In 1982, who would have believed that a handful of young British artists
would gain the status and notoriety of footballers? In 1992 Channel 4 put the Turner Prize on television and so helped start a revolution in public attitudes that has thrust contemporary visual arts into the centre of Britain’s cultural life. Programmes like Operatunity and Ballet Changed My Life have engaged millions of new viewers with the high arts. Channel 4 has been a powerful force as a patron of cutting edge contemporary arts – commissioning some of the world’s greatest filmmakers to produce the entire canon of Samuel Beckett’s dramatic work on film, commissioning more than a dozen operas, including the only production of John Adams’ Death of Klinghoffer, and, most recently, working with communities and artists to commission half a dozen major pieces of public art through The Big Art Project.
In This Chapter
- Introduction
- The New Bauhaus by Sir Christopher Frayling
- Andy Warhol Street Exhibition
- Tune In by Howard Goodall
- Tate & Style by Waldemar Januszczak
- Record Breakers: Opera on Channel 4 by Rupert Christiansen
- Serious Operation by Paul Daniel
- Gallery
Chapter Gallery
