Mahatma Gandhi's historic Dandi March speech, converted into a monumental sculpture by Mumbai-based artist Jitish Kallat, is among 50 artworks slated to go under the block to help fund free art education and free admission at the Saatchi Gallery here.
Kallat's "Public Notice 2", a fibreglass sculpture is part of the "Thinking Big" exhibition and sale, which the gallery is holding in collaboration with auction house Christie's, at the venue of a huge former postal depot in central London.
The event, coincides with Frieze Art Fair in October 2013.
"We have been working with the Saatchi Gallery on this project for about a year now. This exhibition and auction will be pioneering in that all the works will be offered without estimate or reserve," Francis Outred, Christie's Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Europe, said in a statement.
Payment terms of at least three months are available to public institutions.
Major sculpture and installation from across the last 20 years including Young British Artists (YBAs), such as Tracey Emin and the Chapman brothers, as well as newer talents such as Toby Ziegler, Kader Attia and Conrad Shawcross among others have been featured in the upcoming show.
"The artists come from five different continents and the exhibition and auction will be a fundamental celebration of the sculpture in the 21st century. Thinking Big refers to the huge ambition and imagination of the artists here, as much as it does to the scale of their work, and to the power of educating young people about art," Outred said.
Kallat's "Public Notice 2" that was exhibited in the Hall of Nations in Washington in 2011, created in 2007 and consists of 4479 painted fibreglass parts and its dimensions are variable.
Kallat has reimagined every word of Gandhi's rallying speech before the Dandi March, held to protest the salt tax instituted by British rule.
The 39-year-old artist has recreated the entire speech in a bone-shaped alphabet placed on saffron yellow walls in blocks that resemble pages of a vast book.
The Saatchi Gallery which turns 30 in 2015, was the first art space in the UK to show a whole host of artists before they became household names from Jeff Koons and Bruce Nauman to Andreas Gursky, Sigmar Polke and Damien Hirst.
During the last five years it has shown new art from India the Middle East, China, Russia, Germany and the US.
The auction "is designed to support art education and free admission, it enables young people from all backgrounds to gain access to contemporary art, high quality teaching and educational events".
