Royal Artillery? No, the Royal Academy

Gallery throws open its doors to honour Anish Kapoor – and his exploding cannon

News in pictures
News in pictures
On Facebook
Arts & Ents blogs

Shonky: From maths lover to international DJ

Late last year I interviewed Dan Ghenacia and Dyed Soundorom but missing from that interview was the...

Brighton Fringe: The week ahead…

So it seems that Brighton is well and truly swimming in gin, and apparently we can’t stop talking ab...

Lady Gaga corrupting youth, Bieber Fever and other reasons for gig cancellations

Are pop concerts the latest battle ground of moral superiority? Well, with Lady Gaga’s Indonesian co...

It is an elite minority of artists who have been invited to showcase their works in the hallowed halls of the Royal Academy of Arts since it was founded in 1768.

The last time the RA dedicated all of its vast gallery space to the work of just one contemporary British artist was 1988, and the man in question – Henry Moore – had been dead for two years.

Now, two decades later, all of the RA's five galleries are to be given over to the work of Anish Kapoor. To mark the moment he will wheel in a cannon and a cannoneer, who will load it with giant red wax pellets every 20 minutes and fire it at the wall, where the projectiles will explode at a speed of 50km/h. The work, Shooting into the Corner, was described as a "kind of psycho-drama" by the artist. "In a violent world, at least one set of meanings is obvious with this piece... The making of a mark is a violent act."

Much of the remaining space will be filled by a monumental sculpture called Svayambh (a Sanskrit word which translates as "auto-generated"), which comprises a 40-ton blob of wax atop a sunken railway track that will make its way repeatedly around the galleries, leaving a residue behind as it attempts to squeeze through each of the six entrances.

While these works may be shocking for those unaccustomed to seeing contemporary works at the RA, the real surprise is yet to come; Kapoor is creating up to six new works that are likely to be breathtaking in size, including one for the courtyard outside.

Kapoor, whose exhibition opens on 26 September, said he was delighted when the Academy approached him a year and a half ago, but also "astonished" that the unconventional nature of his installations met with no opposition from trustees. "It's a really great honour to be shown in this venerable institution and to be part of what may be a new phase in its growing evolution... To my astonishment, eveyone at the RA embraced the clear difficulties I put before them with these works, which are very challenging," he said.

The RA recently rented out space to the contemporary art gallery Haunch of Venison, sparking debate on the artistic direction of the institution and drawing criticism that it had opened its doors to contemporary art in an attempt to make more money.

Charles Saumarez Smith, the RA's director, said the institution, which is privately funded, had always considered the financial prospects of its exhibitions. "We have to spend time thinking about the issue of how many people are going to come. We have great confidence that [Kapoor's show] will be a big popular and public success," he said.

Kapoor, a Turner-prize winner who was elected a Royal Academician in 1999, follows European artists such as Georg Baselitz in filling the Academy in recent years. Kapoor is celebrated for works which are gargantuan in scale and often bright red. In 2002 he drew huge crowds to Tate Modern's Turbine Hall with Marsyas, an enormous trumpet-like structure, and is set to install Temenos, a public sculpture in Middlesborough, soon after the opening of the RA show.

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Career Services

Day In a Page

Hollywood's former holiday destination of choice to vanish from tourist map

Falling off the tourist map

California's Salton Sea
Life as a hermit: 'My life is a great adventure'

Life as a hermit

For nearly 30 years, Jake Willams has lived as a hermit in the Scottish wilderness
European egrets move to Somerset – for the weather

Herons over here

European egrets move to Somerset – for the weather
Animals left for dead in Indonesian zoos

Zoos of death

Animals left for dead in Indonesian zoos
Millions of Asians watch 'ring of fire' eclipse

Ring of fire eclipse

The annular eclipse in pictures
Bee Gees star Robin Gibb - A Life in Pictures

A Life in Pictures

Bee Gees star Robin Gibb
Antelope first seen 20 years ago is on brink of extinction

Endangered animals

The good news and the bad news
Second best day of his life? Zuckerberg surprises friends with secret wedding

Second best day of his life?

Zuckerberg surprises friends with secret wedding
Laurie Penny: In the age of camera phones the message is that protesters are watching police too

Occupy in the age of the camera phone

In Chicago, you can't see the cops for the cameras
Exclusive extract: How Cameron tried to evade Murdoch's embrace

Exclusive book extract

How Cameron tried to evade Murdoch's embrace
Pathetic fantasist or Nazi spy? The mysterious Mrs O'Grady

Pathetic fantasist or Nazi spy? The mysterious Mrs O'Grady

She was the only British woman sentenced to death for treason during the Second World War. Now, a new book revisits her bizarre case
Introducing the wellderly

Introducing the wellderly

Growing numbers of the over-65s want to keep working, volunteer or go on gap years
Penny Junor: 'I'm absolutely not a friend of Prince Charles'

Penny Junor interview

'I'm absolutely not a friend of Prince Charles'
Joe Strummer: The angry young man who grew up

Joe Strummer

How to remember the punk hero?
Patrick Cockburn: Goodbye to recent delusions - the age of nationalism is back with a vengeance

Patrick Cockburn: Goodbye to recent delusions...

... the age of nationalism is back with a vengeance