Economist Plaza

The Details

For more than ten years, *Consultancy worked with the Economist Group to deliver an artworks programme that energised its plaza with a rolling programme of contemporary art that stimulated debate and made the site a destination for Londoners.

Running from 1998-2010, the Economist Plaza programme pre-dated the Sculpture in the City initiative and was a forerunner in the ‘activation’ of public space.

More than 50 UK and international artists took part in the programme, including: Amanda Beech, Katrin Böhm, Cleo Broda, Annie Cattrell, Celine Condorelli & Gavin Wade, Kate Davis, Shezad Dawood & Brian Reed, Laura Ford, Matt Franks, Lothar Götz, Andy Harper & Robert Davies, Paul Hosking, James Ireland, Tim Knowles, Alistair Mackie, Michael Pinsky, Paul Ryan, Bob and Roberta Smith, Julie Verhoeven, Zöe Walker and Keith Wilson. *Consultancy brought artists with limited experience of working in the public realm into the Plaza, acting as mentors and advisors for the testing of new ideas. The resulting works served as platforms for artists to continue developing their public practice, challenging preconceptions about public art.

Artworks dealt with issues as diverse as environmentalism, poverty, new technologies, media culture and globalisation. ‘In Conversations’ held between the artists and leading thinkers across a range of fields help to extend and contextualise these ideas and issues.

*Consultancy was instrumental in brokering commissioning relationships between the Economist Group, Turner Contemporary and Sketch, London while at the same time promoting an alternative to amassing a static collection of art through the commissioning of temporary activations that could reimagine the site as well as the larger Economist brand identity.