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Giant
art installation by Fiona Rae unveiled at Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Broadcasting House,
London
A
giant art installation was launched today (Tuesday 1 July) on the
prow of Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Broadcasting House, London.
The
image, Signal, by artist Fiona Rae is the first of a programme of
temporary art commissions developed by the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú
to accompany the refurbishment of its iconic central London building.
The installation
was launched by John Smith, Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's Director of Finance, Property
and Business Affairs and Alan Yentob, Director of Drama, Entertainment
and CÂ鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú.
With
Broadcasting House under scaffolding for approximately a year while
the building beneath is transformed, the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú has initiated a Temporary
Programme of large-scale artworks to be displayed on the prow of
the building, commissioned from established and emerging artists.
Signal
is the first of four large-scale art installations which will cover
the prow of the building between now and February 2004.
Under
the theme of broadcasting, the artists selected for the programme
are Fiona Rae, William Furlong and Liz Rideal.
The
fourth commission in this series will be the winner of a Blue Peter
design competition based a child's eye view of broadcasting.
Between
July 2003 and February 2004, four installations will be erected
on the prow of Broadcasting House:
| 1
Jul – 31 Aug 2003 |
Fiona
Rae |
Signal |
| Sep
– Nov 2003 |
William
Furlong |
Acts
of Inscribing |
| Dec
2003 – Jan 2004 |
Blue
Peter winner |
Ìý |
| Jan–
Feb 2004 |
Liz
Rideal |
Kerfuffle |
The
redevelopment of Broadcasting House, London, the UK's first purpose-built
broadcasting venue, hailed as a superb example of art deco architecture
when it opened in 1932, will establish it as the largest live broadcasting
centre in the world.
It
is the flagship project in an ambitious development programme for
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú property UK-wide.
Other
plans include major new buildings at White City, improvements to
Television Centre (from 2008), Pacific Quay - a flagship development
for Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Scotland in Glasgow, the Mailbox - the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's new base in
the heart of Birmingham and new developments in Leeds, Leicester,
Norwich and Hull.
Continuing
the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's long tradition as a patron of the arts, inspirational
architectural design and public art will be at the heart of the
new buildings.
At
Broadcasting House there are a number of commissioning strands:
the Temporary Programme, Artists on Site and Permanent Commissions.
During
2002-2003, under the Artists on Site programme, a number of artists
have been invited to respond to the changing environment in and
around Broadcasting House.
Videos
have been created by Catherine Yass, Tom Gidley and Brian Catling;
Richard Wentworth and Ruth Maclennan developed a pilot education
project, creating a film with 15 nine-year-olds from Gateway School,
Westminster; and William Furlong has researched a sound promenade
/audiowork created from objects in the former Sound Effects Store.
John
Riddy and Nick Danziger have been appointed to document the people
and architectural changes involved in this unique architectural
and artistic project and Rachel Whiteread invited to make a work
in response to Room 101, the inspiration for the notorious room
in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty Four.
One
of the key objectives of the new Broadcasting House development
is to engage with Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú audiences and the public in general in a more
direct and accessible way than in the past.
The
architectural vision for the building has this at its core with
new public spaces being created which will be a focus for a spectrum
of cultural, artistic, media and entertainment actitivies.
The
public space Permanent Commissions will be launched later this year,
subject to planning approvals.
The
development at White City aims to integrate the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú far more into
the local community, and to increase public access.
The
public art programme there aims to define White City as a new destination
in West London.
It
includes art and architecture collaborations with lighting artwork
by Tim Head and colour advice from Japanese artist Yuko Shiraishi;
video art and photography; education projects with local schools;
and audio art by way of a commission to American artist Bill Fontana.
Notes
to Editors
Broadcasting
House: Temporary Public Art Programme
Fiona
Rae: Signal
Artist's
Statement: The image for the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú contains a multiplicity
of languages, signs and forms isolated from their original contexts
in order to combine in new and unexpected ways.
These
images and fragments of language carry with them vestiges of their
original meaning and yet in their new setting can also suggest other
interpretations.
It's like telling a story using half-remembered words and glimpses
of mysterious imagery to create a vivid world in someone else's
imagination.
I think
that it has a strong relationship with the notion of broadcasting
in that it demonstrates that a literal explanation is not always
necessary for clear communication and fresh understanding.
Biographical
Details: Born in Hong Kong in 1963, Fiona Rae lives and
works in London. She graduated from Goldsmith's College, London,
in 1987.
The
imagery in her paintings quotes from an eclectic and wide variety
of sources including graphic design, fashion, music, film and comics.
Her
use of colour, texture, movement and form are all strongly related
to the history and activity of painting.
In
the late 1990s Rae began to use a computer in her work and with
this the inclusion of more hard-edged pictorial elements such as
fonts.
She
has exhibited in Europe, America and Japan and her work is in the
collections including Arts Council England, Tate, London and the
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon.
She
is represented by Timothy Taylor Gallery in the UK.
William
Furlong: Acts of Inscribing
Artist's
Statement: The image will be one of my photographs of the
sound effects store in old Broadcasting House, a room which no longer
exists.
It
held an extraordinary collection of objects (from buzzers, locks,
kettle whistles to shoes, straps, bells, telephones, tins, toys
and drums) all united by their ability to make a sound.
The
image with its use of perspective invites the eye into space of
Broadcasting House, turning the building inside out, and representing
the essential history of broadcast sound in the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú.
It
will be accompanied by speakers playing various choreographed sequences
of sounds recorded from the objects in the store. To the listener
it will appear as if these humorous and engaging sounds are hovering
just in front of the hoarding.
Biographical
Details: Born in Woking in 1944, William Furlong lives
and works in London. His work engages with and explores sound and
its reception and perception.
Furlong
manipulates, choreographs and interprets sound, working with a myriad
of different sources from conversation, speech and dialogue and
its many individual nuances to the sounds of birds singing.
For
the last thirty years he has edited Audio Arts, a magazine of contemporary
art, recording and documenting conversations and interviews with
artists.
Furlong
is recognised for his on-going and important contribution and engagement
with this medium as artist and commentator.
He
has exhibited widely nationally and internationally and recently
had a solo show at the South London Gallery and is currently making
a work for the Chianti Sculpture Park, Siena.
Liz
Rideal: Kerfuffle
Artist's
Statement: A deeply voyeuristic image tantalises the viewer
– enticing us into a visual game of 'what is behind that curtain?'
The
red drape plays with the idea of concealing a wrapped Broadcasting
House, prior to revealing a transformed building to the public.
The
startling colour of this resonant and striking photographic collage,
jumps out at us, grasping our attention, as the hands pull back
the fabric symbolising dramatic action and communication.
In
Shakespeare's Hamlet there is mystery and intrigue – the death
of Polonius behind the arras … the mutable fabric symbolising
and representing the demarcation line between reality and fantasy,
this world and that – cloth in, and as, performance.
The
curtain, vestige of the theatre and a relic of the painted portrait,
is manipulated to perform within the miniature space of the mundane
photo-booth.
The
tiny photographs (measuring 5 x 4 cms) provide the basic elements
for this transformation into giant artwork, provoking our suspension
of disbelief.
This
visual conundrum - a celebration of the evolution of the dramatic
arts from radio through to digital tv - will disappear inviting
the audience to become the spectators of the future Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú.
Biographical
Details: Born in England in 1954, Liz Rideal lives and
works in London.
Since
1985 she has photographed objects and events using the photo-booth,
and combined these images in a series of collages.
Mediated
by the framing device of the photo-booth, the images reference the
process and performance of picture-making and photography.
Scale
and modular repetition of the individual photo-booth images play
with the overall size, format and layout of the final images, with
a trompe l'oeil effect.
She
has exhibited widely including solo shows at The Photographer's
Gallery, London, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, and group exhibitions
at the Palais du Louvre, Paris, The Coutauld Institute, London,
Threadwaxing Space, New York and the Barbican Art Gallery, London.
The
Broadcasting House Public Art Programme is devised and managed by
Modus Operandi Art Consultants.
The
White City public art strategy has been devised and developed by
[APM] Art Project Management.
Broadcasting
House, London - the creation of a major new broadcast centre
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