and yet no one has really pushed it. I mean, what’s public about another obscure art thing stuck on there? It’s so ironic they call it public art. We need something that people can play with, that reflects them and makes them laugh. Let’s get a Karaoke machine going on it, Admiral Nelson can join in. Or rent the space out to a minicab firm or a kebab shop maybe. Yeah, a giant 15-metre rotating kebab. That should feed the 5000.’

Andrew Shoben, Artist, Greyworld

‘My reply is slightly influenced by the current heatwave that the UK is experiencing. I think the plinth should be me encased in a block of ice.’

Steve Royle, Designer, The Chase London

‘I feel it’s time for retribution for tourists and Londoners alike – the indigenous flying rats that swarm around the square are high on my retribution list. I would suggest an immense, steel beast of a pigeon to adorn the plinth so that we could watch as each of the airborne creatures takes it in turn to “relieve” themselves unwittingly all over one of their own.’

Simon ‘Sanky’ Sankarayya, Art director, Digit

‘I love the idea of something that changes on a regular basis, and I’ve never been a great fan of political sculpture. But what image has been more dramatic in the last few months than the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s edifice by American troops in Baghdad towards the end of the Iraq War? Who do we choose? Tony Blair or Ken Livingstone? Or both, in turn?’

Lynn Trickett, Director, Trickett & Webb

‘I like the fact that it has been changing every once in a while rather than having a permanent piece commissioned to adorn the plinth. I also like the friction that it can cause with the traditionalism of the other statues present in Trafalgar Square. For me, I would continue along the art theme of 2001 with the likes of Marc Quinn, Andy Goldsworthy, Claes Oldenburg or the Chapman Brothers.’

<bold.Jonathan Ellery, Director, Browns