The Big 4 In London

Channel 4 in the London is sponsoring a series of public art projects: A mobile phone mob blog, seven new public artworks on viewer nominated sites and the Big 4 below. (From the Channel 4 Website )

Channel 4 is bringing its '4' logo to life in a major public art commission linked to the Big Art Project.

In the run up to the Channel's 25th anniversary on 2nd November (2007), a 50 foot-high metal '4' has been constructed for the steps of the Channel's headquarters in Horseferry Road, London SW1.

The towering installation will mirror the channel's on-air identity with metal bars forming the instantly recognisable logo only when viewed from a particular angle.

The Big 4 project is the first time the Channel has commissioned public art for its headquarters, which was built by the Richard Rodgers Partnership and opened in 1994.

The Big 4 was designed by architecture/design group Freestate in conjunction with award-winning engineers Atelier One. The Big 4 will be used an armature for installations by the following artists starting with Nick Knight this fall.
· British fashon photographer Nick Knight (Knight's modification at top of page)
· Ghanaian sculptor El-Anatsui
· Turner Prize nominee Mark Titchner.
(End of Channel 4 Website Quote)

Others have tried the big letter or number over time with Robert Indiana's "LOVE" as the most famous. This kind of artwork succeeds by its "in-your-face" directness. It's a big number and that's all. The Freestate "Big 4" inverts this methods and physically, but not intellectually, deconstructs the numeral. It definately feels like an armature waiting for the art - which is the design intent.

Robert Indiana - Venturi, Scott Brown - Ivan Chermayeff

In regards to the lines coming together from a single vantage point, see the Aesthetic Grounds essay on Italian perspective and the new 2007 UK project of Felice Varini plus the 2007 Landmark Wales competition. Infanger and Parkers' Landmark Wales entry forms a dragon shape in one view. The renewed popularity of the vantage point artwork must be in response to the accessibity of video production. The artwork is designed to solidify and break-up when the viewer and his/her camera is in motion.

Felice Varini, Cardiff Bay Barrage, Wales

The Big 4 breaks apart as the viewer moves.

I will have to wait for the Flickr images, but it appears that the viewer must stand in the street to merge the shapes into a "4".