The fourth plinth project

The fourth plinth stands empty in Trafalgar Square Photograph: Sean Smith/Guardian

July 21 1999: Mark Wallinger in front of his sculpture of Christ entitled Ecce Homo, the first work to be commissioned for the plinth Photograph: Graham Turner/Guardian

Wallinger said Ecce Homo was not meant to be perverse or tongue in cheek: 'I wanted to show [Christ] as an ordinary human being. Jesus was at the very least a political leader of an oppressed people, and I think he has a place here in front of all these oversized imperial symbols' Photograph: Frank Baron/Guardian

March 15 2000: Bill Woodrow in front of his sculpture Regardless of History, a gigantic bronze that shows the head of a man crushed under a giant book, both of which are bound to the plinth by the roots of a dead tree Photograph: Graham Turner/Guardian

Another view of Bill Woodrow's Regardless of History Photograph: Graham Turner/Guardian

June 4 2001: Monument by Rachel Whiteread, an upended mirror image of a 14ft-high granite plinth, cast in two huge sections of clear resin, which changed colour with every change of light. Whiteread described her piece as 'a pause ... a quiet moment' Photograph: Sarah Lee/freelance

June 12 2002: A waxwork figure of David Beckham, England's football captain at the time, made a brief (if unauthorised) appearance on the plinth. Despite hooting horns and shouts of encouragement from passersby, wardens from the Greater London Authority insisted that he be taken down Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

September 1 2005: Marc Quinn attends to his finished sculpture, Alison Lapper Pregnant, at the Cervietti marble sculpture workshop in Petrasanta, Italy Photograph: David Levene/freelance

September 16 2005: Alison Lapper Pregnant, displayed on the fourth plinth Photograph: Dan Regan/Getty

October 19 2007: A waxwork figure of England rugby star Jonny Wilkinson adorns the empty monument in Trafalgar Square Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty

November 7 2007: Thomas Schütte in front of Model for a Hotel. Said the artist: 'I was really pleased to win the fourth plinth commission. Developing a sculpture for such a well-known iconic place in London has been a thought-provoking creative challenge' Photograph: Carl de Souza/AFP

Thomas Schütte's Model for a Hotel on the plinth in 2007. The glass sculpture is an architectural model of a 21 storey building, constructed in specially engineered red, yellow and blue glass and weighing over eight tonnes Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

Antony Gormley with a model of his design for the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square entitled One & Other. He describes the work as 'a celebration of the individual – but also an opportunity for the individual to consider how they connect to a wider world' Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

August 11 2009: One of the 2,400 members of the public to participate in Antony Gormley's One & Other artwork, Booker prize enthusiast Graham Fudger spent his hour on the plinth reading from longlisted novels Photograph: Sarah Lee

September 10 2009: Brian Capaloff used his hour on the plinth to campaign on behalf of Linda Carty, a British woman on death row in Texas, facing a death sentence for murder Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

November 4 2009: A statue of the celebrated Battle of Britain airman Sir Keith Park was unveiled on the plinth, where it will remain for six months Photograph: Sang Tan/AP

Originally from New Zealand, the RAF's air chief marshal commanded the 11 Group of Fighter Command responsible for the defence of London and the south-east of England in the second world war Photograph: Zak Hussein/PA