Breathing, by Jaume Plensa, is one of three major permanent artworks commissioned for BBC Broadcasting House. The sculpture, created in collaboration with MJP Architects and the engineers Whitby Bird, is a subtle, glowing beacon of light; a poignant memorial to news journalists killed in action. Its form, based on the spire of All Souls’ Church, is an inverted glass cone with a steel point at its base. It projects like an elegant, transparent listening glass out of the roof of the new East Wing. A poem by the artist is inscribed into the sculpture's surface, which refers to the life of the building:
life turns and turns on the crystal glass
breathing in our body
silence is a voice, our voice
silence is a body, our body
life turns and turns on the crystal glass
breathing in our body
I invite you to breathe
I invite you to listen to the silence
The presence of Breathing alters at night when, for a brief period at ten o'clock, a vertical beam of transparent white light projects upwards from the sculpture, connecting the building to the night sky.
Breathing is part of the BBC Broadcasting House Public Art Programme, curated by Modus Operandi.
