BBC Four celebrates abstract art with new season of programming and events

Cassian Harrison, Channel Editor, BBC Four says: “Abstraction is one of the boldest innovations in the entire history of art, and it’s fabulous to be able to turn BBC Four over to celebrating its achievements. From commissioning original on-air artworks and powerful and polemical film-making to driving events, discussion and coverage across the BBC, BBC Four Goes Abstract is a really exciting moment for the channel, demonstrating its distinctively in-depth and innovative approach to big subjects.”

Channel idents

To celebrate the season, for the first time BBC Four has asked four of Britain’s most exciting artists who work with the moving image, to produce their very own channel idents, each inspired by the spirit of abstraction. The four idents will premiere on BBC Four in early September and will be created by the 2013 Turner Prize winning artist, Laure Prouvost, acclaimed artists John Smith, Sebastian Buerkner and this year’s Turner Prize nominee James Richards.

Merseyside Mondrian

The BBC, Tate Liverpool, Culture Liverpool and Open Culture will join forces to help create a spectacular artwork on the pier head in Liverpool made up of over 1,000 people from across Merseyside.

Inspired by the work of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian - whose most recognised works are abstract paintings of coloured squares, rectangles, and thick black lines - the installation will be a reflection of the people and passions of Merseyside with communities and groups coming together to help create a living and breathing abstract masterpiece.

Robin Kemp, Event Editor, BBC North, says: "It's in the spirit of the abstract artists to do something a bit unexpected, so we thought a huge masterpiece made out of people seemed like a fitting tribute! Liverpool is filled with colour, excitement and energy so we hope as many different groups and communities as possible want to come and be a part of the spectacle."

Each of the squares in the work will be curated by a different group with some performing, some holding up blocks of colour and others creating their own work of art, each of which will create a solid block of colour as part of the overall piece. The 1,000 contributors will come together on Saturday 6 September when the artwork will be photographed and filmed from the top of the Liver Building - it will be a Mondrian made of people.

The final art installation will be featured on The One Show. All groups will need to be available on Saturday 6 September between 13.00 and 16.00.

If you’d like to take part please complete a short online form before Tuesday 19 August 2014, which you can find here - then Open Culture will be in contact.

Television, Radio and BBC Arts Online

BBC Four will host a range of programmes bringing together art critics, artists and architects influenced by abstract arts most significant works. BBC Radio 3 and other radio networks will host a series of discussions and programmes while BBC Arts Online content will include a guide to Jackson Pollock and a series of short films.

Season highlights will include:

The Rules Of Abstraction with Matthew Collings, BBC Four

Art critic and painter Matthew Collings explores the rise of the most influential and mysterious artistic development of the modern era: abstract art. Drawing on both his knowledge as a critic and his experience as an artist, Matthew reveals how and why abstract art came about, and how it rose to prominence in the art world but also all around us in modern culture. At a time when conceptual art seems to have come to dominate the art world, Matthew argues instead that abstraction is the key artistic story of the 20th century.

The Russian Revolutionary: Zaha Hadid on Kazimir Malevich, BBC Four

One of the world’s leading architects, Zaha Hadid is known for her futuristic architecture, but her work has its roots in an art movement that is 100 years old. She has long cited the Russian abstract artist Kazimir Malevich as one of her greatest inspirations and in this film, together with curators and critics, Zaha Hadid considers the influence of Malevich’s avant-garde art on her avant-garde architecture.

Abstract Artists In Their Own Words, BBC Four

Abstract Artists In Their Own Words unlocks the BBC archives to tell the story of abstract art in Britain. The film will feature memorable clips from the archive, including the BBC’s landmark 1961 film profiling Barbara Hepworth, and a classic episode of Arena in which the painter John Hoyland works on an entire painting over the course of six days.

Also featured is archive revealing the often uncertain public response to abstraction – including a memorable Nationwide film in which Anthony Caro discusses his work with a group of students who have been mistakenly using a sculpture as a bike rack.

The film features contributions from a wide variety of experts and admirers of abstract art including Tim Marlow and James Fox as well as Andrew Marr and Colm Tóibin. Also featured are rare, newly filmed interviews with two of the legendary figures of British abstract art, Howard Hodgkin and Gillian Ayres as well as one of Britain’s leading contemporary abstract artists, Fiona Rae.

Figuring Out Abstract Art - Free Thinking, BBC Radio 3

Free Thinking, BBC Radio 3’s arts and ideas programme, presents a special event from Tate Modern, London, as presenter Anne McElvoy leads a debate titled ‘Figuring Out Abstract Art’. She will be joined by scientist Baroness Susan Greenfield, artist Fiona Rae, poet Paul Farley and artist and TV presenter Matthew Collings. The event takes place on Thursday 11 September (6:30-8pm) alongside Tate Modern’s Kazimir Malevich exhibition and will be broadcast on Free Thinking on Thursday 18 September from 10-10:45pm. Free tickets are available from bbc.co.uk/showsandtours.

Full season details to be announced in September.

Notes to Editors

The Rules of Abstraction with Matthew Collings is executive produced by Denys Blakeway for Blakeway Productions; The Russian Revolutionary: Zaha Hadid on Kazimir Malevich is executive produced by Tanya Hudson; and Abstract Artists In Their Own Words will be executive produced by Richard Bright, both for BBC Productions. Commissioned by Cassian Harrison, Channel Editor, BBC Four, and Mark Bell, Head of Arts Commissioning.

Laure Prouvost

In 2013 she was the winner of the Turner Prize, nominated for the exhibition Farfromwords, Whitechapel Gallery, London, which toured to Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy (both 2013) and her film installation Wantee, as part of Schwitter’s in Britain, Tate Britain, London (2013). In 2014 she had her first US solo exhibition at the New Museum, New York, in addition to solo exhibitions at Morra Greco Foundation, Naples, Extra City Kunsthall, Antwerp and Danspace, New York. Upcoming solo exhibitions of her work include the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin and Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Mexico City. This year, she will participate in the The Great Acceleration, Taipei Biennial, Taipei, Taiwan; Portraits d’Intérieurs, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Monaco; More Real Than Reality Itself, Contemporary Art Museum Houston, Houston, Texas and Mirror City, Hayward Gallery, London.

Recent exhibitions include The Meeting, MOT International, Brussels (2014) Meanwhile...Suddenly...and Then, Lyon Biennial, Lyon, FR (2013) The Assistants curated by Fionn Mead, David Kordansky Gallery, L.A. (2013) The Wanderer, Gallery TPW, Toronto, CA (2013) Uber den Dilettantismus, Halle 14, Leipzig (2012) Reflexion und Einfühlung, KAI 10 Arthena Foundation, Dusseldorf (2012), Soundworks, ICA, London (2012) Time Again, Sculpture Center, New York (2011), Flacas Portikus, Frankfurt (2011), All These Things Think Link, Flat Time House, London (2010) and Tate Lightbox, Tate Britain, London (2010). She has screened work in film festivals internationally and won the Principal Prize at both the 56th and 57th Oberhausen Film Festivals.

James Richards

James Richards (1983, UK) is an artist living and working in london. Recent solo exhibitions include: Rodeo, Istanbul, Turkey (2013); Center for Contemporary Art, Kitakyushu, Japan (2012); and Not Blacking Out, Just Turning The Lights Off, Chisenhale Gallery, London (2011). Art Now: Clunie Reid and James Richards, Tate Britain (2010).

Recent group exhibitions include:The Encyclopaedic Palace, 55th International Art Exhibition, Venice (2013); Otherwise Unexplained Fires, Malmo Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden (2013); Frozen Lakes, Artist Space, New York, USA (2013) and Speculations On Anonymous Materials, Fridericianum, Kassel (2013) Richards was the recipient of the 2012 Jarman award for film and video, the 2013 DAAD scholarship and the 2014/15 Ars Viva prize for visual arts. He is shortlisted for the 2014 Turner Prize.

John Smith

John Smith (born Walthamstow, East London, 1952) is a visual artist who works mainly with film, video and installation.

Smith’s recent solo exhibitions include Figge von Rosen Gallery, Cologne (2013), Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin (2013), Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover (2012), Turner Contemporary, Margate (2012), Weserburg Museum for Modern Art, Bremen (2012), Uppsala Art Museum, Sweden (2011) and PEER Gallery, London (2011). Recent group shows include Invocable Reality, Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain (2014), Constellations, Tate Liverpool (2013-14), Image Counter Image, Haus der Kunst, Munich (2012), Has The Film Already Started?, Tate Britain (2011-12), Berlin Biennial (2010) and The Talent Show, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis and MoMA PS1, New York (2010). Smith’s films have been profiled through retrospectives at film festivals in Oberhausen, Tampere, St. Petersburg, La Rochelle, Mexico City, Uppsala, Cork, Regensburg, Karlstad, Winterthur, Bristol and Glasgow.

John Smith’s work has been awarded major prizes at many international film festivals. In 2011 he received a Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists and in 2013 he was the winner of Film London’s Jarman Award.

Sebastian Buerkner

Sebastian Buerkner (born in Berlin, Germany) lives and works in London. He completed an MA at Chelsea College of Art & Design in 2002 and was awarded their Fellowship Residency 2003. From 2004 his art practice has shifted exclusively to animation. Recent solo shows include Kunsthaus im KunstkulturQuartier Nuremberg, Germany; Tramway, Glasgow; Sketch, London; The Showroom Gallery, London; Whitechapel Project Space; London and LUX at Lounge Gallery, London; Art on the Underground, Screen at Canary Wharf, London.

He has also participated in group shows and screenings at Tate Britain, Tate Modern, London; Tate Liverpool; Site Gallery, Sheffield; Barbican, Whitechapel Gallery, South London Gallery, London and Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna. His film Purple Grey (2006) was broadcast as part of AnimateTV on Channel 4. This year he won the Tiger Award for his latest film The Chimera of M. at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

VAA

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