London’s Public Art: Lincoln Square bench

Around the back of the Royal Courts of Justice is a modern-looking building and a new form of public art that you can sit on.

The modern building is a new block of residential flats replacing a Seifert-designed 1966 office building, and was largely constructed between 2015 and 2020. Although called Lincoln Square, it’s not square-shaped – more of a composite polygon, but I guess Lincoln Polygon was less fashionable for the rich folk buying flats in the heart of central London.

As with most new developments, there’s a requirement for some form of public art to be included, and the French-Argentinian artist Pablo Reinoso was selected in April 2017 to create a metalwork art installation.

The original design was for just the arch, but they later added the bench as well, which the developer said was “to optimise the placemaking properties of the sculpture and setting”

Let’s gloss over the arty speak: “The juxtaposed relationship of the organic yet planned form of the sculpture against the regular, structured form of the building is an expression of the relationship of human consciousness with the constructs of the Legal System. Structured, yet capable of unstructured movement before returning to structure.”

Or as any sane rational person would say – it’s a bench.

And quite a nice one at that.

You can find it on the corner of Carey Street and Serle Street.