Plastic Stonehenge

Turner prize winner Jeremy Deller has created a plastic Stonehenge that will soon be on show in Glasgow. He said: “Hopefully, people’s interaction with it will bring out the character of the place.”  That might seem unlikely, given that it is made of plastic, but having been inside “Foamhenge” a few years ago we can confirm that if it is reasonably accurate  it will indeed provide a valuable experience. Foamhenge, which depicted the monument in an original complete state, was stunning and its loss was a great shame.

Howewever, Mr Deller’s project has some worrying aspects: it is titled “Sacrilege” (why?); it is described as “interactive” and he says “the public can go on it, as it were” and that “hopefully people will respond to it in a Glaswegian manner” (whatever that means).

None of that would particularly matter except for the fact that after its Scottish run “Sacrilege” will be taken to London as a cultural tourist attraction during the Olympic Games. Which means, presumably, it will be there and much publicised at the time of the Summer solstice gathering at the original Stonehenge – where, year after year, many people “go on it, as it were”.  So it is to be hoped that images of people clambering on the one won’t make clambering on the other – or on standing stones in general – seem a bit more acceptable.