:00:00. > :00:15.Could all the speakers please come up? All these teenagers have one
:00:16. > :00:20.thing in common, they're passionate about art. Over the last few months,
:00:21. > :00:24.they've been battling it out in a nationwide competition designed to
:00:25. > :00:35.find the sixth former who can speak most eloquently about a work of art.
:00:36. > :00:42.Tease are two mics that we will hook you up to. Are you happy with your
:00:43. > :00:47.time figures I think mine is about -- Are you happy with your timings?
:00:48. > :00:50.I think mine is about eight minutes. The teenagers come from very
:00:51. > :00:53.different backgrounds, go to private and state schools, but they've all
:00:54. > :01:00.been thinking deeply about what art is and why it matters. What makes an
:01:01. > :01:06.object a piece of art and how do we perceive art work? Art can be a
:01:07. > :01:11.measuring contest who breaks the most rules. Only one winner from
:01:12. > :01:17.each the nine regional heats will make it to the finals. His left hand
:01:18. > :01:24.up here strangles... Sorry. You can imagine the impact it would have is
:01:25. > :01:31.outstanding. This isn't art history A-level on stage. That's not the
:01:32. > :01:35.brief. There are definite values and principles adopted here that show
:01:36. > :01:40.the style. The sweeping movement and vibrant colours give the wonderful
:01:41. > :01:49.image of dancing and laughter reminiscent of the 1940s nightclub.
:01:50. > :01:54.This is then Juxtaposed to her up wardly thrust arm. This is about the
:01:55. > :01:58.value of a person and that work of art, that electricity between them
:01:59. > :02:16.in public. That's bloody brilliant. I can't wait.
:02:17. > :02:25.Today is the final of ARTiculation 2014, nine brilliant teenagers have
:02:26. > :02:29.made it this far. Each has been on fairly remarkable journey in the
:02:30. > :02:32.past few months. They've chosen surprising art. Each has won a
:02:33. > :02:35.regional heat with a stellar performance. Last year, I was a
:02:36. > :02:38.judge. This year, I get to watch, which frankly, I'm relieved about,
:02:39. > :02:46.because it's going to be very tough indeed to pick a winner. The judge
:02:47. > :02:51.of this year's final is the best selling author and internationalally
:02:52. > :02:56.renowned artist. Earlier this month, I went to his studio. ? What is the
:02:57. > :03:00.poipt then of talking -- point of talking about art,if you like,
:03:01. > :03:04.that's a horribly big question. I'm an artist and I write about other
:03:05. > :03:11.people's art. I do feel very strongly that there are real
:03:12. > :03:15.passionate reasons why it's worth spending time looking at something
:03:16. > :03:21.hard and turning it into words. The first thing is the time thing. It
:03:22. > :03:25.slows you down. It actually makes you look again, again, again, again
:03:26. > :03:30.and return to a work of art. The other reason for writing about art
:03:31. > :03:39.is to say to the person next to you, bloody hell, bloock look at that,
:03:40. > :03:47.this is me on this, can you enjoy this? To trianning late on why --
:03:48. > :03:51.triangulat E.On why it matters. It's about getting kids to actually stand
:03:52. > :03:56.up and talk with passion, authority about what they care about.
:03:57. > :04:03.Before the times get started, let's look at the journeys that some of
:04:04. > :04:09.the competitors have been on. Four weeks ago, the Birmingham regional
:04:10. > :04:16.heat took place at the Icon Gallery. Eight students competed for a place
:04:17. > :04:21.in the final. I'm from Handsworth in Birmingham. I'm in lower sixth. I
:04:22. > :04:29.study art, politics, geography and history. On the day of the regional
:04:30. > :04:33.heat, I was sixth, so I'd heard five of the presentations and they were
:04:34. > :04:41.brilliant. They were really high standard. The art work I chose was a
:04:42. > :04:47.sculpture. I chose it because the atmosphere is really haunting. The
:04:48. > :04:52.blood on the man's hand unnerves the viewer. The penetrating, beady eyes
:04:53. > :04:54.of the sheep creates a haunting atmosphere.
:04:55. > :04:59.I had real difficulty choosing a piece of art work. I haven't had the
:05:00. > :05:02.ability to visit exhibitions in London and things. So I wasn't
:05:03. > :05:11.expecting to win or anything. I didn't go in there thinking, "Yeah,
:05:12. > :05:21.I'm going to win this." In first place Harjutment Harjut. I said to
:05:22. > :05:27.text me when she finished. She said she was coming home on the bus. I
:05:28. > :05:31.thought it was bad news and that she didn't want to deliver it while on
:05:32. > :05:35.the bus with complete strangers. I waited tensely at home thinking,
:05:36. > :05:42.what am I going to say to her? Next thing I know, the door bell rings
:05:43. > :05:50.and both of them walk in at the same time screaming and yelling, saying,
:05:51. > :05:55."Mum, I won!" I was really proud. My family are really supportive,
:05:56. > :05:59.especially through this sort of thing, they have pushed me to think
:06:00. > :06:04.about things differently. It's good because I can have conversations
:06:05. > :06:09.with them. Do you want to win an art competition when you're older? No.
:06:10. > :06:15.Engineering competition. You want to be an engineer, don't you? What
:06:16. > :06:24.about winning? Is she going to win? No, no, it's not about winning.
:06:25. > :06:30.She'll be fine. I'm really excited to see the other candidates, though.
:06:31. > :06:33.The second London heat was at the Whitechapel gallery where two
:06:34. > :06:38.contestants faced their worst nightmare when they discovered they
:06:39. > :06:45.were talking about the same artist. I'm the second person doing a
:06:46. > :06:52.presentation on a work by the same architect. Else who has done the
:06:53. > :07:04.same architect as me. It's a little bit scary. My name is Anna. I've
:07:05. > :07:10.been interested in architecture for several years and have chosen to
:07:11. > :07:13.speak about a building called Final Wooden House. She opened with her
:07:14. > :07:17.description of the thing I'm talking about and said some things that are
:07:18. > :07:22.reasonably similar to things that I said. Within the house, there are no
:07:23. > :07:25.separations between floor, wall and ceiling. When you step onto a
:07:26. > :07:30.surface that one thought was a floor, it could immediately turn
:07:31. > :07:43.into a table or a chair or anything that is flat. I'm also going to talk
:07:44. > :07:48.to you about Sue Fujimoto. APPLAUSE
:07:49. > :07:52.I don't know what it is about Fujimoto, but he has got everybody
:07:53. > :07:59.going this afternoon. However, the first prize goes to Anna.
:08:00. > :08:12.APPLAUSE I'm really happy. Yeah, I haven't
:08:13. > :08:19.really won anything like this before. Everyone was really good.
:08:20. > :08:26.She deserved to win as well. My name's Anna. I'm 16. I live with
:08:27. > :08:30.my mum, my dad and my dog, Stanley. It was terribly exciting and
:08:31. > :08:34.actually quite overwhelming to see my daughter up there. When you
:08:35. > :08:37.think, only a few years ago, I was holing her hand to cross the road.
:08:38. > :08:42.My dad is really interested in buildings and so we've always gone
:08:43. > :08:47.to look at interesting buildings, ever since I was little. Our house
:08:48. > :08:54.was a self--build house. It was built by mier parents and -- by my
:08:55. > :08:59.parents and our neighbours. When we first started this as a Co-op group
:09:00. > :09:05.and things that this was going to be our house. It's really cool. I don't
:09:06. > :09:10.know anyone else who has a self-build house. That links to why
:09:11. > :09:16.I'm so interested in buildings and architecture, I think. Our third
:09:17. > :09:21.finalist lives close to some of London's biggest museums and
:09:22. > :09:29.galleries. I will give you a brief tour of my room. I have my music
:09:30. > :09:35.stand, where I practise the flute. I have my picture frame wall paper.
:09:36. > :09:42.This is probably the part of my room that's most like me. I have loads of
:09:43. > :09:52.post cards on the wall from various exhibitions I've been to. I'm
:09:53. > :10:01.Madeleine and I'm doing my second year of A-levels at St Paul's girls
:10:02. > :10:05.school. I think talking about art is really important, but at the same
:10:06. > :10:09.time, really difficult, because people are quite reluctant to have
:10:10. > :10:16.any opinion about art that they haven't read or that someone hasn't
:10:17. > :10:22.told them is the correct opinion. Do you want coffee? Yes, please. I
:10:23. > :10:29.remember definitely, when we went to see the Van Gogh museum, that was
:10:30. > :10:35.the first time as a child I wasn't like, "How soon can we leave? It was
:10:36. > :10:41.really cool. For us it's a hobby. But for her it's becoming an
:10:42. > :10:46.obsession. A little bit. I chose this painting for the competition.
:10:47. > :10:52.It's called painterly realism of a boy with a rucksack colour mass in
:10:53. > :10:58.the fourth die vention. -- Dimension. When I first saw this
:10:59. > :11:05.painting I took a long time trying to decide what the artist was doing.
:11:06. > :11:08.The artist was Russian and working just before and after the Russian
:11:09. > :11:12.Revolution. He was radical. These two women in the art gallery came up
:11:13. > :11:15.to me and I think they thought because I was standing there for a
:11:16. > :11:19.long time, I must know what the painting is about. They asked me,
:11:20. > :11:26."Do you have any idea what he's going on about with that title? It's
:11:27. > :11:32.not to everyone's taste. It's just a black and Red Square. I think it's a
:11:33. > :11:38.daring thing to do. I'm 17 from Bournemouth. Lyle won
:11:39. > :11:43.the Wiltshire regional heat just three days ago. The piece I'm
:11:44. > :11:49.talking about for my presentation is really the piece that's made me
:11:50. > :11:57.fully and wholly convinced that you can change somebody's understanding
:11:58. > :12:04.of the world with even just a single image.
:12:05. > :12:13.The piece is by a French street artist, JR. The entire thing is set
:12:14. > :12:17.up for you to fall into its trap really, that you glaze over the fact
:12:18. > :12:21.he's not actually holding a gun. In reality he's holding a video cam ra.
:12:22. > :12:27.You only thing it's a gun if you don't actually look at it. I chose
:12:28. > :12:32.it because it's just an unbelievably profound image that can completely
:12:33. > :12:37.redefine your understanding of how you assume things about people, when
:12:38. > :12:41.do you make quick, lazy assumptions. For me, it's just a powerful piece
:12:42. > :12:48.that is incomparable to anything else I've ever really seen. I'm
:12:49. > :12:53.excited for Lyle. He's going to be there and I think he's got a good --
:12:54. > :12:58.as good a chance as anybody. Especially as it's something that he
:12:59. > :13:03.really shows enthusiasm about and it's something a little bit
:13:04. > :13:09.different. I'm buzzing really. I'm completely confident in myself,
:13:10. > :13:15.mostly because I'm confident in presentation. I'm looking forward to
:13:16. > :13:22.it. I'm probably more nervous for Lyle than Lyle is about Lyle. Yeah,
:13:23. > :13:28.right. Sorted. Cambridge, here I come.
:13:29. > :13:35.Our fifth finalist is travelling in today from Oxford, where she won her
:13:36. > :13:43.heat three weeks ago. My name is Marcelo. I'm from Italy
:13:44. > :13:50.and I'm 18 years old. I decided to come to England because I wanted to
:13:51. > :13:57.go to uni . In Italy it's a bit difficult for jobs. It's difficult
:13:58. > :14:00.for uni in general. It never stops flowing, that's why you can actually
:14:01. > :14:04.do it. You can see from here I ended up there with the line. I just
:14:05. > :14:10.continue doing it. Across the charcoal. I like that. I was almost
:14:11. > :14:15.shaking at the beginning, I'm not used to talking in front of other
:14:16. > :14:21.people, if front of a lot of people. To make her life even harder, she's
:14:22. > :14:27.not gone for the Leonardos and Michelangelo's she grew up with, but
:14:28. > :14:35.an efemeral art work made out of sand. I'm going to talk about a sand
:14:36. > :14:41.mandala. It's a piece that the monks make as a tool to itate. This
:14:42. > :14:45.particular one reflects a Buddhist teachings. They make it and then
:14:46. > :14:56.they destroy it after a few days. You have to be able to admire its
:14:57. > :14:59.beauty, but then also to let it go. I think it's important because it
:15:00. > :15:05.tells you that we can appreciate the beauty of all the objects that we
:15:06. > :15:12.own, but without being so obsessed with and attached to their
:15:13. > :15:16.materiality. She isn't the only competitor with Italian roots.
:15:17. > :15:23.Tatiana is half Italian, half Danish and her family live in Cyprus. Life
:15:24. > :15:28.here in England is very different to back in Cyprus. It has been
:15:29. > :15:32.difficult to adjust to the English weather. In Cyprus all year round
:15:33. > :15:38.it's pretty hot. For the last year, she's been studying art history, a
:15:39. > :15:45.traditional English boarding school, the Kings School in Canterbury.
:15:46. > :15:50.That is my piece, yeah. Can you tell the class about it. For my
:15:51. > :15:57.presentation I chose a sculpture of a man by Giacometti. It's not easy
:15:58. > :16:02.to look at. You feel disgust maybe, fear. You feel uncomfortable. That's
:16:03. > :16:08.what initially made me want to choose this. I wanted to explore why
:16:09. > :16:12.it was that somebody can feel so disconcerted looking at a piece of
:16:13. > :16:16.art. Tatiana has been getting tips for the final from her school friend
:16:17. > :16:20.Charlotte. I think half the problem is when you're speaking and you're
:16:21. > :16:25.slightly nervous, focussed onned what you're saying, not necessarily
:16:26. > :16:27.on how you're saying it, it will be the distance from where you're
:16:28. > :16:31.speaking to the people at the back. You have to make sure you enunciate
:16:32. > :16:35.well and keep the vowels clear. That's the main problem is the
:16:36. > :16:44.vowels aren't necessarily always clear. Your pronunciation itself is
:16:45. > :16:47.very good. Ella, our seventh finalist has travelled all the way
:16:48. > :16:58.from Yorkshire. Unlike the other competitors, she's not yet in sixth
:16:59. > :17:03.form. My name's Ella and I'm 16. I live in Leeds in Yorkshire and I'm
:17:04. > :17:06.studying my GCSEs. I don't study art or art history but my English
:17:07. > :17:12.teacher felt it would be a good opportunity for me to take part in
:17:13. > :17:15.ARTiculation, so I did. At the regional heat in Wakefield, Ella
:17:16. > :17:19.chose to talk about a bold piece of art. This is not necessarily a
:17:20. > :17:25.contemporary piece of art. It is primarily a piece of graffiti, but I
:17:26. > :17:28.necessity in your heads, there are some of the same questions and
:17:29. > :17:32.statements that went through my mind when I first saw it. And isn't that
:17:33. > :17:35.the point of art? As you can see in the photograph...
:17:36. > :17:47.During the heats, I was really scared and nervous. I could hear my
:17:48. > :17:52.voice whatevering -- wafering a little bit. Ella was so nervous that
:17:53. > :17:59.the judge of her heat invited her to Leeds University for extra coaching.
:18:00. > :18:06.We'll go up to the lecture theatre. How are you feeling? I'm fine. This
:18:07. > :18:10.is one of our lecture theatres. It's massive. It's bigger than I thought
:18:11. > :18:15.it would be. Almost the same size as the one you'll be speaking in in
:18:16. > :18:19.Cambridge. I'm very aware that Ella is slightly younger than the rest of
:18:20. > :18:22.the heat winners, I think. But also, she's never done art history before.
:18:23. > :18:27.She's going into a final with other students who are studying art
:18:28. > :18:31.history at AS or A-level and we need to give her the confidence to be
:18:32. > :18:35.able to perform in an environment where she's going to be listening to
:18:36. > :18:40.papers delivered by people who have been studying art history for almost
:18:41. > :18:43.a year now. Our eighth finalist is Mercedes, who's chosen to talk about
:18:44. > :19:00.a painting. I'm Mercedes, and I'm from the
:19:01. > :19:06.States originally. My dad is a geologist for an oil company. We
:19:07. > :19:11.move around a lot, actually. So I was born in New Orleans and then I
:19:12. > :19:16.moved to Houston. Then I moved to Venezuela and then I moved to
:19:17. > :19:22.Indonesia. Then I moved here only a year ago. So, this way is my room. I
:19:23. > :19:28.share with my sister. We've only been in the house about a year, but
:19:29. > :19:36.our stuff is everywhere. This is the painting that I'm presenting. It's
:19:37. > :19:40.called the Three Stages of Woman. I like it because I can connect to it,
:19:41. > :19:52.I guess. I went to see it with my mum and my
:19:53. > :19:58.sister, and I was like wow, that's us. I could picture us kind of
:19:59. > :20:02.substituted into the painting and I think it's very realistic and it's
:20:03. > :20:08.-- in its portrayal of each of the stages, especially the older person
:20:09. > :20:13.struck me as painfully realistic. You look pretty today. Thank you.
:20:14. > :20:24.You're welcome. I'm sure you do too. Thank you.
:20:25. > :20:28.She's just on the other side. Oh, hi sweet heart. I didn't know you were
:20:29. > :20:32.there. My mother has always been close to the children, which is
:20:33. > :20:36.great. Before she lost her sight, she would be very active in the
:20:37. > :20:39.household and even in her early 90s, coming home from school, she was
:20:40. > :20:46.doing the dishes and helping them with their home work. She's lovely.
:20:47. > :20:52.She's really kind hearted and soft and it's nice to have all three
:20:53. > :20:59.generations of women in one home. She's reminded of the analing of
:21:00. > :21:03.women -- ageing of women every day in our household. My mum is ageing
:21:04. > :21:08.and it's a difficult thing to watch my mother, who was so beautiful, to
:21:09. > :21:12.age and get ever closer to leaving us. It's going to be very hard for
:21:13. > :21:17.all of us. Here he provides insight into the
:21:18. > :21:25.psyche of the old woman. Is she ashamed of her body? Tripled by time
:21:26. > :21:28.or is she simply lamenting her old age?
:21:29. > :21:36.I think my speech is a tribute of the relationship between mother and
:21:37. > :21:43.daughter and mother and grandmother. It shows that I care and understand
:21:44. > :21:48.each of the stages. It will be nice to at least have that, I guess, when
:21:49. > :21:53.she's gone. As well as Lyle, there's one other
:21:54. > :21:58.guy who has made it to the final. His name is Stanislas.
:21:59. > :22:01.I picked up the programme. You're third in the running order and
:22:02. > :22:07.talking about Rembrandt. What's the work of art you're discussing? I'm
:22:08. > :22:14.talking the scene from the Bible and Christ is just about to be sent off
:22:15. > :22:21.to crucifixion. There's eenterprisous -- there's enormous
:22:22. > :22:24.drama. The expressions are extraordinarily unorthodox, more
:22:25. > :22:31.than anything else in religious art. I'm intrigued why you picked it? The
:22:32. > :22:33.judge last year said it's quite an indicator of something about our
:22:34. > :22:39.culture that every single piece last year was from the 20th searchingery
:22:40. > :22:44.-- century. I've been thinking about that this year. So quite cannily. I
:22:45. > :22:46.didn't choose it because it wasn't in the Twentieth Century but I was
:22:47. > :22:53.thinking about the differences. Do you feel you are at an advantage
:22:54. > :22:58.because you are are the only contestant who has picked an old
:22:59. > :23:02.master. Possibly. I don't know how they think. There's a confident
:23:03. > :23:04.smile on your face. Good luck. We haven't got long before it begins. I
:23:05. > :23:24.hope it goes well. Good luck to everyone. Can I invite
:23:25. > :23:30.our first Speaker to come up please. APPLAUSE
:23:31. > :23:35.I'm Madeleine and today I'm talking to you about this painting.
:23:36. > :23:40.Have you ever visited the National Gallery in a plain, inexpensive,
:23:41. > :23:44.navy blue suit? It's pretty fun. What I find most marvellous about
:23:45. > :23:54.art is that it shows how vulnerable we are. The power of Rome is
:23:55. > :24:00.magnified and Pilate is the firm hand again. I was mazed by the
:24:01. > :24:05.beauty of the structure and had never seen anything like it before.
:24:06. > :24:10.This may look like pots of vanish to you, but they're pots of sand. So
:24:11. > :24:13.pigmented colours and gran you'lls. The but the old woman is not in
:24:14. > :24:17.direct physical contact with the other two. Hidden behind the shroud
:24:18. > :24:25.of her hair she stands alone, covering her face. Is she closer to
:24:26. > :24:30.death than she is to life? First of all, eyes peeled and I will show you
:24:31. > :24:41.it. Now, that wasn't very long. How many
:24:42. > :24:45.of you realised it wasn't a gun? I remember the first few words looking
:24:46. > :24:51.at this disturbing figure, starvation, illness, suffering,
:24:52. > :24:58.helplessness, fragility. The man is half naked, this isn't something we
:24:59. > :25:03.associate with a shepherd. Klimt illustrates the inevitable cycle of
:25:04. > :25:07.life and death. It shows anguish, fear confusion and anger. It shows
:25:08. > :25:11.something visceral only Rembrandt could provide. Thank you.
:25:12. > :25:16.For me, houses are no longer just for living in, they are for admiring
:25:17. > :25:21.and inspiring just like a piece of art. Thank you.
:25:22. > :25:34.APPLAUSE I do not envy Edmund's job one bit.
:25:35. > :25:40.I think there are some real contenders here. I thought Tatiana,
:25:41. > :25:44.brilliant speech, maybe not so well delivered. I thought Stan and
:25:45. > :25:50.Rembrandt, very good. I felt that Ella, dark horse at the end, funny
:25:51. > :25:55.and engaging. But my money is on Mercedes, because she had a really
:25:56. > :26:00.calm, tranquil presence, which was very charismatic and had the entire
:26:01. > :26:09.room Spelbound. Thankfully, I'm not the one who has to decide.
:26:10. > :26:16.Thank you. We're now ready. Thank you very much.
:26:17. > :26:22.Hi everyone. Hello you. I'm going to talk to you, forget everyone else.
:26:23. > :26:27.It's all about you actually spending time thinking, caring, looking and
:26:28. > :26:32.then sharing. It's absolutely tremendous. The third prize is going
:26:33. > :26:42.to Anna. APPLAUSE
:26:43. > :26:51.And the second prize goes to the man in the blue suit, Stanislaw.
:26:52. > :26:57.APPLAUSE The first prize for ARTiculation
:26:58. > :27:04.2014 for a tremendous and very powerful evokation goes to
:27:05. > :27:20.Madeleine. APPLAUSE
:27:21. > :27:30.I chose Madeleine because I had never been walked through that work
:27:31. > :27:40.so cogently and passionately in ten minutes. It was phenomenal. I feel
:27:41. > :27:46.really delighted that I've come here today. It's reminded me - art can't
:27:47. > :27:50.exist in a vacuum. It needs an audience, people to communicate its
:27:51. > :27:57.ideas and magic, its crackle,if you like. I feel grateful to -- to these
:27:58. > :28:01.teenagers because their passion is so joyful that they've offered for
:28:02. > :28:07.me a lesson in how to look and that ultimately is what it's all about.
:28:08. > :28:20.Congratulations. You kept looking up. I was so proud
:28:21. > :28:26.of you. Well done. Hi it's Madeleine. How did it go? Yeah, it
:28:27. > :28:33.was good, I won, which is exciting. You won? This is like amazing! This
:28:34. > :28:40.is so cool! Are you excited? Yes, yes, very surprised. Oh, I am so, so
:28:41. > :28:42.excited for you, Madeleine, I can't believe it. This is so, so cool.