BBC launches summer Pop Art season
David Farnor | On 17, Jul 2015
This August, BBC Four will leads a week-long celebration of Pop Art, with programmes across BBC Four, radio and online.
Titled “BBC Four Goes Pop”, the week-long celebration of Pop Art will look at the influence of the art movement through special programmes on BBC Four, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and BBC 6 Music, as well as on iPlayer.
Digital content will include a bespoke Pop Art collection, including a short film on artist Allen Jones, galleries of Warhol’s album covers and Billy Name’s photographs of Warhol’s Silver Factory, and features on Transmitting Andy Warhol (Tate Liverpool), German Pop Art and Scottish Pop Artist Eduardo Paolozzi.
Part of the season will also see the BBC uncover archive shows from its past for BBC iPlayer, as part of its ongoing BBC Four Collections on the VOD service, which feature classic, full-length BBC TV programmes. Curated by Alastair Sooke, the collection include Pop Goes The Easel (1962) by Ken Russell, Roy Lichtenstein: Pop Idol (2004), Monitor 139: Joe Tilson And Peter Brook (1964), Release Pop Goes To The Hayward (1969) and The Visual Scene: Playing It Cool (1969).
New programmes on BBC Four will include Soup Cans & Superstars: How Pop Art Changed The World, a documentary presented by writer and art critic Alastair Sooke, who champions Pop Art as one of the most significant – and influential – art movements of the 20th century; A Day In The Life Of Andy Warhol, in which Steven Smith seeks to get closer to Andy Warhol, the man and artist, by experiencing a day in the life of the Pop Art superstar; What Do Artists Do All Day?, in which Peter Blake and Derek Boshier provide insight into their working practices in What Do Artists Do All Day?; and A Brief History Of Graffiti, which will see Art Historian Richard Clay explore the extraordinary story of graffiti.
The BBC has also commissioned three of Britain’s leading pop artists – Peter Blake, Derek Boshier and Peter Phillips – to create three new channel idents for BBC Four, to run throughout the season. The trio starred in Russell’s seminal 1962 film.
Cassian Harrison, Channel Editor, BBC Four, says: “Pop Art remains one of the striking and dynamic cultural movements of the 20th Century. It is the moment when high art and mass-production collided for the first time; reshaping our visual landscape and launching a whole new generation of art ‘stars’. BBC Four is delighted to go Pop in celebration of their fabulous maverick creativity.”