Christian Marclay takes to the air

Artist takes over BBC Radio Four as part of new Art Angel aural experiment

Radio four listeners in the UK may have been left a bit confused by a broadcast shortly after 9am (phaidon.com was naturally hard at work at its desk at that time) when the airwaves seemed to have been taken over by disembodied voices. The words "Are you still on? Sorry I've lost you" followed by a big and rather loud yawn were followed by a selection of Radio Four presenters' voices  talking over one another. When the voices began to stutter it became apparent this was planned rather than some software malfunction. 

In fact it was the first sound installation put together by Art Angel as part of a sound project by five artists to produce short new pieces that respond to a particular moment in the morning radio schedule and to re-interpret how broadcast space might be thought about and listened to. This morning it was the turn of Phaidon artist Christian Marclay famous for his 24 hour piece, The Clock. 

Tomorrow at the same time, straight after the Today programme, Ruth Ewan will get a go at creating some interesting airtime, followed by Peter Strickland, Susan Hiller and Mark Wallinger. Artangel's Michael Morris says that the works mark a drive by Radio 4 controller Gwyneth Williams to allow artists a platform on the station, not just to discuss their work but to make it. We think it's a great idea. You can read more about it and hear Christian Marclay's sound intervention here. When you've listened to it take a look at his monograph in the Phaidon store.