Cornelia Parker Meets Rebecca Stephens / Andrew Gifford Meets Dave Allen

Tilda Swinton asleep in the glass box in Cornelia Parker’s installation, The Maybe (1995). Other objects displayed in the work. Photographs of the garden shed, its blowing up, and the reassembly of the fragments, Cold Dark Matter: an Exploded View (1991), shortlisted for the 1997 Turner Prize. Parker talks about wanting her "date" to be some kind of traveller or explorer. Rebecca Stephens, mountaineer, on a snow-covered mountain. Stephens talks about "passion" – to paint and to climb mountains. Her voice over a shot of her climbing, and over a picture of Parker’s Shirt Burnt by a Meteorite (1996), short-listed for the 1997 Turner Prize. Parker with a feather from a pillow from Sigmund Freud’s couch. Stephens wonders about what makes a piece of "modern art". Parker’s Exhaled Blanket (1996). Wire. Bubbles. Parker lying on Freud’s couch, listening to Stephens’s voice describing a day’s climbing on Everest. Stephens on a climb. Parker in Stephens’s house. She shows Stephens some objects she’s collected. Stephens shows some of her souvenirs. Stephens looking at photographs of some of Parker’s work, including Thirty Pieces of Silver (1989). Stephens shows Parker slides of her climbs. Parker and Stephens going up to the Whispering Gallery in St Paul’s Cathedral; at the top of the Cathedral. Parker talks about the ideas she is thinking about for her art work. Stephens on the climbing wall underneath the Hammersmith Flyover. Her VO talks about the way Parker constantly collects bits and pieces that she finds. Parker in St Paul’s. Collecting fluff and dust from the Whispering Gallery. Stephens climbing. Her VO on Parker’s dust collecting. Parker in her darkroom, using dust and fluff to make slides. Her VO on fluff and using "a relic as a negative". The resulting images. A photograph of grooves in a gramophone record that belonged to Adolf Hitler. She wonders if the jacket Stephens wore on Everest is made of feathers, considering making a photogram from some of them. Feathers. Parker hanging two photograms. Stephens hoping she likes the finished work. The two women look at the photograms of feathers and fluff. Parker presents Stephens with earplugs made of fluff from the Whispering Gallery. The finished photograms.Andrew Gifford carrying a painting into the John Martin gallery. Examples of his "Turneresque" landscape paintings. Gifford painting as sun sets on Teesside. His VO explaining that he wants to show people the beauty of his local area. Gifford talking about the different light; a real Middlesbrough landscape. Gifford with one of his light installations, made from argon and MDF. Dave Allan, public relations manager of Middlesbrough football club, watching a game. His VO suggesting that Teesside has "a bad image". Industrial landscape, goods train. Night scene, which he believes looks "fantastic". He explains what he knows about Gifford’s; he hopes they both have the same "down to earth" attitude. Gifford on a train. Allan watching the football. Allan greets Gifford as he arrives at his house. He confesses that he doesn’t really like landscape painting. They look at slides of Gifford’s work. Gifford and Allan on the beach near the pier at Saltburn. Gifford and Allan discuss painting sunsets. Gifford prefers to paint the light at this time of day rather than the sunset itself. Allan says he likes Gifford’s landscapes. Gifford at work on a seascape. Allan VO talks about them seeing "great crashing waves" on their visit to Saltburn. Gifford working on a landscape near Middlesbrough. Allan in his office. His VO talking about Gifford’s work. Gifford working on a light installation. The completed piece which he thinks will both surprise and please Allan. Gifford hanging the light installation and three paintings in Allan’s bedroom. Allan waits downstairs. Allan’s surprise and delight at the installation and its optical illusion effect. He also likes the landscapes. Viewing by Allan’s friends. His VO saying how beautiful Middlesbrough looks in the paintings. Middlesbrough at night. Credits.

Commentary Tim Marlow;
Title Music Aphex Twin.
With thanks to The Freud Museum,
St Paul’s Cathedral;
Middlesbrough Football Club.
Photography John Goodyer,
Conall Freeley,
Spike Geilinger,
Richard Gillespie,
Andrew Greenwood;
Sound Ned Hards,
Stuart Pickering,
Nigel Chatters,
Chris Watson;
Dubbing Mixers Chris Graver,
Richard West;
On-Line Editor Phil Southby;
Unit Manager Erica Banks;
Production Assistants Emma Shakespeare,
Linda Dalling;
Graphic Design Christine Büttner;
Film Editors Colin Minchin,
Guy Crossman;
Research Emily Kennedy;
Executive Producer Arts Council of England
Rodney Wilson;
Director (Cornelia Parker) Teresa Griffiths;
Director (Andrew Gifford) Kate Misrahi;
Series Editor Keith Alexander.
A BBC/Arts Council of England Co-Production.
© BBC MCMXCVII.