Much contemporary public art in Britain is simple-minded, preoccupied with gigantism and populism, and intended to overshadow the more pressing social needs of the artwork's immediate locale. Hans Haacke's skeletal horse in Trafalgar Square is possibly an exception.
Given the context and that Haacke's work is based on the skeleton of a horse (hollowing out the heroic chargers ridden by the bronze and marble military men that line Whitehall), and given that almost all public art - created as it is by committee - is terrible, I'd say Haacke's Gift Horse is really quite noble.
Professor Scott King, chair of visual communications, University of the Arts, London
- letter to the London Evening Standard, 9th March 2015