BBC collaboration will showcase what culture is saying about modern life.
Radio 4 and Artangel are collaborating for the first time in ‘Open’, a £1m initiative to enable artists working across all types of media to share “ground-breaking projects that will transform the UK's cultural landscape.” Shortlisted artists will have the opportunity to develop their proposals with mentors who include a range of influential cultural figures. Previous ArtAngel projects include Michael Landy’s Break Down, the public destruction in a London department store of everything the artist owned. Artangel directors Jake Lingwood and Michael Morris will host 12 open platforms across the UK to meet potential participants between January 28 and February 26, and are aiming that the initiative should be as ambitious: “Artangel is adamant that nothing potentially exceptional should be thought of as impossible.” Gwyneth Williams, Controller of Radio 4 said that the collaboration would allow them to showcase what culture is saying about the way we live now, at time when “political and economic ideas often seem to reference the past”. Five artists, including Christian Marclay and Susan Hiller, will participate in Open Air, a series of short pieces scheduled for broadcast immediately after the Today programme.