Anya Gallaccio, Richard Wentworth and Carlos Cruz-Diez are amongst numerous visual artists commissioned as part of 14-18 NOW, the official cultural programme of the first world war centenary commemoration. The artists join writers, performers and broadcasters such as Sebastian Faulks, Stephen Fry, Ralph Steadman and Jeanette Winterson to create new works for this UK-wide programme which also includes the participatory project, Lights Out.
Part of the First World War Centenary Partnership and hosted within the Imperial War Museums, the £10m 14-18 NOW programme is jointly funded by The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and Arts Council England (ACE). Running from June to August 2014, the first edition of the programme will be centred on the anniversary of the declaration of war (4 August 1914). The two subsequent biennials will mark the start of the Battle of the Somme (July 2016) and the centenary of the Armistice (November 2018).
Co-commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, Tate Liverpool and 14-18 Now, one of the public projects to kick of the programme will be Carlos Cruz-Diez’s contemporary version of a dazzle ship. Using camouflage techniques introduced during the first world war, Cruz-Diez will paint the Edmund Gardner, situated in the dry dock adjacent to Albert Dock in Liverpool. A former pilot ship, it is now part of the Merseyside Maritime Museum’s collection.
Gallaccio will be creating a new installation for the former military testing site at Orford Ness, an intriguing location highly coveted by site-responsive artists. Her work, commissioned for the Aldeburgh Festival‘s visual art programme, SNAP, will function in two locations in Suffolk, including at Snape Maltings.
In London, Art on the Underground will be presenting three commissions over the three biennials. This year a work by Richard Wentworth on the theme of communication will be unveiled.
Echoing Sir Edward Grey’s famous epitaph, “the lamps are going out all over Europe,” the programme will culminate with Lights Out on 4 August. Marking the anniversary of Britian’s declaration of war on Germany, the British public will be invited to turn their lights off en masse. Specially commissioned free digital lightworks will be available for the public to download in this nationwide act of commemoration.
Details of the 14-18 NOW artists, projects and partners can be found at 1418now.org.uk
