Breathing is a memorial sculpture situated on the roof of the Peel Wing of BBC Broadcasting House, in London. The sculpture commemorates journalists and associated staff who have been killed whilst carrying out their work. It consists of a 10-metre (32 ft) high glass and steel column, with a torch-like, inverted spire shape, decorated with words. It also features a poem by James Fenton. At night the sculpture gently glows, then at 10 pm every evening (coinciding with the broadcast of the BBC Ten O'Clock News) the memorial shines a beam of light into the sky for 30 minutes, which reaches up to 900 meters (3,000 feet). It was reported in 2012 that the BBC was not turning the sculpture's lights on as often as it should be.
The memorial was officially unveiled on 16 June 2008 by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The sculpture is by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, working in collaboration with the Broadcasting House architect Sir Richard MacCormac and his team at MJP Architects, Modus Operandi public art consultants and the engineers Whitby Bird & Partners. It was commissioned and selected as a result of an international competition for the BBC's public art scheme. The shape of the sculpture is inspired by the spire of the adjoining All Souls Church, and the radio mast on the roof of Broadcasting House.
The architecture critic Ellis Woodman, of Building Design magazine, called Breathing the "most misconceived public artwork in London since the Queen Mother's gates".
References
- "Killed reporter's memorial opens". BBC News. 16 June 2008. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
- "New broadcasting House-Memorial". Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
- Rowan Moore (4 March 2012). "BBC Broadcasting House extension – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
- "BBC Press Release : Breathing – a new sculpture for Broadcasting House". BBC Press Office. 16 June 2008. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
- Barnett, Antony (26 March 2006), "£4m price tag of BBC art collection", The Observer, retrieved 10 May 2017
External links
- "Breathing at the UK National Inventory of War Memorials". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
- "New Broadcasting House – The Sculpture". BBC. Archived from the original on 19 April 2010.
- "New Broadcasting House – James Fenton's Poem". BBC. Archived from the original on 7 March 2009.
- Breathing – a new sculpture for Broadcasting House
51°31′06″N 0°08′35″W / 51.5184°N 0.1431°W / 51.5184; -0.1431
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