Eight artists and cultural organisations will, from Thursday (9 June-31 July), take over the former headquarters of the BBC in west London, where shows such as Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Doctor Who were once filmed.
The site-specific works, which draw on the 94-year history of the BBC and the surrounding White City area, will be installed in the 12-storey, 1960s East Tower, which is due to be demolished later this year. “Public events and unveilings of works will happen at different times over the next two months,” a project spokesman says.
The most dramatic installation by the Turner Prize nominee Catherine Yass involves suspending a grand piano across the exterior of the East Tower. “Yass’s proposal evokes the presence and absence of the building,” a project statement says.
Meanwhile, Hilary Powell, who works with reclaimed industrial materials, has made a piece with local residents based on BBC children’s TV, which was based in the East Tower until its relocation to the new MediaCity site in Salford in 2011. The ceramicist James Rigler will create new sculptures based on the Brutalist building’s architectural elements, while the computer generated imagery specialist Alan Warburton will render the East Tower in CGI.
The works have been commissioned by the White Noise organisation, a team of writers and culture professionals who are collaborating on a “live research project about urban change” focused on White City.
White Noise is backed by the developer Stanhope, which is redeveloping the BBC site into a mixed-use venue incorporating 950 homes and a Soho House members’ club. Early 2013, more than 3,500 BBC staff relocated from the historic broadcast centre, which launched in 1960, to New Broadcasting House in central London.