Hang On A Minute Lads, I’ve Got A Great Idea…
A maquette of the installation, shown at the Royal Academy in 2011
New commission: Richard Wilson
Principal sponsor: Eddie Izzard
7 July-1 October 2012 www.dlwp.com
The De La Warr Pavilion is delighted to announce that Eddie Izzard, Honorary Patron of DLWP, is the principal sponsor of its most daring and ambitious artist’s commission yet – the recreation of the final scene of the film The Italian Job.
Artist Richard Wilson will balance a full-sized replica coach, from the roof of this iconic building which will provide a jaw-dropping spectacle for thousands of visitors this summer.
Opening to the public on 7 July 2012, Hang On A Minute Lads, I’ve Got A Great Idea… is part of the London 2012 Festival, a spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration from 21 June and running until 9 September 2012 bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK.
Eddie Izzard says:
“2012 is the year the Olympics & Paralympic Games return to the United Kingdom
and I think this is a perfect time to hang a large bus off the edge of a building in
a seaside town. As a huge fan of the classic film “The Italian Job”, I am proud to be
the Principal Sponsor of artist Richard Wilson’s 'Hang On A Minute Lads….'
By the end of 2012 I would hope that the word goes out from our country that not only do we run excellent world events, but also we balance coaches on the edges of
buildings like no one else ever could”.
Ruth Mackenzie, Director, Cultural Olympiad & London 2012 Festival, says:
“With an amazing programme like the London2012 Festival, I am not allowed
to have favourites, but if I were allowed, this commission would be a favourite.
It says everything about the world class ambition and innovation of the UK’s
great artists and arts centres, and as well as being brilliant, it has a quirky
humour that is Great as well as British”.
The title of the work is taken from the final words in the film spoken by
Michael Caine, when the coach, climbing the Italian Alps and carrying a gang
of robbers and a fortune in gold, swerves off the road and teeters precariously
over the edge of the mountain. With the gang at one end and the gold at the
other, the film finishes with an impossible dilemma – how can they save the
gold, themselves and the coach from falling over the edge? The Italian Job,
its British stars, the use of the Mini as the get-away car, the song “We Are The
Self-Preservation Society” and the predicament of the final scene have all
contributed to film becoming a national treasure. Hang On A Minute Lads…
embraces all those quintessential British cultural references, including its sense
of humour and, as such, is the perfect way to demonstrate the excellence of
current British creativity and artistic practice.
Richard Wilson’s fascination with this dilemma echoes many of his previous
works where the concept of the ‘what if’ is brought to reality. Defying formal
notions of architecture and engineering he brings thought- provoking and
sometimes gravity-defying spectacle to the public, Key works include
20:50 (1987), an installation using waste oil heralded as “one of the masterpieces
of the modern age” by the Guardian, Turning the Place Over (2008) a Liverpool
Capital of Culture commission where a large disc was sawn out of the façade
of a building and slowly turned over, and Slice of Reality (2000) – a section of
ship moored near the Millennium Dome, cut vertically to show its cross-section.
His most recent commission is Slipstream for Heathrow’s new Terminal 2.
These works are beautiful; spectacular in their high precision engineering and
conceptual brilliance.
Richard Wilson says:
“Being offered the second rooftop commission was a great challenge. I wanted
the building to be part of the work and viewing the coastal horizon made me
aware of the building’s edges and that they were just as important as the sum of
the surfaces. Producing this cinematic moment as a sculpture was not just about
a structural daring but more a metaphor about the absolute limits of anything,
being engaging. Being a red white & blue coach makes it a flag waving work for
the Olympics”.
Hang On A Minute Lads, I’ve Got A Great Idea… is generously supported by
Eddie Izzard, the Arts Council England Grants For The Arts via the National
Lottery and The Henry Moore Foundation.
Further sponsors for the commission will be announced shortly.
For further press information, please contact Sally Ann Lycett on 01424 229137
or 07966544505 or email sally.ann.lycett@dlwp.com
Editor’s Notes:
1. Richard Wilson
Richard Wilson has exhibited nationally and internationally for over thirty years
and has made major museum exhibitions and public works in countries as diverse
as Japan, USA, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Australia, China and numerous countries
throughout Europe. Wilson has also represented Britain in the Sydney, Sao Paulo,
Venice Biennials and Yokohama Triennal, was nominated for the Turner Prize on
two occasions and was awarded the prestigious DAAD residency in Berlin 1992-3.
He was one of a small number of artists invited to create a major public work for
The Millennium Dome and the only British artist invited to participate in
Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2000. Wilson was appointed Visiting Research
Professor at the University of East London in 2004 and made a Royal Academician
in 2006. He has just become Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy School
2. The De La Warr Pavilion
The De La Warr Pavilion is a modernist icon for contemporary arts on the
sea-front in Bexhill. The Pavilion’s first rooftop installation was Antony Gormley’s
Critical Mass in 2010, and its current exhibition of works by Andy Warhol (which
ends on 26 February) has welcomed over 120,000 people. Commissioning and
supporting contemporary artists, DLWP opens a major exhibition by
Cerith Wyn Evans on 17 March and new works by Film and Video Umbrella
called Everything Flows – the Art of Being In the Zone will be showing in the
galleries during the summer. www.dlwp.com
Hang On A Minute Lads, I’ve Got A Great Idea… was commissioned by the
De La Warr Pavilion under its director Alan Haydon who passed away in October 2011.
3. About the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival
The London 2012 Cultural Olympiad is the largest cultural celebration in the history
of the modern Olympic and Paralympic Movements. Spread over four years, it
is designed to give everyone in the UK a chance to be part of London 2012 and
inspire creativity across all forms of culture, especially among young people.
The culmination of the Cultural Olympiad will be the London 2012 Festival, a
spectacular 12-week nationwide celebration bringing together leading artists
from across the world with the very best from the UK, from Midsummers Day on
21 June and running until the final day of the Paralympic Games on 9 September
2012. The London 2012 Festival will celebrate the huge range, quality and
accessibility of the UK’s world-class culture including dance, music, theatre, the
visual arts, fashion, film and digital innovation, giving the opportunity for people
across the UK to celebrate the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Principal funders of the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival are Arts
Council England, Legacy Trust UK and the Olympic Lottery Distributor. BP and
BT are Premier Partners of the Cultural Olympiad and the London 2012 Festival.
For more details on the programme and to sign up for information visit
www.london2012.com/festival
4. Arts Council England
This commission has been made possible with a £50,000 Arts Council England
Grants for the arts award. Grants for the arts is Arts Council England’s open
application funding programme. It invests National Lottery money to support
activities that engage people in the arts and helps artists and arts organisations
with their work.
Press release: click here to download
Posted on Wednesday, 07 March 2012