0:00:02 > 0:00:06This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09Just days before the Olympics open in East London,
0:00:09 > 0:00:11a crowd has gathered in Trafalgar Square,
0:00:11 > 0:00:15to watch one of the highlights of the London 2012 festival.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23I've witnessed many art events over the years,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26but I can honestly say, this is one of the most ambitious
0:00:26 > 0:00:27I've ever come across.
0:00:27 > 0:00:32It's not just bold, at times it's bordering on crazy.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38'We're watching the finale of an unprecedented collaboration
0:00:38 > 0:00:42'between the Royal Ballet and the National Gallery,
0:00:42 > 0:00:46'which brings together a dizzying multitude of art forms.'
0:00:46 > 0:00:50There's three contemporary artists, including two Turner Prize winners,
0:00:50 > 0:00:55Chris Ofili and Mark Wallinger, and rising star, Conrad Shawcross.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58They're working with three composers,
0:00:58 > 0:01:01one of them the very hip Nico Muhly.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Then there's the seven choreographers.
0:01:04 > 0:01:06Among them, Wayne McGregor and over 50 dancers,
0:01:06 > 0:01:11including the most famous of his generation, Carlos Acosta.
0:01:11 > 0:01:12There's also new work
0:01:12 > 0:01:15from pretty much every major poet you can think of.
0:01:15 > 0:01:19Among them, the Nobel prize winner, Seamus Heaney.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22Getting that many egos to collaborate on a single project
0:01:22 > 0:01:25was tough and potentially disastrous,
0:01:25 > 0:01:28but all these creative talents have united,
0:01:28 > 0:01:33to pay homage to a single painter, one of the all-time greats, Titian.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40'For the first time in centuries, the National Gallery
0:01:40 > 0:01:42'has brought together
0:01:42 > 0:01:44'three of the most precious masterpieces in Britain -
0:01:44 > 0:01:49'Titian's late, great paintings of the goddess Diana.'
0:01:50 > 0:01:53'The deity of the moon, worshipped in Roman and Greece
0:01:53 > 0:01:56'when the Olympic were first staged,
0:01:56 > 0:02:00'is about to get a startling make-over for the 21st century.'
0:02:03 > 0:02:06There's another link here, back to the classical past.
0:02:06 > 0:02:11Titian took his inspiration from the Roman poet, Ovid,
0:02:11 > 0:02:15who, in turn, took his stories from Greek mythology.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18'What we're seeing here is the latest stage in a relay,
0:02:18 > 0:02:21'that began well over 2,000 years ago.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24'The passing of the flame of inspiration between people
0:02:24 > 0:02:28'in different places, different eras and different art forms.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32'And for the last laps of that marathon,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35'we've been filming this creation as it happens.'
0:02:35 > 0:02:37CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:03:03 > 0:03:07In March 2012, the National Galleries in London and Edinburgh
0:03:07 > 0:03:13revealed they had jointly paid £45 million for a single painting.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22Tiziano Vecelli, known simply as "Titian" to us,
0:03:22 > 0:03:27painted Diana and Callisto in Venice in the late 1550s.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33Amidst a beautiful landscape,
0:03:33 > 0:03:35a story of lust and cruelty is unfolding.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40The nymph Callisto has been raped by Jupiter,
0:03:40 > 0:03:44yet her mistress, the goddess of chastity, is about to banish her.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50Titian created a companion piece at the same time,
0:03:50 > 0:03:53and always intended the pair to be hung together.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55Diana and Actaeon
0:03:55 > 0:04:00is another sensual, spellbinding dramatic scene.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03It, too, was recently saved for the nation,
0:04:03 > 0:04:06after a £50 million fundraising campaign.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12They were the greatest paintings in private homes this country.
0:04:12 > 0:04:17But these pictures have, perhaps, almost everything in them
0:04:17 > 0:04:19that he would really create a painting -
0:04:19 > 0:04:21landscape,
0:04:21 > 0:04:25female nude, strong expressions, a powerful narrative,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29elements of comedy and a lot of tragedy.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31Greek tragedy, in fact.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35This is a tale that was already centuries old
0:04:35 > 0:04:38when Ovid included it in his Metamorphoses in 8 AD.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45The huntsman, Actaeon, has outraged Diana by catching sight
0:04:45 > 0:04:48of what no mortal should - her nakedness.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54Her savage revenge is depicted in the final painting of the series,
0:04:54 > 0:04:56The Death of Actaeon.
0:04:56 > 0:05:01Now, the hunter is Diana. The spell she's cast on Actaeon
0:05:01 > 0:05:03is changing him into a stag.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06And he is ripped to pieces by his own hounds.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Nearly 500 years after this image was created,
0:05:10 > 0:05:15it's about to be reunited with the other two Diana paintings.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18For the first time since the 18th century,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21all three will be displayed in the same gallery.
0:05:21 > 0:05:26To mark this, 21st century artists, Chris Ofili, Conrad Shawcross
0:05:26 > 0:05:28and Mark Wallinger,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31have been challenged to fill a room of the National Gallery
0:05:31 > 0:05:34with new work inspired by Titian.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37The project is the brain child of curator Minna Moore Ede.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40The National Gallery is full of paintings and artists
0:05:40 > 0:05:44that are themselves looking back to art of the past.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47These encounters go on all the time upstairs in the National Gallery,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50so Turner is looking back at Claude,
0:05:50 > 0:05:52or Velazquez is looking back at Titian.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54In some ways, this is a very natural thing to do,
0:05:54 > 0:05:58to ask the artists of today to look back at the art of the past.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02But, as if taking on Titian wasn't enough of a challenge,
0:06:02 > 0:06:06each artist must also design a ballet.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10Now, who would dare come up that idea?
0:06:10 > 0:06:12It was the Gallery coming and talking about the Titians,
0:06:12 > 0:06:16and I thought, "There's something very exciting here".
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Three artists having an opportunity to explore
0:06:20 > 0:06:22what they would do on this huge stage,
0:06:22 > 0:06:25here in the Opera House.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27So all that remained for the Royal Ballet to do
0:06:27 > 0:06:30was to team the three artists with suitable choreographers.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33But when the director came up with her wish list,
0:06:33 > 0:06:36she found it hard to choose.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39When I wrote their names down and I looked at all of them,
0:06:39 > 0:06:42I just thought, "Well, now there are seven people".
0:06:42 > 0:06:46It was a kind of instant "ping" moment, and I thought
0:06:46 > 0:06:49there was something there that could work together.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52Monica decided to hire all seven choreographers,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55yoking them together into three teams.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59She's clearly hoping two heads, or even three, will be better than one.
0:06:59 > 0:07:00But, as one sceptic asked,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03"Does one look after the arms, and another the legs?"
0:07:03 > 0:07:08And how will they all work with the artists?
0:07:08 > 0:07:10There's a huge element of risk involved.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13I mean, just for three visual artists,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16who normally display in a gallery setting,
0:07:16 > 0:07:21to suddenly be asked to make a set for a stage which is 37 metres high
0:07:21 > 0:07:24is a huge challenge. They're way out of their comfort zone.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33I started with what sounded like the tallest order.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35The threesome who are working with Chris Ofili
0:07:35 > 0:07:40and composer Jonathan Dove and librettist Alastair Middleton.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43I don't know any other project that's done anything like it.
0:07:43 > 0:07:44I don't know anything else
0:07:44 > 0:07:47where lots of choreographers have all worked together.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51- It really isn't normal. - THEY LAUGH
0:07:51 > 0:07:54It isn't a normal way of working, though, is it?
0:07:54 > 0:07:57Like for us, I mean, it's not a normal process,
0:07:57 > 0:08:02but that's the great challenge of it, and, as artists,
0:08:02 > 0:08:06you always look for different ways of working.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09So, when you first got together and looked at the painting,
0:08:09 > 0:08:11what did you make of it?
0:08:11 > 0:08:13Our very first conversation was all of us together.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16Most of the meeting was, not really talking about
0:08:16 > 0:08:19what we were going to put on stage, but was about the painting.
0:08:19 > 0:08:21What the picture was about.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24One very striking thing about one of the images is the reveal.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26It's a pulling back of a curtain, it's the moment
0:08:26 > 0:08:30where Actaeon sees Diana naked,
0:08:30 > 0:08:33and his life is destroyed in that moment.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36'To try to understand these characters,
0:08:36 > 0:08:40'some of the dancers from this team have come to the National Gallery,
0:08:40 > 0:08:47'including Federico Bonelli, who'll be playing Actaeon.'
0:08:47 > 0:08:49This is the painting that, sadly, we won't have here
0:08:49 > 0:08:53till the exhibition opens, but I think you look very like him.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55THEY LAUGH
0:08:55 > 0:08:58I always thought you would be perfect. He does, doesn't he?
0:08:58 > 0:09:01There's this amazing moment, this kind of threshold moment,
0:09:01 > 0:09:04where he pulls back this curtain, which is fantastically theatrical.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06That's kind of the exact moment that he's showing
0:09:06 > 0:09:10that she's twisting and turning, but it's too late, he's seen her.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13Isn't that a fantastically balletic pose?
0:09:13 > 0:09:17Then, what you see in this last painting in the sequence,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20is the moment of transformation.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22So Diana, from being the hunted figure in that,
0:09:22 > 0:09:27from being vulnerable, is suddenly this fantastic huge, strong...
0:09:27 > 0:09:30The shifting dynamic between Diana and Actaeon
0:09:30 > 0:09:33is open to multiple interpretations,
0:09:33 > 0:09:35which is exactly what the choreographers
0:09:35 > 0:09:38are planning for their ballet.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41The heart of the piece is kind of like this three retellings,
0:09:41 > 0:09:45almost like rewind, and, "This I my perspective of what happened,
0:09:45 > 0:09:49"this is Liam's", and it lends itself to the whole project, really.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54Yeah, it felt like a very fertile idea to see this same moment
0:09:54 > 0:09:56from different angles.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58What's going on between these two people
0:09:58 > 0:10:01at the moment the curtain goes back?
0:10:01 > 0:10:07I suppose the most obvious thing is Diana's rage, her anger.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11She's a very powerful woman and her anger has very dramatic consequences.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14HE PLAYS PIANO
0:10:20 > 0:10:25I do wonder, at some point, why Diana got so angry.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29It's like, "Aren't you overdoing it a little bit?"
0:10:29 > 0:10:36# It's careless It's careless, it's careless. #
0:10:36 > 0:10:40And so on. And we rewind again back to the moment
0:10:40 > 0:10:43where Actaeon's curiosity is roused.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47This time, something that maybe feels almost more like a love dread,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50even though the story's not going to end well.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52HE PLAYS PIANO
0:10:57 > 0:11:00# Lucena
0:11:03 > 0:11:08# She leads into light
0:11:11 > 0:11:14It's sensuous, but it has piano wire through the middle of it,
0:11:14 > 0:11:18which is sort of how I think that gaze works.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20There's the fantastic taught quality
0:11:20 > 0:11:25to the way that they look at each other across the space.
0:11:29 > 0:11:32I think there must have been a moment where he thought,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35"Well, I'm a good-looking guy -
0:11:35 > 0:11:37"they're not going to refuse me".
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Finally, the last version, Actaeon comes into the foreground.
0:11:47 > 0:11:48This time round,
0:11:48 > 0:11:54it's more a celebration of his masculinity, perhaps.
0:11:54 > 0:11:55HE PLAYS PIANO
0:11:58 > 0:12:00He's a young man,
0:12:00 > 0:12:04very skilled in the forest, great hunter.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06So, I think he pretty much thought
0:12:06 > 0:12:10he could get a peep without them seeing him.
0:12:10 > 0:12:15But as he got closer, he got a little carried away.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19Somebody's always got to get it in the Greek tragedies, you know.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Callisto got it, Actaeon got it.
0:12:22 > 0:12:28It's just that thing of, don't mess with me.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33She casts a spell and he is transformed.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37How that's going to be achieved and who by, I'm not quite sure.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41I don't know how that's going to be achieved.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43LAUGHTER
0:12:43 > 0:12:48As Marianela Nunez works on bringing Diana back to life,
0:12:48 > 0:12:51it's already clear this team's approach
0:12:51 > 0:12:54is going to be a little different from Titian's.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58While the old master set the Olympian world in renaissance landscape,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01Chris Offili has transposed the story to Trinidad,
0:13:01 > 0:13:05the island he's made his home for the past few years.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08So mysterious. Hole in the wall.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10This is pretty much the set.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13It's so interesting, because I can see the way dancers move and the way
0:13:13 > 0:13:16you see pieces of the bodies and the anatomy.
0:13:16 > 0:13:21I can see it in these roots of the trees and the plants.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24What I was thinking was I would be journeying through the forest
0:13:24 > 0:13:27and hearing the sounds of the nymphs bathing,
0:13:27 > 0:13:31but then, would start to see female forms in the trees,
0:13:31 > 0:13:36so the lust was already starting to play on him
0:13:36 > 0:13:38before he even reached the lair.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41To transform his model into reality,
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Chris has come to the Royal Opera House's scenic workshops
0:13:45 > 0:13:46in Essex.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52Though he's made large canvasses before,
0:13:52 > 0:13:55he's never attempted something on this scale -
0:13:55 > 0:14:00an image that's 70 feet wide and 40 feet tall.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02I wanted to paint the backdrop.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05I want it to look like it was made by hand.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08Sometimes, it's nice to do something where you don't have a back-up plan,
0:14:08 > 0:14:12you just feel like, OK, if I fail now,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15it's true failure, but I truly tried.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21Usually, set designers leave the work of scaling up
0:14:21 > 0:14:23to specialist scenic painters.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25The Opera House staff can't believe
0:14:25 > 0:14:29that Chris wants to paint it himself.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33When you first put a canvas down, they are quite daunting.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36The artwork he's done is one to 50,
0:14:36 > 0:14:37it is quite small.
0:14:37 > 0:14:41But no, I think he was very excited when he first realised,
0:14:41 > 0:14:43wow, you can walk across your painting.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47What Chris wanted to bring to it was his quintessential line.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49It's interesting watching him work,
0:14:49 > 0:14:53because he watches a lot, literally looking at a line, a curve.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56Then he goes back down the ladder, he makes an adjustment.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00To paint a line for a minute and walk with it
0:15:00 > 0:15:03was something I'd never really done before.
0:15:03 > 0:15:08During the process, there are moments of elation.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15PIANO PLAYS
0:15:19 > 0:15:24Meanwhile, all the characters in the painting are coming to life.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28The first instant we see the nymphs, we have to establish who they are,
0:15:28 > 0:15:30what they are and what they're doing.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33It's meant to be this kind of, very private grotto,
0:15:33 > 0:15:35so what I thought would be nice, is for them
0:15:35 > 0:15:37to have their backs to us, because you get that sense of,
0:15:37 > 0:15:40maybe you shouldn't be watching this.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44There's a certain unease that comes from watching someone
0:15:44 > 0:15:46who doesn't know that you're watching them.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57There were certain poses that were actually in the painting,
0:15:57 > 0:16:00that we lifted out and then that was a starting point
0:16:00 > 0:16:03and this idea of, kind of having this very, kind of,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05ethereal, feminine quality. You know,
0:16:05 > 0:16:09a lot of the heads are almost turned beyond what you usually do,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12so it was just a question of asking the girls to show off a little bit
0:16:12 > 0:16:16more of the kind of, more feminine parts of the body
0:16:16 > 0:16:19that is in the picture.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22They're just these, kind of, starting points
0:16:22 > 0:16:26where it's nice to kind of bounce off and you kind of branch out from them.
0:16:32 > 0:16:33No arms, Pete.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36Titian isn't the only ghostly presence
0:16:36 > 0:16:38hovering in the these rehearsals.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40So is Ovid. His metamorphosis
0:16:40 > 0:16:44have been inspiring artists for over 2,000 years -
0:16:44 > 0:16:48not just Titian, but figures from Shakespeare to Bob Dylan.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54Now, 14 poets have been commissioned especially for this project,
0:16:54 > 0:16:58to write new works inspired by the Diana stories,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01among them the great Seamus Heaney.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06"He was like a beast on heat.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09"As if he'd prowled and stalked,
0:17:09 > 0:17:11"until he found the grove, the grotto
0:17:11 > 0:17:14"and the bathing place of the goddess and her nymphs.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18"As if he'd sought that virgin nook deliberately,
0:17:18 > 0:17:20"as if his desires were hounds
0:17:20 > 0:17:22"that had quickened pace on Diana's scent,
0:17:22 > 0:17:27"before his own pack wrought her vengeance on him.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31I saw a word the other day, which I hadn't seen before,
0:17:31 > 0:17:34the mythosphere, and...
0:17:34 > 0:17:37..I mean, that is where Ovid is operating.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40You're at a stage when nobody is believing in the gods,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43I don't think, you know. They become stories.
0:17:44 > 0:17:50The stories fulfil some lead, some picture transcendence, I suppose.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53It's interesting, isn't it, that so many different artists,
0:17:53 > 0:17:57over such a long period, can reinterpret the same story?
0:17:57 > 0:18:02Is it Ovid's or Titian's or Seamus Heaney's?
0:18:02 > 0:18:07Well, it was David Jones, I think,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10who said that one of the artist's tasks
0:18:10 > 0:18:15was to give form to that by which he or she was formed,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18and I think
0:18:18 > 0:18:23the possibility of reforming it, as it were,
0:18:23 > 0:18:25for a new moment,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28is there all the time, yeah.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35All three of Titian's Diana paintings,
0:18:35 > 0:18:39feature characters who are violently transformed.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42Callisto is about to be changed into a bear.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46Her ultimate fate is to become a constellation of stars.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51Transformation is at the heart of Ovid.
0:18:51 > 0:18:56Maybe it is because change is the only certainty,
0:18:56 > 0:19:00and of the Ovid myths are heightened change.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03We can recognise them and relate to them
0:19:03 > 0:19:07in our own lives, like the change from woman to bear,
0:19:07 > 0:19:09for our changes of mood
0:19:09 > 0:19:11or changes in our bodies.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18Titian referred to his paintings of metamorphosis as poesia -
0:19:18 > 0:19:21literally, "poems".
0:19:21 > 0:19:25He was probably slightly in competition with Ovid.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28I think he may well have thought, you know,
0:19:28 > 0:19:32this is a great story, but I can tell it better.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37Because paint can get at something that words can't.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40The idea that he went to Ovid
0:19:40 > 0:19:45and metamorphosed what was a story in text,
0:19:45 > 0:19:47into a story in painting,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51I think opens the door for other artists to say,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54OK, I'm going to make another change into my own medium.
0:19:54 > 0:19:59"We all had rounded bellies then, but nine months gone,
0:19:59 > 0:20:03"so my navel curved like a gash
0:20:03 > 0:20:07"and, oh, so noticeable among all the diagonals.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11"And everyone looking a different way, looking a lot,
0:20:11 > 0:20:16"especially the goddess, her arrow arm pointing,
0:20:16 > 0:20:21"bow mouth strung and the artist's finger loaded
0:20:21 > 0:20:23"and the paint alive."
0:20:25 > 0:20:29Not all the contemporary artists creating new work
0:20:29 > 0:20:32for the National Gallery are painters.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36Heading up the second creative team
0:20:36 > 0:20:38is sculptor, Conrad Shawcross.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41His many pilgrimages to see Titian's work
0:20:41 > 0:20:44have made him acutely aware of the challenge he faces.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Being in such a, sort of, intimidating environment,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53in this incredible lineage of the greatest masters the world has seen,
0:20:53 > 0:20:55it's quite difficult to know what to do.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04Conrad often works with metal and reclaimed materials,
0:21:04 > 0:21:08but what he eventually comes up with for Titian
0:21:08 > 0:21:10is quite a surprise.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13Amidst the tools in his studio,
0:21:13 > 0:21:18are machines that once served in factories, manufacturing cars.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22Soon, though, one of these ready-made robots,
0:21:22 > 0:21:26will take to the stage of the Royal Opera House
0:21:26 > 0:21:29as the centrepiece of Conrad's ballet design.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37So, the dancers will be dancing with the robot?
0:21:37 > 0:21:39Absolutely, yeah.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41These movements are quite fluid, aren't they?
0:21:41 > 0:21:45There's something, in the terms of the way it moves, very beguiling.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48In a way, even though this is such a brutal piece of industrial machinery,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51it is very analogist to the human arm.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54I mean essentially, it's trying to create a vocabulary
0:21:54 > 0:21:57or a lexicon of emotions, but through movement.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59ROBOT WHIRRS
0:21:59 > 0:22:01So, there's a certain moment
0:22:01 > 0:22:03where the robot will go from a very sensual,
0:22:03 > 0:22:07kind of, feminine, seductive motion,
0:22:07 > 0:22:10to one where, it's sort of, almost like Brownian motion.
0:22:12 > 0:22:13- And he's going to go...- Scary.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16..much more kind of rapid, random motion between points.
0:22:18 > 0:22:19How do you get from Titian to this?
0:22:19 > 0:22:22Well, it's a good question. I mean, the two paintings,
0:22:22 > 0:22:24Diana And Actaeon and The Death Of Actaeon,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27they're very similar in their layout.
0:22:27 > 0:22:30Actaeon is stage left, sort of, larger than life,
0:22:30 > 0:22:34striding in, and Diana is recoiling, kind of, painted quite small.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36This is The Death Of Actaeon.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39They've almost got the same scale and they're both stage left.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42Actaeon, in this one,
0:22:42 > 0:22:44is almost identical to Diana in the first painting.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46True. Reversed roles, almost.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50Completely, and if you lay them over each other, they're, as paintings,
0:22:50 > 0:22:53almost identical. So, there's this sort of shift of power and control.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56Diana is very feminine, very vulnerable,
0:22:56 > 0:22:58to then, very powerful
0:22:58 > 0:23:00and very dominant and very destructive.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02So, am I looking at Diana?
0:23:02 > 0:23:05Yeah. I was interested in casting Diana as technology
0:23:05 > 0:23:09and sort of making this thing, that we are seduced by and dependant upon,
0:23:09 > 0:23:13but also, we all have that sort of uneasy sort of relationship with it
0:23:13 > 0:23:17and that, I think, fear that what the future holds for all of us
0:23:17 > 0:23:21in terms of the, sort of, unstoppable march of technology.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24WHIRRING
0:23:26 > 0:23:29I can't wait to see Carlos Acosta meet his new dance partner.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36The Cuban star won't only be working with a robot
0:23:36 > 0:23:39and fellow principle dancer, Ed Watson.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41He's also, for the first time,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44working with the Royal Ballet's resident choreographer
0:23:44 > 0:23:46Wayne McGregor.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48You're thinking about getting your arms...
0:23:48 > 0:23:51At this rehearsal, Wayne is hoping to inspire his dancers,
0:23:51 > 0:23:52not with music from the ballet,
0:23:52 > 0:23:56but what sounds like an unending fire alarm.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00SHRILL TRILL
0:24:00 > 0:24:05What I loved about the robot was its own sound, its authentic sound,
0:24:05 > 0:24:07and I wanted to get some of that energy
0:24:07 > 0:24:10into the studio when I was working.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14And Ed and Carlos, how have they responded to the robot?
0:24:14 > 0:24:17Well, I proposed it as a kind of a new dancing partner for them.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19I think they were quite excited by it. I think what's going
0:24:19 > 0:24:22to be interesting is, actually how much power
0:24:22 > 0:24:25an industrial robot can emulate in terms of kinetics and force.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29But also, how much a small body, a Carlos Acosta,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32with all that power and energy, can attract an audience to watch.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Um, bei, ba, um, bei, good.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37Ba, da, bei, chasse, chasse, tip,
0:24:37 > 0:24:39tip, rotate, one, bei, around, that's it.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42Nice, yeah. Neck, back...
0:24:42 > 0:24:44'He's got so many languages in his body, you know.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47'He's got this kind of very animalistic way of moving.'
0:24:47 > 0:24:51He's got a fantastic accuracy, and there's that combination of factors
0:24:51 > 0:24:56'that I think contrast very well with Ed, cos he's a very different type of physical behaviour.'
0:24:56 > 0:25:01I was interested to see what those two bodies look like together. As aspects, perhaps, of Actaeon.
0:25:01 > 0:25:06Carlos Acosta is undergoing a metamorphosis of his own on this project.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Best known for classical and romantic roles,
0:25:09 > 0:25:11at the age of 39,
0:25:11 > 0:25:17he's having to learn the strikingly contemporary dance style used by Wayne McGregor.
0:25:17 > 0:25:18- Here...- Yeah.- You do this.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22I mean, that was an incredibly demanding rehearsal I saw there.
0:25:22 > 0:25:27And even the idea of the memory of having to remember these moves.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30It's definitely something to practice, and almost,
0:25:30 > 0:25:32'it's that your brain kind of gets rewired to be able to do it.
0:25:32 > 0:25:35'And I've noticed that with Carlos, that we started a bit slower,'
0:25:35 > 0:25:39and then, absolutely very quickly, the brain organises itself.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43'And now he's super-speedy.' And... PIANO PLAYS
0:25:45 > 0:25:49To achieve these transformations and the way his dancers move,
0:25:49 > 0:25:54Wayne seems to be communicating in a language of his own invention.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56HE USES DANCING COMMAND
0:25:56 > 0:26:01But then, when you get there, land. Go "Warg-g-gh," like that. "Warg-g-gh!"
0:26:01 > 0:26:05There's some information contained within this "Wo-oh-oh-sa,"
0:26:05 > 0:26:08that you couldn't do any other way, and the body just understands it.
0:26:08 > 0:26:12Bom, wa-a-ay, dom.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14Bom-wah. Lovely.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16So, it changes behaviour of a body,
0:26:16 > 0:26:19but comes from something which isn't verbal.
0:26:19 > 0:26:20It's not words.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32Wayne has collaborated with many visual artists before,
0:26:32 > 0:26:36as well as musicians such as Thom Yorke.
0:26:45 > 0:26:48But on this project, like Carlos,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51he's taking a creative leap into the dark.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56I think what's been unusual for me, I've never collaborated with another choreographer.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58That's been quite a challenge.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00PIANO PLAYS
0:27:03 > 0:27:07Kim Brandstrup has a very different style.
0:27:07 > 0:27:13So far, the two men have been rehearsing their scenes separately and different studios.
0:27:24 > 0:27:29The aim is that we really try and integrate it
0:27:29 > 0:27:31and get it as seamless as possible. Of course we differ.
0:27:32 > 0:27:38'Wayne has tremendous attack and physicality in the upper body,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40'and...'
0:27:40 > 0:27:44It's hard to describe it, but I suppose I'm more lyrical,
0:27:44 > 0:27:46maybe more flowy, whatever.
0:27:46 > 0:27:51'But that should add to the sense of colour and contrast in the work.'
0:27:52 > 0:27:55I don't know, I don't know.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59'And we've had kind of a collision of ideas that has made us
0:27:59 > 0:28:02'reposition our attitude to certain things.'
0:28:02 > 0:28:06And I think it's all those kind of interventions and perturbations and changes of thinking
0:28:06 > 0:28:09that create a very dynamic kind of creativity,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12so that we solve problems in a different way.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15And I think all art-making is about solving problems.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18- And all creativity is about metamorphosis, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22"I've got this idea, how do I interpret it in this form?"
0:28:22 > 0:28:25- Yeah, in my way. Yeah.- "In my way." - Yeah, absolutely. With my materials, you know.
0:28:25 > 0:28:30Titian's material was paint, but he was using it in a very physical way. You know?
0:28:30 > 0:28:32I've got the material of a body in front of me,
0:28:32 > 0:28:35in the same way you use a colour or phrase,
0:28:35 > 0:28:39or I use the temperature of the body of the elasticity of the body.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43Or I pull out the body. I almost blur of the body in the same way.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45PIANO PLAYS
0:28:51 > 0:28:54MUSIC: "Klavierwerke" by James Blake
0:29:25 > 0:29:28Titian is the starting point, not just for the ballets,
0:29:28 > 0:29:31but for new work that each artist must come up with
0:29:31 > 0:29:33at the National Gallery.
0:29:33 > 0:29:38Conrad's companion piece has been inspired by Actaeon's fate.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42They're very beautiful, aren't they? Sort of really sculptural things.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44They are, yeah, and I think they're like lightning bolts.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50We scanned some antlers, and then this machine is slowly carving this antler.
0:29:50 > 0:29:55Just as the goddess made Actaeon's head sprout antlers,
0:29:55 > 0:29:59Conrad's robot is actually being programmed to create a pair.
0:29:59 > 0:30:04Carved from wood, they will be shown at the gallery along with the mechanical maker.
0:30:04 > 0:30:08When I first saw one of these machines, I was quite threatened by it as an artist.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11And I was sort of thinking,
0:30:11 > 0:30:14"God, this is sort of usurping the role of the maker and the artisan."
0:30:14 > 0:30:17But actually, it just changes the position of the artist.
0:30:17 > 0:30:19It just means we have to have evolve,
0:30:19 > 0:30:23just like the invention of adhering paint to a surface.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26The great Renaissance artists were also playing with materials
0:30:26 > 0:30:28- and discovering new materials the whole time.- Yeah.
0:30:28 > 0:30:34And Titian and Leonardo and those painters had studios in which they tried out new ideas.
0:30:34 > 0:30:39All of these people were sort of at the bleeding edge of their technologies at the time,
0:30:39 > 0:30:41and it's sort of quite easy to forget that.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49Titian was very experimental with his medium.
0:30:49 > 0:30:54It's about the way paint is put on canvas,
0:30:54 > 0:31:00and it's trying to convey something quite different from the reality of the event.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03I mean, he's often called "the father of modern painting,"
0:31:03 > 0:31:07and he's been the father of modern painting since the 17th century.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09We don't know exactly when he was born,
0:31:09 > 0:31:12but he was probably between 86 and 88 when he died.
0:31:12 > 0:31:18And he was painting right up until his death.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22When Titian painted The Death Of Actaeon,
0:31:22 > 0:31:24he would've been at least 80.
0:31:24 > 0:31:28He, increasingly, as he got older, was trying to get at the essence,
0:31:28 > 0:31:33that truth of whatever that was - a person he painted, a story.
0:31:33 > 0:31:38I don't think anybody in their '80s would be at their physical prime.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41But he may have been at his imaginative prime.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44It's a painting which has inspired artists ever since,
0:31:44 > 0:31:50including the third of the contemporary figures taking part in the Titian 2012 project.
0:31:50 > 0:31:56The National Gallery's x-ray of The Death Of Actaeon so fascinated Mark Wallinger,
0:31:56 > 0:32:00that he once displayed it in an exhibition he was curating.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03I like the notion of a forensic eye on paintings,
0:32:03 > 0:32:07and I suppose it kind of reduces paintings throughout the year
0:32:07 > 0:32:09to just their stuff.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12The layers of myth drop away,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15but there's still something completely captivating about this image.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19- About the image itself.- Yeah.- This is a particularly fantastic x-ray,
0:32:19 > 0:32:23cos you can see the changes in Diana's position very, very clearly.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26- Yeah.- But I think it's a bit less clear in Actaeon.
0:32:26 > 0:32:29- It's a bit furious around Actaeon. - It's a bit furious around Actaeon.
0:32:29 > 0:32:35- You know, one recognises passages that are done with some sense of urgency.- Mm, mm.
0:32:35 > 0:32:40You know, these bits here were put on by his fingers, you know?
0:32:40 > 0:32:43I mean, this is all pretty radical stuff.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45PIANO PLAYS
0:32:45 > 0:32:46Two...
0:32:47 > 0:32:50Four, five, six...
0:32:50 > 0:32:56Radical is also the word for Mark's reimagining of the Titian paintings for his ballet.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00One, two, three, four, five...
0:33:00 > 0:33:01Go, yeah. ..six, seven, eight...
0:33:03 > 0:33:06I began to think about Diana as the Moon Goddess.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09She's wearing the crescent moon in the Titian paintings.
0:33:09 > 0:33:11And once I started thinking about that,
0:33:11 > 0:33:17I thought it would be quite interesting to stage the thing on a kind of lunar landscape.
0:33:17 > 0:33:23Actaeon and the hunters become, if you like, Apollo astronauts.
0:33:23 > 0:33:29PIANO PLAYS 'They've trespassed upon the symbol of poetry and mystery,
0:33:29 > 0:33:34'and they will be punished for their hubris, I suppose.'
0:33:34 > 0:33:37PIANO PLAYS
0:33:37 > 0:33:40Amidst the ballet's lunar imagery, however,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43there are still some distant echoes of the Actaeon myth.
0:33:43 > 0:33:47'This image of the men being turned into stags -
0:33:47 > 0:33:51'obviously, we're not try to tell the story of the Titian painting.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54'But, we do want people to understand that this is where'
0:33:54 > 0:33:57you know, we've drawn our inspiration and ideas from.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59Do you know what...
0:33:59 > 0:34:04Again, there are two choreographers - Christopher Wheeldon and Alastair Marriott.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08On this team, they're working happily side-by-side.
0:34:08 > 0:34:13And then on the very last beat of the music, you're going to flex your feet, and that's when you do...
0:34:13 > 0:34:16- Need to be really brave. - You've got dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19There. That's good.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23'What Mark has done is really made the painting a departure point'
0:34:23 > 0:34:29for a very contemporary, abstract idea.
0:34:29 > 0:34:31But, you know, when you're dealing with people, it's like...
0:34:31 > 0:34:34Balanchine famously said that you put a man and a woman together
0:34:34 > 0:34:38'and instantly there's a story. They don't know what the story is,
0:34:38 > 0:34:42'but as long as you're creating atmosphere and a sense of place,
0:34:42 > 0:34:44'and some sort of sense of time,'
0:34:44 > 0:34:46then that's really all an audience needs.
0:34:46 > 0:34:51Then they can kind of go off and imagine for themselves what it is that they're seeing.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53PIANO PLAYS
0:34:55 > 0:34:58Wallinger's concept for his ballet is intriguing,
0:34:58 > 0:35:02but his plans for the National Gallery are even more so.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08I've just seen a tweet from Mark that says,
0:35:08 > 0:35:11"Mark Wallinger needs women named Diana
0:35:11 > 0:35:17"to participate in a new work as part of Titian 2012."
0:35:21 > 0:35:24- Hi!- Hello.- Diana.- You must be a Mark. - Yes, nice to meet you.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26Nice to meet you. Thank you.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28'It started with my daughter seeing an advert.'
0:35:28 > 0:35:31And because I'm quite proud of being a Diana
0:35:31 > 0:35:34and because I've always been quite interested in the myth of Diana
0:35:34 > 0:35:37and the fact that she was goddess of the moon and goddess of the hunt,
0:35:37 > 0:35:39'her story has always appealed to me.'
0:35:39 > 0:35:44And somehow, the fact that I would have to appear naked was really the least of it for me.
0:35:44 > 0:35:47Yes, you did here that right - naked.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51Mark is planning to reinterpret Titian's scene
0:35:51 > 0:35:55with a live nude model in the middle of the National Gallery.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59- You're not choosing people because of how they look, or...?- No, no.
0:35:59 > 0:36:02No, no, it's quite nice because it...
0:36:02 > 0:36:08Yeah. Things to do with age or race are kind of by-the-by as well. Yeah.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12- It's so random.- Yes. - You know, choosing people because they're called Diana.- Yes.
0:36:12 > 0:36:17- And I'm proposing building a bathroom.- Right.- And...
0:36:17 > 0:36:21you, Diana, will be in this bathroom.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24- It's completely right. That's exactly how it was.- Yes.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27- Actaeon saw her when she was bathing, so...- Indeed, indeed.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30And I mean... No, I think it's going to be quite something,
0:36:30 > 0:36:34- a plumbed in bathroom in the room next to these three Titians.- Yes.
0:36:34 > 0:36:40Well, it just seems to be one of those 100 things to do before you die, doesn't it?
0:36:40 > 0:36:42- Right, yes, yes, yes. - To be in an art installation.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45- Yes, yes.- Yes, it'll be... Yes, yes.
0:36:45 > 0:36:50The bathroom begins to be plumbed in to the National Gallery.
0:36:50 > 0:36:53Now, some people might be scandalised
0:36:53 > 0:36:55at what Mark Wallinger's doing,
0:36:55 > 0:36:58but then some people were once scandalised by Titian.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01One of the things that I think we all forget
0:37:01 > 0:37:04is that all of these artists were contemporary once
0:37:04 > 0:37:07and all of the great artists were probably shocking as well.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12And we know that these particular paintings certainly caused
0:37:12 > 0:37:14consternation at the Spanish court,
0:37:14 > 0:37:18because according to contemporary account,
0:37:18 > 0:37:21whenever ladies were likely to enter the room
0:37:21 > 0:37:23in which those paintings were displayed,
0:37:23 > 0:37:26they would be covered by curtains.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30Titian created all his metamorphoses paintings
0:37:30 > 0:37:32for the young man he depicted in this portrait -
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Philip II, the new king of Spain.
0:37:35 > 0:37:39You have to remember that these paintings weren't for everybody -
0:37:39 > 0:37:41I mean, they were for Philip's Private delectation.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45He was famous at the time for his flesh painting.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48Titian knew that Philip was highly sexed
0:37:48 > 0:37:54and he made a point of painting naked women for him
0:37:54 > 0:37:56from different perspectives and different angles.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05But although these women were painted for a man, by a man,
0:38:05 > 0:38:07Titian's sympathies seemed to lie
0:38:07 > 0:38:09not with his patron but his subjects.
0:38:09 > 0:38:13He was extremely fond of women.
0:38:13 > 0:38:18His women, even when they're naked, are real women.
0:38:18 > 0:38:22I'm sure in their context they were titillating -
0:38:22 > 0:38:25they must have been - but I think Titian is such a master
0:38:25 > 0:38:29that he understands that and produces that feeling
0:38:29 > 0:38:33in the looker of the painting of the voyeur,
0:38:33 > 0:38:37just as Actaeon in that painting is a voyeur.
0:38:37 > 0:38:41Titian wouldn't allow, you know, any would-be voyeur any comfort.
0:38:41 > 0:38:45I think there would be a metamorphosis within the watcher,
0:38:45 > 0:38:47a kind of change as well.
0:38:48 > 0:38:53'And you, sir. Yes, sir, you, who just began to hear these lines -
0:38:53 > 0:38:56'you may be a marked man.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00'Haven't you half thought that while you view Actaeon's intrusion,
0:39:00 > 0:39:03'you're intruding, too?
0:39:03 > 0:39:07'Actaeon stares at the stag's skull,
0:39:07 > 0:39:13'the flayed skin above the nymph who dries Diana's shin.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17'The stag's skull in its dominant position over mortal flesh,
0:39:17 > 0:39:22'immortalised by Titian, maybe marks you out to share Actaeon's doom
0:39:22 > 0:39:27'after you've left the safety of this room.'
0:39:32 > 0:39:36Chris Ofili's design picks up on the adult themes
0:39:36 > 0:39:38and content of the Diana myth.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42He spent twice as long as he'd first planned on this backdrop -
0:39:42 > 0:39:44four weeks in all.
0:39:53 > 0:39:56Meanwhile, the Opera House crafts-people
0:39:56 > 0:39:58have started work on his designs.
0:39:58 > 0:40:03You have to get into the mindset of Chris Ofili, really. Which is this.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07And they are all a bit of a weird mix of creatures,
0:40:07 > 0:40:09sort of nightmarish creatures.
0:40:11 > 0:40:15In Ovid's poem, Actaeon's dogs are partly a metaphor
0:40:15 > 0:40:19for how our desires can hound and ultimately destroy us,
0:40:19 > 0:40:22but when telling the story on stage
0:40:22 > 0:40:26the dogs also need to be a visible working reality.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28This is one that is, sort of, almost finished
0:40:28 > 0:40:31and they're going to have very red mouths inside
0:40:31 > 0:40:33and they'll attack Actaeon.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38Ofili drawings, which could fetch a fortune if sold by a gallery,
0:40:38 > 0:40:41are here simply blueprints for his prop designs.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45They're going to have leads that go to the actual dancer.
0:40:45 > 0:40:47They look quite benign, and then when they attack
0:40:47 > 0:40:49they'll look quite scary, hopefully.
0:40:49 > 0:40:54While Jane finishes her hounds' heads,
0:40:54 > 0:40:56the rehearsal room makes do with understudies.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00Will Tuckett is the choreographer
0:41:00 > 0:41:03whose task is to train the dogs.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09So, one, two, three, four.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12HE HUMS THE RHYTHM
0:41:12 > 0:41:17You look gorgeous. Yeah, your dog looks better.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21HE HUMS THE RHYTHM
0:41:21 > 0:41:24Yeah, it's just like ball, chain, step, jete, step.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27Thanks. And, one...
0:41:27 > 0:41:29PIANO MUSIC PLAYS
0:41:31 > 0:41:36Ovid would surely approve, the most graceful of human beings,
0:41:36 > 0:41:40ballet dancers, are transforming themselves into beasts.
0:41:40 > 0:41:41Could you sniff out front?
0:41:42 > 0:41:45Yeah, like... HI SNIFFS
0:41:45 > 0:41:47Yeah. One, two, three.
0:41:52 > 0:41:54Yeah, then down.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23Pop it.
0:42:31 > 0:42:33That's great, guys. Federico, that's perfect,
0:42:33 > 0:42:36that little pull back there was lovely. Very nice, very nice.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40Meanwhile, Chris Ofili has had to learn yet another new skill -
0:42:40 > 0:42:42costume design.
0:42:42 > 0:42:47The nymphs wear these all-in-one figure-hugging Lycra suits.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50There was a period when I was trying to think,
0:42:50 > 0:42:52"Oh, what's the Olympian world like?
0:42:52 > 0:42:54"What did these people actually look like?"
0:42:54 > 0:42:57And then it was like, "Wait a minute - this is not a real.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00"This is all made up." What do nymphs look like? I don't know.
0:43:00 > 0:43:05They maybe have turquoise, yellow and green, so that's what they have.
0:43:05 > 0:43:07Titian made it up, too.
0:43:10 > 0:43:14'I drew on the suits while they were wearing them'
0:43:14 > 0:43:18and those areas were cut out to reveal parts of their flesh.
0:43:20 > 0:43:23Just do a bit of that stuff you do...
0:43:23 > 0:43:25All that kind of stuff.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29That really works with the arms.
0:43:29 > 0:43:31I think to try and do it in the drawing
0:43:31 > 0:43:34would not have located the cuts precisely
0:43:34 > 0:43:39and also I wouldn't have had the experience of talking to the dancer
0:43:39 > 0:43:43and some would say, "I think this is the most beautiful part of my body,
0:43:43 > 0:43:44"could you draw attention to it?"
0:43:44 > 0:43:47And others would say quite the opposite.
0:43:47 > 0:43:52So...I felt like some kind of cosmetic surgeon.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55- It's got nice movement though. - Lovely movement.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59MUSIC: "The Robots" by Kraftwerk
0:43:59 > 0:44:03Barely three weeks before the ballet's open,
0:44:03 > 0:44:05the Opera House technicians now realise just what
0:44:05 > 0:44:07they've got on their hands with Conrad's robot.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11They've never seen anything like this before.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16It is a bit terrifying when you consider how heavy it is
0:44:16 > 0:44:18and what it's going to be doing.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22It's, kind of, the opposite of the set.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25When you walk round the back, it isn't made of cardboard and balsawood and painted.
0:44:25 > 0:44:30This is the most massive, heavy, industrial machine.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33We're still on a vertical learning curve.
0:44:33 > 0:44:35It's been like climbing the face of the Eiger.
0:44:35 > 0:44:39There's definitely a lot of paranoid dreams about robots
0:44:39 > 0:44:42because there were a lot of unknowns and uncertainties
0:44:42 > 0:44:47about different elements, but if we pull it off, it's going to be amazing.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50The Promethean spark of life the robot requires, however,
0:44:50 > 0:44:56will come from one of the dancers working in a motion capture studio.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00Eddie, you have to get those little things on, those little baubles.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11Everybody has a physical signature and that signature very literal,
0:45:11 > 0:45:15you can recognise someone absolutely by the way in which they move
0:45:15 > 0:45:19and this process is capturing some of that information and then
0:45:19 > 0:45:23translating it into maths and giving that maths then to the robot
0:45:23 > 0:45:27to be able to move in that way, so it's almost like a mapping exercise.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30It's a transformation from one physical signature, through maths,
0:45:30 > 0:45:33to another, so all of a sudden this robot has the physical dimension,
0:45:33 > 0:45:37the choreographic dimension of a body and their physicality.
0:45:37 > 0:45:40I think that's where there is a very interesting dialogue, then, between
0:45:40 > 0:45:43what the robot's doing and what the live physicality is on stage.
0:45:43 > 0:45:44And... Go.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57There's this very particular part of the choreography,
0:45:57 > 0:46:00which is a duet between Ed and Carl Acosta where we've got to remove
0:46:00 > 0:46:04one of the bodies and give that information to the robot,
0:46:04 > 0:46:07so that the other body can dance with the robot rather than this other live body.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10Just watch yourself. You'll recognise that it's you.
0:46:22 > 0:46:24What the dancers can provide by the motion capture,
0:46:24 > 0:46:28it's got all the humanity, all the gait of the person's walk
0:46:28 > 0:46:33or it'll just, I think, enhance the believability of this thing as something sentient.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36So if you imagine the surface of his feet are there
0:46:36 > 0:46:38and another surface is further out
0:46:38 > 0:46:40and you're, kind of, moving inside that space.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42This, sort of, figure of eight.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49But I'm very much still using the plan, so you're going across.
0:46:50 > 0:46:53You're Harry Potter now. THEY LAUGH
0:46:59 > 0:47:01It would be a good idea to motion capture a bow
0:47:01 > 0:47:03- and get the robot to bow at the end. - Exactly, yeah, exactly!
0:47:08 > 0:47:12Early July and less than a fortnight until opening night.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15The image Chris painted on the floor
0:47:15 > 0:47:18is now hanging on the back wall of the stage.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29Much of the time, he's at the opera house with his choreographers.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44But I've come to meet him at the National Gallery
0:47:44 > 0:47:49where, at the same time, he's installing his new artworks.
0:47:52 > 0:47:57Ten paintings, all based on Ovid's tales of Diana
0:47:57 > 0:48:01have just been delivered from his home in Trinidad.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05None of these paintings have been shown before
0:48:05 > 0:48:08and only some of them can be now.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12The problem is there's only space for six
0:48:12 > 0:48:14so tough decisions have to be made.
0:48:14 > 0:48:17There'll be some that I'm not super keen on
0:48:17 > 0:48:20and some that I'm really keen on.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26One of the things I think is so appropriate
0:48:26 > 0:48:29about your involvement in this project
0:48:29 > 0:48:32is that I've always thought with your pictures,
0:48:32 > 0:48:34particularly the pictures of scale,
0:48:34 > 0:48:38it's like you enter this world and you think...
0:48:38 > 0:48:40And you...
0:48:40 > 0:48:45You go somewhere surprising and strange and foreign,
0:48:45 > 0:48:48but also very absorbing and different.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51This project started two years ago,
0:48:51 > 0:48:54so what was your first response when you heard about it?
0:48:54 > 0:48:57It wasn't easy. This whole process wasn't easy.
0:48:57 > 0:49:02It was two years, but the first year was just... Not sleepless nights,
0:49:02 > 0:49:05but just thinking, "What am I doing here?
0:49:05 > 0:49:10"How did I end up... How did I end up saying yes to this one?"
0:49:10 > 0:49:14- Where did you start with Titian? - I mean, to compare myself...
0:49:14 > 0:49:22Even to be in the room next to three masterpieces is...
0:49:23 > 0:49:25It's like asking for it.
0:49:25 > 0:49:30So I took inspiration from the sense of liberation that you get
0:49:30 > 0:49:33in particularly the last of the three,
0:49:33 > 0:49:35which is The Death Of Actaeon,
0:49:35 > 0:49:38which is considered to be unfinished by some,
0:49:38 > 0:49:42but the freedom in the brushstrokes
0:49:42 > 0:49:48and just the feeling that the work is still being created 500 years later was an inspiration.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54Once I relaxed with that and let go
0:49:54 > 0:50:02then I was able in the tenth painting to get to this state of...
0:50:04 > 0:50:08..kind of more loose and relaxed.
0:50:08 > 0:50:12This is so spontaneous and there is so much energy.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15You know, that's the look. What you see is pretty much painted
0:50:15 > 0:50:18in a really short period - an embarrassingly short period of time
0:50:18 > 0:50:21to be in a national gallery, right?
0:50:34 > 0:50:36Shall we go back to Diana, yeah?
0:50:48 > 0:50:52A lot of these pictures were made in Trinidad and obviously you're...
0:50:52 > 0:50:55There's a whole landscape there and mythology there,
0:50:55 > 0:50:58a palette there to be discovered.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01How much is this work imbued with that, with the Caribbean?
0:51:01 > 0:51:02I think it's there.
0:51:04 > 0:51:10There are times when you go walking in the forest in Trinidad.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13There's one waterfall I'm thinking of in particular
0:51:13 > 0:51:18where it just opens out, and the waterfall feels like it's in a hole
0:51:18 > 0:51:22and around 12 o'clock the sun comes directly into that hole
0:51:22 > 0:51:26as well as the waterfall into that hole, and you're bathing in the bottom of the pool
0:51:26 > 0:51:28and you do feel like the whole thing
0:51:28 > 0:51:32is just infected with this particular smell, scent,
0:51:32 > 0:51:37taste or feeling that is very unique and very private.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39And I think, when I started reading about Ovid,
0:51:39 > 0:51:43I could immediately identify, not necessarily with Actaeon
0:51:43 > 0:51:47but with that feeling of that sacred space, the private space,
0:51:47 > 0:51:50- where you are on your own... - So true.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54..and you can be naked or you can be without fear.
0:52:11 > 0:52:15Diana and Actaeon has just come back from a tour of other art galleries
0:52:15 > 0:52:18and is beginning a dialogue with its new neighbours.
0:52:24 > 0:52:28Within a couple of days, Ofili's paintings have been hung and lit.
0:52:32 > 0:52:34And among his final selection is one
0:52:34 > 0:52:37that hadn't been there on my previous visit.
0:52:38 > 0:52:42I see these paintings here as entwining mythologies
0:52:42 > 0:52:47and landscapes, some which are real, some which are invented
0:52:47 > 0:52:49and some which he comes from.
0:52:49 > 0:52:52Exactly what Titian was doing himself.
0:52:52 > 0:52:56That is what I find amazing, that in the back of Diana and Actaeon,
0:52:56 > 0:52:59you have got a sort of mountainous landscape,
0:52:59 > 0:53:03which is the Dolomites, where Titian was from.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06So Titian has placed the Olympian world in a landscape he knew,
0:53:06 > 0:53:08and Chris has placed the landscape of the gods
0:53:08 > 0:53:10in a world that he knows. They have done the same thing.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26There is now under a week until the ballets are premiered,
0:53:26 > 0:53:29and Conrad's team have moved onto the stage.
0:53:31 > 0:53:33This is the first dress rehearsal,
0:53:33 > 0:53:36the first time the dancers have really seen the big machine.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39We have very little time to get all the stuff right.
0:53:39 > 0:53:44We're pretty behind in terms of all the sequencing we have to do.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46Because this is such a unique thing for us to have so many new ballets
0:53:46 > 0:53:50in one evening, all these amazing artists working together, all of this has put
0:53:50 > 0:53:53a lot of pressure in terms of how much technical time you've got.
0:53:53 > 0:53:57But there's a lot more to do, we've got five days to get that done,
0:53:57 > 0:53:59so it's a bit of a kind of race against the clock.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02The robot is actually quite dangerous, so we can't have
0:54:02 > 0:54:06anybody go anywhere near where that wand on the robot can move.
0:54:06 > 0:54:11The power to the wand is the light at the end, it is one of the issues,
0:54:11 > 0:54:14with that big cable hanging down, because there is 3000 watts
0:54:14 > 0:54:16of power going through that, so it gets incredibly hot
0:54:16 > 0:54:18and it twists and ravels,
0:54:18 > 0:54:20so there is a lot of weight that it's throwing around.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24There are, of course, potential problems with the robot not working,
0:54:24 > 0:54:27but if that happens, we are really up the creek.
0:54:28 > 0:54:33People tell me that all theatre is a crisis until the curtain comes up.
0:54:33 > 0:54:36But I don't think that is quite the same with sculpture.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55After years of planning and months of rehearsal,
0:54:55 > 0:54:58this is the first time anyone has had proof
0:54:58 > 0:55:01of how well - or not - dancers and robot will actually get on.
0:55:06 > 0:55:10But just as the mechanical Diana is hitting her stride,
0:55:10 > 0:55:13all 30 foot of her with arm on extended,
0:55:13 > 0:55:17something happens which no-one has rehearsed.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26RADIO: 'We have a problem.'
0:55:27 > 0:55:29'We have a problem.'
0:55:29 > 0:55:33Oh, we've just broken the cable. Oh, fuck.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36Do you think we could have some lights on stage?
0:55:36 > 0:55:39ANNOUNCEMENT: 'We'd like to take our break now and come back in a second.'
0:55:39 > 0:55:43There's this system that winds up a bit like spaghetti on a fork
0:55:43 > 0:55:46and we have a way of running the different sequences clockwise
0:55:46 > 0:55:48and anticlockwise to unravel them.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51- Is it all off, the power to it? - Yeah, the power's off.
0:55:51 > 0:55:53I'll just confirm it. Don't touch anything, yeah?
0:55:53 > 0:55:56We didn't have time to test it beforehand because time is so short
0:55:56 > 0:55:59and we'd snapped this very, very high voltage cable.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02It's a fucking train smash. Shit!
0:56:02 > 0:56:04It's... We're fucked.
0:56:11 > 0:56:16By contrast, the National Gallery is now a picture of calm.
0:56:16 > 0:56:18It's part of the project is now fully installed
0:56:18 > 0:56:21and about open to the public.
0:56:25 > 0:56:27In pride of place,
0:56:27 > 0:56:31the three paintings which have inspired everything else here -
0:56:31 > 0:56:35finally reunited after hundreds of years apart.
0:56:35 > 0:56:38Now, however, Titian's Diana
0:56:38 > 0:56:43is sharing the limelight with new incarnations.
0:56:43 > 0:56:47The smaller of Conrad's robots is still functioning.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51After last night's trauma, he's lovingly tending his creation.
0:56:53 > 0:56:55It's extraordinary to think an industrial machine
0:56:55 > 0:56:59actually carved these delicate wooden antlers
0:56:59 > 0:57:01and both are now works of art.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06This is almost like the epilogue of the story.
0:57:06 > 0:57:10It's when Diana has finally killed Actaeon, only then is she sated,
0:57:10 > 0:57:15and here she's grooming herself and she is basically back in her glade,
0:57:15 > 0:57:19in her pool but she's got her prize. This is a trophy.
0:57:19 > 0:57:20She's transformed him
0:57:20 > 0:57:24through this sort of magic wand that she has here, whatever it is,
0:57:24 > 0:57:30this magic light and now she's just preoccupied and satisfied.
0:57:30 > 0:57:34Yeah. Someone, a few days ago, described it.
0:57:34 > 0:57:38He said, "So sensual and yet so cold." That was so perfect for me
0:57:38 > 0:57:41because I think that's the thing about Diana,
0:57:41 > 0:57:44she's a symbol of desire yet the way she behaves
0:57:44 > 0:57:48to both Actaeon, and particularly Callisto, is very, very brutal
0:57:48 > 0:57:55and very lacking in humanity or any kind of empathy really.
0:57:55 > 0:57:59I think that's what I wanted to try and get across, this powerful,
0:57:59 > 0:58:02awesome but sensual sort of sexual presence.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15Two days later and back at the Opera House,
0:58:15 > 0:58:18Conrad's looking more cheerful.
0:58:18 > 0:58:23The dancing robot is functioning once more, but today sees
0:58:23 > 0:58:27a new element added to this already fiendishly complex production -
0:58:27 > 0:58:29a full-scale orchestra.
0:58:30 > 0:58:35The dress rehearsal begins as Nico Muhly's score strikes up.
0:58:39 > 0:58:43Nico's worked with everyone from Bjork to Philip Glass in recent years,
0:58:43 > 0:58:47but this time he sought inspiration
0:58:47 > 0:58:50from a piece of English church music, written in the same century
0:58:50 > 0:58:52as Titian was painting.
0:58:54 > 0:58:58The beginning and the end are a William Byrd motet, the Miserere Mei,
0:58:58 > 0:59:01which is an example of something that's starting to exist
0:59:01 > 0:59:04as choral music and then being translated into the orchestra.
0:59:04 > 0:59:06There's that sort of metamorphosis that happens
0:59:06 > 0:59:09when something that used to be a voice has become a string,
0:59:09 > 0:59:12or something that used to be an arm has become a robotic arm.
0:59:17 > 0:59:19Where's Titian in the final piece?
0:59:19 > 0:59:21Well, I think, there's...
0:59:21 > 0:59:25For me it's very obvious in the landscape that there is
0:59:25 > 0:59:29a sequence of drones that opens the second section.
0:59:29 > 0:59:32It looks pastoral and then all of a sudden, upon further investigation,
0:59:32 > 0:59:34you realise that there's something sinister.
0:59:47 > 0:59:50There's a kind of violent energy and that was something that
0:59:50 > 0:59:55I reacted to, directly from the paintings
0:59:55 > 0:59:58in these extreme gestures, which is made physically
0:59:58 > 1:00:00obvious by the choreography,
1:00:00 > 1:00:04but also musically there's a real tension that almost never releases.
1:00:12 > 1:00:16It's a sort of terraced thing with all these big diagonal lines,
1:00:16 > 1:00:18which is how I hear it.
1:00:18 > 1:00:22I don't know, I think it's not meant to be like a literal translation
1:00:22 > 1:00:24of the painting into music and dance.
1:00:24 > 1:00:27I don't think that's what anyone was going for, because then you could
1:00:27 > 1:00:30just walk down the street and see the painting and you'd be fine.
1:00:32 > 1:00:34It's a reaction.
1:00:34 > 1:00:37It's sort of the resonance of the thing, rather than the thing itself.
1:00:41 > 1:00:43The Opera House team
1:00:43 > 1:00:46have to switch rapidly between the three different ballets.
1:00:46 > 1:00:48This is Mark Wallinger's set.
1:00:48 > 1:00:53The giant mirror will reflect the audience back to itself.
1:00:53 > 1:00:57Sometimes what they will see is more of a surprise,
1:00:57 > 1:01:00because this is a two-way mirror.
1:01:00 > 1:01:03That's good, yeah. The mirror actually behaves
1:01:03 > 1:01:05slightly differently than we anticipated.
1:01:05 > 1:01:08Split it a bit more. No, split it more.
1:01:08 > 1:01:11Can you not hear me through this? Bloody hell!
1:01:11 > 1:01:13LAUGHTER
1:01:13 > 1:01:15Needs a bit of time to think, sits back from it,
1:01:15 > 1:01:17takes in the big picture.
1:01:17 > 1:01:21Whereas I can get down there and in a very short amount of time
1:01:21 > 1:01:24boss everyone around and get them into the right places on stage.
1:01:24 > 1:01:27I would rather let someone else worry about
1:01:27 > 1:01:30if someone is out of line and things.
1:01:32 > 1:01:35Beatrice, try to get into line with the girls here.
1:01:35 > 1:01:377, 1, 2, 3.
1:01:37 > 1:01:39Better.
1:01:39 > 1:01:44Sorry, guys. We're just trying to figure it out, Steve.
1:01:44 > 1:01:46Sometimes the time pressure can actually be quite useful.
1:01:46 > 1:01:49OK, right on the fugue, please, Barry.
1:01:49 > 1:01:52There are no two ways about it. You either get it done or you don't.
1:01:52 > 1:01:54You have to allow yourself time to cut things,
1:01:54 > 1:01:56even if it is the 11th hour.
1:01:57 > 1:01:59They are just not on it.
1:01:59 > 1:02:02Could you guys stop? Sorry, Barry. Sorry to stop you.
1:02:02 > 1:02:05It is the dancers that find it really stressful
1:02:05 > 1:02:09because we spend a lot of the time putting them in positions
1:02:09 > 1:02:11but they just want to run it.
1:02:11 > 1:02:15I am sure there probably really fed up with us.
1:02:19 > 1:02:22- If only he could make more of the splits upside down.- Yes.
1:02:22 > 1:02:24What is she doing?
1:02:24 > 1:02:28- She had a straight leg at the front. - Maybe her leg doesn't bend.
1:02:28 > 1:02:31I can't watch, because it is on on Saturday,
1:02:31 > 1:02:33and I'm having a nervous breakdown.
1:02:33 > 1:02:36The ballet might not be ready yet
1:02:36 > 1:02:38but at the National Gallery
1:02:38 > 1:02:41Mark Wallinger's artwork is installed
1:02:41 > 1:02:43and getting a lot of attention.
1:02:43 > 1:02:46He took me to see what some of the tabloids
1:02:46 > 1:02:48have been making a fuss about.
1:02:55 > 1:03:00I hear the sound of running water. I see a sponge.
1:03:00 > 1:03:04Someone is bathing in here, I suspect.
1:03:14 > 1:03:19I can report that this Diana was indeed as naked as the goddess.
1:03:30 > 1:03:32I really do feel, I mean,
1:03:32 > 1:03:35that this is sort of forbidden, really, isn't it?
1:03:35 > 1:03:40- Indeed, yes. - I know what Actaeon felt like.- Yes.
1:03:40 > 1:03:46- The sense of trespass is there. The sense of something forbidden.- Yes.
1:03:46 > 1:03:48Of voyeurism.
1:03:48 > 1:03:53It is trying to stage an encounter, or an instinct, or a curiosity,
1:03:53 > 1:03:57that we all have.
1:03:57 > 1:04:02And of course, cinematically, Hitchcock, Powell,
1:04:02 > 1:04:06there are classic films about the perils,
1:04:06 > 1:04:09the same peril that Actaeon found himself in,
1:04:09 > 1:04:17and how to looking sometimes has more intent or consequences than...
1:04:17 > 1:04:19We kind of understand that.
1:04:20 > 1:04:24But this is a work of art. So was Titian's.
1:04:24 > 1:04:27So you have permission.
1:04:27 > 1:04:31In a way you get bound up with the very nature of this place.
1:04:31 > 1:04:34If you said, "This show contains nudity",
1:04:34 > 1:04:39that is kind of like, big deal, the entire building's full of it!
1:04:39 > 1:04:41The nudey bits always seem to be the most popular.
1:04:41 > 1:04:45So yeah, things don't change.
1:04:45 > 1:04:48The News of the World didn't exactly die of shame.
1:04:48 > 1:04:52People carried on buying the thing until Murdoch shut it down.
1:04:52 > 1:04:55- Can I have another look? - Yes, absolutely, yes.
1:04:57 > 1:04:59Saturday July 14th.
1:04:59 > 1:05:04Ready or not it is opening night at the Royal Opera House.
1:05:04 > 1:05:06APPLAUSE
1:05:26 > 1:05:30Seeing Mark Wallinger's ballet so soon after his installation,
1:05:30 > 1:05:33certain shared themes emerge.
1:05:33 > 1:05:36This too is a work about looking,
1:05:36 > 1:05:38about narcissism as well as voyeurism.
1:06:57 > 1:06:58It went really well.
1:06:58 > 1:07:00I think being thrown together
1:07:00 > 1:07:03and having to create really sort of in the moment and spontaneously
1:07:03 > 1:07:05creates an energy.
1:07:05 > 1:07:06That is undeniable.
1:07:06 > 1:07:09One new ballet of that quality would be impressive
1:07:09 > 1:07:13but this of course is a premiere times three.
1:07:13 > 1:07:17Conrad Shawcross has more reason than most for opening night nerves.
1:07:17 > 1:07:20Will his robot make it through the performance?
1:09:53 > 1:09:54APPLAUSE
1:09:54 > 1:09:58I feel a tremendous sense of relief that it all went to plan.
1:09:58 > 1:10:01We were working until 45 minutes before the opening,
1:10:01 > 1:10:04so we were very much... very last minute.
1:10:04 > 1:10:07It felt like there was another cast member on stage, you know?
1:10:07 > 1:10:11It didn't feel like this big looming thing behind us,
1:10:11 > 1:10:14it really felt part of everything we were doing as well, so...
1:10:14 > 1:10:16I think it worked.
1:10:16 > 1:10:21I think both Wayne and I are very happy. It was a challenge, you know, working together.
1:10:21 > 1:10:25But I think something very interesting
1:10:25 > 1:10:28comes out of the meeting with somebody who's that different.
1:10:28 > 1:10:31And it enriches you.
1:10:37 > 1:10:39The finale of the evening
1:10:39 > 1:10:42is the telling of the story of Diana and Actaeon,
1:10:42 > 1:10:46as it inspired Chris Ofili and his collaborators.
1:10:46 > 1:10:50The last carriers of the flame, passed on to them
1:10:50 > 1:10:54across the centuries by both Titian and Ovid.
1:12:12 > 1:12:17You sign up to believe that what happens within this box
1:12:17 > 1:12:21is real, for 35 minutes, before ice-cream time.
1:12:21 > 1:12:25You know, it's that wonderful feeling that we as human beings still like to
1:12:25 > 1:12:30play make-believe and have a little doll's house and move things around.
1:12:30 > 1:12:34Of course, it's far more sophisticated than that, but...
1:12:34 > 1:12:38it's still that wonderful thing that, um, we like to make things ourselves.
1:12:41 > 1:12:46# Actaeon!
1:12:47 > 1:12:54# Actaeon ego sum. #
1:13:38 > 1:13:40Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd