The centenary of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 will be officially marked on 1 July at the Thiepval Memorial in northern France. Heads of state of the combatants are due to attend a ceremony at the arch designed by Edward Lutyens to commemorate the thousands of British, Commonwealth and French soldiers whose bodies were never found.
Contemporary artists across the UK are doing their bit this year. The official four-year-long arts programme, 14-18 Now, announced its latest co-commissions in January. Visual artists including Rebecca Warren, Yinka Shonibare and Ciara Phillips will create new works, along with leading poets, musicians, choreographers, film-makers and the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood.
The programme has resulted in new works by Jeremy Deller, Bob and Roberta Smith and Susan Philipz, among others. Jenny Waldman, the director of 14-18 Now, says that more than 20 million people have experienced more than 80 works so far. “We thought we were being ambitious in hoping to reach ten million” people during the entire four-year programme, Waldman says.
The war at sea has inspired artists to create “dazzle” ships, updating the naval camouflage of the era. The British artist Peter Blake and the Venezuelan-born, France-based artist Carlos Cruz-Diez have transformed vessels in Liverpool, while in London, German-born Tobias Rehberger has dazzled the Royal Navy warship HMS President (1918). For two years, until December, it was the “largest floating work of art in London”, Waldman says.
This summer, Ciara Phillips is due to dazzle a ship in Leith, marking the centenary of the Battle of Jutland and forming part of Edinburgh Art Festival. Other artists have drawn inspiration from subjects as diverse as Nissen huts, gas warfare and the secret 1916 Sykes-Picot deal in which France and Britain carved up much of the Middle East.
Funding for 14-18 Now, which has a budget of around £15m, comes from the National Lottery (marking the first time it has supported contemporary art on this scale), Arts Council England and additional fundraising.