A VIRTUAL OASIS: TRAFALGAR SQUARE’S ARCH OF PALMYRA

This paper considers the destruction of the Arch of Palmyra in Syria in 2015 and its temporary reconstruction a year later in London’s Trafalgar Square. Attention is paid to an adjacent pedestal known as the Fourth Plinth, with a particular focus on a proposed monument by the Iraqi-American conceptual artist, Michael Rakowitz (born 1973). His works provide the basis for a discussion of public memorials and art’s commemorative function; the...