Grayson Perry needs YOU to make his next artwork

24 January 2017

This spring, Grayson Perry will navigate post-Brexit Britain in his own inimitable style by inviting Channel 4 viewers to help create his next major work – an attempt to capture what a divided country is thinking and turn it into art.

Grayson Perry: What Britain Wants (w/t) will follow Grayson as he harnesses the power of Twitter and Facebook to invite the public to contribute ideas, images, phrases and photographs with which he can cover the surface of two enormous pots: one for the Brexiteers and one for the Remainers. Grayson believes that these are the two great tribes of our time – their differences far more fundamental than disagreement over the EU – and wants to explore their competing visions of the nation. The project will unfold in two parts:

Launching today (Monday 22 January), Grayson will appeal on social media for material and crowdsource decisions about the pots’ colour, layout and content.  Every week for ten weeks Channel 4 will release a short film by Grayson, in which he updates viewers on progress so far, sorts through the material coming in, and asks the public to vote on key questions about the pots’ design.

In these two new artworks Grayson will reflect the two competing narratives of what this country is, and what it aspires to be.

Viewers should express their ideas on Twitter via #leavepot and #remainpot and upload their thoughts to the Channel 4 Facebook page underneath Grayson’s video.]

Then as the anniversary of the Brexit vote approaches, the channel will broadcast an hour-long documentary tracking the process first thoughts to finished pots, and following Grayson as he visits the most pro-Brexit and pro-Remain parts of Britain.The two pots will form part of Grayson’s most important British solo exhibition, ‘The Most Popular Art Exhibition Ever’, which will be held at the Serpentine Gallery in June 2017.  

John Hay, Head of Specialist Factual:  “I’m delighted to see Grayson exploiting his flair for social media and turning his mischievous eye on this great theme of our times, and I’m excited to be doing it as a sort of exploded documentary – playing out in real time on our phones for weeks and then wrapped up as a treat for a night in at the end.  I have no idea what’s coming, but I look forward to it all the more for that.”

Grayson Perry: "I've long said democracy has terrible taste. Am I enough of a strongman to take back control and make pottery great again?"

 The documentary will be directed by Neil Crombie. The production company is Swan Films and commissioning editor for Channel 4 is John Hay.

 

Praise for Grayson Perry: All Man

“You can count on artist Grayson Perry for television that opens cans of worms – then embroiders them beautifully.” Radio Times

“Another incredible series; Perry, always able to cut through to truth with ease, has found a niche as the nation’s communicator-in-chief.” Guardian

“The best documentaries are those that deliver the unexpected and this was one. It was beautifully judged, containing not a moment that patronised the viewer but plenty that will have moved them to tears…. this is how factual television should be.” The Times ****