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You鈥檙e invited to an interactive private view of artist JMW Turner at the Tate. Get taken on a lyrical tour by your personal guide, Dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah, as you click your way through the landmark exhibition. So is he a Master or Maverick? You decide.

Inside Story

Daniel O鈥機onnor from The Culture Show popped by Taster HQ to talk us through 鈥淭urner: Master or Maverick?鈥�

Hello Daniel. First things first: Turner 鈥� obviously a master, right?

Yes, that鈥檚 how we think of Turner nowadays. But he was surprisingly controversial in his day. Especially in his later years when he became more eccentric.

That鈥檚 one of the great things about Turner. He never became staid or predictable. He was always ahead of his time; everyone else just needed to catch up.

Benjamin Zephaniah clearly agrees. How did he get involved?

He was presenting an episode of 鈥淧rivate View鈥�, which is an online Culture Show series where people give their personal take on an art exhibition. Goldie did Matisse. Michael Eavis did Constable. And Benjamin did this exhibition at the Tate about the later works of Turner.

So was this an offshoot of 鈥淧rivate View?

Exactly. Each 鈥淧rivate View鈥� episode was just 25 minutes long, so we were limited in terms of what we could cover.

Hence the interactivity of 鈥淭urner: Master or Maverick?鈥濃��

Right. Doing it as an interactive video meant we could break up all the footage into smaller, more manageable chunks. And then put the audience in control of what they wanted to look at.

So you can spend as much or as little time as you like wandering round the virtual gallery.

So it鈥檚 like a real gallery. Is there a gift shop?

Alas not. But we hope the interactivity will help people feel closer to the art and the artist, and that will be gift enough.

Nicely done. How did you connect all that footage?

Well, we could have just arranged the clips by artwork. But that would have ignored the themes and stories of Turner. So we choose to tell two stories: one about the master, one about the maverick.

Sounds simple enough. Was it?

Not exactly. One of the challenges of interactive video is you need extra content for every 鈥渂ranch鈥� someone can take.

As well as all that extra video, the production process is more complicated. For example, you have to write the scripts in a way that means every scene joins up and makes sense, whatever selection you make.

So how did you pull all the threads together?

We used an interactive video platform called Interlude. It means that you, the audience member, can steer your own way through the artworks. Then you land on menus that open up info about specific artworks.

And did it turn out as you hoped?

Yes, we wanted as many people as possible to be able to get up close to these amazing paintings. And now you can. You don鈥檛 need a ticket to London. All you need is an internet connection.

I鈥檓 also thrilled with the way Benjamin Zephaniah talks about Turner. It鈥檚 not the traditional style people might expect. It鈥檚 much more lively and stimulating. Like Turner himself in fact.