Big 4
The Big 4 so far
The Big 4 is a 50-foot-high metal '4' outside Channel 4’s Horseferry Road headquarters in London. It was originally constructed in 2007 to celebrate both the Channel's 25th anniversary year and the launch of the Big Art Project. The installation mirrors the Channel's on-air identity, with metal bars forming the logo only when viewed from a particular angle.
Since it’s inception a variety of artists, both internationally renowned and emerging talent, have created ‘skins’ for the 4. The project has since evolved into a regular competition for art and design students and graduates to come up with a fun and playful design to inspire and entertain passers-by, visitors and Channel 4 staff.
Hannah Gourlay's Big 4 (Photo: Dave King)
More images in the Big 4 gallery »
So far the Big 4 has been adapted by the acclaimed British photographer Nick Knight, the Turner Prize nominee Mark Titchner, the Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui, Fine Art graduate and winner of 2009’s competition Stephanie Imbeau, and, most recently, Fashion and Textiles graduate and winner of the 2010 competition Hannah Gourlay.
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, enabled the public to record their own thoughts and feelings about the media on video in a booth within the structure itself, the edited footage played back on monitors mounted up on the 4.
El Anatsui's Big 4 involved the use of newspaper printing plates, suggesting the ephemerality of the vast quantity of information we have to process and our longing for time to review and digest.
Stephanie Imbeau’s Shelter softened the structure by covering it with umbrellas to create an organic form representing the diverse population of London and the notion of ‘the giving of second life’.
Hannah Gourlay’s Time to Breath was designed to create a brief moment of calm for passersby. Her design involves covering each section of the ‘4’ with fabric and sees the 4 softly breathe, inhaling and exhaling slowly. At night it is lit from within to create a gentle glow that lightens and darkens at the same pace.
Please click here to view a short film on Time to Breathe and how it was installed.
The artists were all chosen by a panel of art and design experts who have included: Jan Younghusband (formerly Commissioning Editor, Arts and Performance, Channel 4); Brett Foraker (formerly Network Creative Director, Channel 4); Gus Casely-Hayford (formerly Executive Director, Arts Strategy, Arts Council); Michael Morris (Co-Director, Art Angel); Will Gompertz (formerly Director, Tate Media); Tim Marlow (Director of Exhibitions, White Cube Gallery); Maurice Blik, Sculptor and fellow of the RSA; Ruth Mackenzie OBE, Cultural Olympiad Director; and Tabitha Jackson, Channel 4’s Commissioning Editor, Arts.
