Channel 4 - "Big 4" project for Big Art 2008

[Marcel]

We've been contacted by Channel 4 to highlight this so I promised to pass the details onto everyone.

Channel 4 brings its logo to life to launch Big Art in 2008

Channel 4 is bringing its ‘4’ logo to life in a major new art commission in the run up to Channel 4’s 25th anniversary on 2nd November. A 48 foot-high steel ‘4’ is being constructed on the steps of the channel’s headquarters in Horseferry Road, London. The Big 4 will be unveiled by the Arts Minister Margaret Hodge at the official unveiling on 16th October at 11:15am.

The towering installation, designed by Freestate, in conjunction with award-winning engineers, Atelier One, will mirror the channel’s award-winning idents with steel bars forming the instantly recognisable ‘4’ logo only when viewed from a certain angle.

The work coincides with a major television series on public art and art in the built environment, the Big Art Project (www.channel4.com/bigart), which comes to Channel 4 screens in 2008.

Four artists over the course of 12 months will customise the Big 4 starting with Nick Knight one of Britain's most innovative and influential photographers, Mark Titchner, shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2006 and celebrated Ghanaian sculptor El-Anatsui. The fourth artist will be the winner of a competition open to young arts graduates, run in conjunction with the Saatchi Gallery.
{snip}
Jan Younghusband, Commissioning Editor, Arts and Performance at Channel 4, said: “We are committed to commissioning new work and working with artists on screen, and it is in this spirit that we have invited artists to customise the Big 4 installation at Channel Four, to bring art onto our front doorstep. As we’re on a public highway we hope that people will come and visit and enjoy the 48-foot high structure."(Put in bold by Marcel - That means you can go and photograph it people!)

About the Big Art Project (television series):

• Channel 4’s Big Art Project began filming in 2005 when people across the country were invited to nominate sites they felt would benefit from an art installation. More than 1,400 nominations were received by the channel from which seven sites were selected across the UK – Beckton, Belfast, Burnley, Cardigan, Isle of Mull, Sheffield and St Helens.
• The progress of the commissioning process is being filmed to offer a candid account of the successes and pitfalls on the journey towards achieving new public art works.
• The programme also investigates the broader debate surrounding national art – from the value of art in the built environment to the motivations and expectations when commissioning public art. In the series luminaries, including Antony Gormley and Tracey Emin, discuss contemporary art and its impact on communities.
• The artists are: art-collective Greyworld (Burnley); multi-media specialist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer (Cardigan); Spanish sculptor Jaume Plensa (St Helens); and, Danish rising-star Jeppe Hein (Isle of Mull).
• Channel 4 commissioned independent TV production company, Carbon Media together with Princess Productions, to document the progress of the Big Art Project.
• Arts Council England and The Art Fund are the lead partners in Big Art, committing a total of £1 million. Other funding bodies, including Creative Partnerships, The Northern Way and Arts and Business, have committed a further £1 million towards new work.

We've also been sent a link to a YouTube video and a flickr photostream.

[youtube]tUihUf1g7LE[/youtube]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14683626*N03

 

[Marcel]

 

[antc]

The "Big Art" project looks pretty cool. Will be interesting to see how the 4 is customised!