2012, the year of Great Britain in so many ways, from the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee to the Olympics, the artistic community just had to get involved and celebrate. With a little help from BT and a certain iconic piece of design, BT Artbox is born and with a number of galleryartists invited to participate, we’re rather chuffed.
Artbox is the creative project celebrating London 2012 and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and it celebrates in such a quintessentially British way, by incorporating one of the most recognisable and iconic pieces of design ever – The humble red telephone box, or as the experts would have us call it K6.
The original phone box was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott to commemorate King George V's Silver Jubilee. This year we’ve got a Diamond Jubilee and London 2012 to look forward to, so the bods at BT decided we needed to do something to celebrate.
Dave White's Artbox reflecting his new series 'Natural Selection'.
Across London’s streets you’ll find replicas of the Gilbert Scott phone box, transformed by the imaginations of some of the UK’s very best creative minds including some gallery faves such as Dave White, Lidia de Pedro, Inkie and Ryan Callanan, who’s created six vibrant boxes located outside the Tower of London.
Ryan Callanan's Artbox outside The Tower of London
Aside from being a celebration of Britain and the events occurring this summer, the BT ArtBox project was chiefly launched to celebrate 25 years of ChildLine, the charity that provides help and advice for children. Fashion designers Giles Deacon, Zandra Rhodes, Julien Macdonald and photographer Willie Christie are other names that will redesign the red telephone box.
On June 15, the Jubilee BT ArtBoxes will join the other 80 transformed telephone boxes on Trafalgar Square for the official preview of the BT ArtBox exhibition. Then, on 18 July, the phone boxes will go under the hammer at a Sotheby’s auction at the National Portrait Gallery.
