Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Sculpture so Different, so Appealing? - ACE138.2

A number of objects – 16mm projector and film strips, battered armchairs, a painting – with chanting voices over asking "just… what is it…?...different…so appealing…?" etc. Car tyres being sent up a human chain to a walkway on the South Bank complex, London. David Mach, sculptor, describing what’s going to happen, the form the sculpture will take, that of a nuclear submarine. His VO over critical newspaper cartoons and headlines, and reports of the fire which damaged the work. Commentary describing "public fury" over art works in public places which don’t conform to traditional ideas of art. The Albert Memorial; the Victoria Memorial, Peter Pan and other pieces dating from a time when public sculpture "had particular roles".in the urban environment. Modern sculpture near Houses of Parliament; Zemran (1972), by William Pye on the South Bank, Carle Andre’s Equivalent VIII (1978) and other pieces in Tate Modern. Works from 1981-1983 by by Julian Opie, Edward Allington, Tony Cragg, Kate Blacker, Bill Woodrow, Antony Gormley, Anish Kapoor, Sarah Bradpiece, and David Mach. Voice over of Sandy Nairne, curator, on why modern sculpture caused public outcry, developments in sculpture since the late 1970s when it became formally inventive as well as attractive to the public. Magazine articles and illustrations on modern sculpture and design. Nairne VO continues; contemporary sculpture is more accessible to people outside the art world.