The Artist and Radio 4, an exhibition of work by over 60 artists who have been influenced or entertained by BBC’s Radio 4 whilst they work, is currently on at the Bankside Gallery in London.

The exhibition explores what it is that makes Radio 4 the listening choice of so many creative people and whether what they are listening to subconsciously or consciously infiltrates the work itself. Each participating artist was invited to submit recent works created while they listened to the radio together and to explain about their working relationship with Radio 4 and how it influences their working environment.

A wide range of artists are represented including Raymond Briggs, Stanley McMurtry, better known as Mac, the cartoonist in the Daily Mail, designer Zandra Rhodes and from Scotland, book artist, Rachel Hazell.

Rachel explains the importance of Radio 4 to her work:

'Every working day is shaped by Radio 4's schedule. Narratives of each page and book are created alongside the turning programmes. I must have stepped into the workshop by Woman's Hour, and the phone remains unanswered during the afternoon play... The isolation of making is alleviated by the radio talking in every room. I bind books as I listen to stories. Spoken words are translated into text. As I don’t make time to read newspapers, Radio 4’s regular bulletins keep me in touch with the World, so my flights of imagination and creation are grounded in reality. The repetition and order of bookbinding somehow mirrors the accumulation of each fifteen, thirty or forty-five minute unit of programme. Public service broadcasting provides the motivation for a self-employed craftsman to carry on; working through until the story’s end. Intelligent listening, background education, moral debate, stimulating entertainment ..... All reasons why Radio 4 is an essential and fundamental studio partner.'

The exhibition is on at the Bankside Gallery, 48 Hopton Street, London SE1, from 3 to 27 November 2005.