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Big 4
The internationally acclaimed Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui has become the third artist to put his unique stamp on The Big 4, the installation that brings the '4' logo to life on the steps of the channel's Horseferry Road headquarters.
El Anatsui's medium on this occasion is the newspaper and magazine printing plate. 'This work references the ubiquitous and ephemeral nature of news formats in current times,' the sculptor told the Big Art Project. 'When about to discard old newspapers, I have noticed that most people begin to read the articles they come across. It is as if the speed in which they are flung at us is so great, and the need to process the information so urgent, that we wished for a little more time to digest. And these stolen moments begin to satisfy that longing.'
Channel 4 would like to thank St Ives Web Division, part of St Ives Plc, Trinity Mirror Plc and The Independent for donating plates for the El Anatsui Big 4.
The 50-foot-high metal '4' was constructed to celebrate both the Channel's 25th anniversary year and the launch of the Big Art Project. It was unveiled by Culture Minister Margaret Hodge on 16 October 2007. The installation mirrors the channel's on-air identity, with metal bars forming the logo only when viewed from a particular angle.
The Big 4 has previously been adapted by the acclaimed British photographer Nick Knight and Turner Prize nominee Mark Titchner. Nick Knight's work, Heart, with sound design by Nick Ryan, involved biconvex screens carrying images of skin and musculature, giving the impression that the structure was gently breathing as you moved around it. Mark Titchner's work, Find Our World in Yours, allowed the public to record their own thoughts and feelings about the media, with edited footage played back on video monitors mounted on the structure.
Ghanaian sculptor, El Anatsui’s version of the Big 4, installed at the entrance to Channel 4's headquarters in Horseferry Road, London.
More images in the Big 4 gallery »
There will be one more adaptation of the Big 4, by a young arts graduate selected through a competition run in conjunction with the Saatchi Gallery.
The established artists were chosen for the commission by a committee of art experts including Jan Younghusband (Commissioning Editor, Arts and Performance, Channel 4); Brett Foraker (Network Creative Director, Channel 4); Gus Casely-Hayford (formally Executive Director, Arts Strategy, Arts Council); Michael Morris (Co-Director, Art Angel); Will Gompertz (Director, Tate Media); and Tim Marlow (Director of Exhibitions, White Cube Gallery).
