Channel 4 is planning a virtual tour of Damien Hirst’;s first-ever retrospective in the UK – to be unveiled two days before the show opens at The Tate Modern.

In a groundbreaking arrangement with the gallery, C4 Arts will make a 360-degree online video tour of the exhibition available on channel4.com/hirst for one week from 2nd April. Using pioneering technology, it is the first time a broadcaster has provided interactive access to an art exhibition in advance of its public opening.

Available for one week only, internet users across Britain will be able to take a private, interactive tour around highlights of the exhibition at Tate Modern. Comedian Noel Fielding will act as an online guide. Along the way, users can also watch video inserts of Hirst himself providing background and insight at key artworks.

Commenting on the project, C4 Arts Commissioning Editor, Tabitha Jackson, said: “I am delighted that Channel 4′;s vital partnership with Tate and our long association with the YBA’;s (Young British Artists) from Steve McQueen to Sam Taylor Wood, and now Damien Hirst, has given us this opportunity. By experimenting with new technology as well as traditional forms of TV, we can help audiences experience the exhibition in a new, personal way before doors are even open.”

The online experience uses yellowBird technology which allows web users to move around the exhibition using their mouse or touch pad to view video footage in all directions. The tour can be paused at any point, while the user explores 360° stills of the exhibition space.

The online view will be unveiled on the same night that Channel 4 screens two documentaries about Hirst. In The Damien Hirst Show (w/t; 8pm), the artist will take Noel Fielding on a walk through his new show at Tate Modern, providing a behind-the-scenes look. The other film, Damien Hirst: Thoughts, Work, Life, is a portrait by BAFTA award-winner Chris King (Senna). As well as a interviews with Hirst, the film includes never-before-seen footage, largely collated from the artist’;s archives.

“We’;re thrilled be working with Damien Hirst, Tate and yellowBird on this project,” said Kate Quilton, Multiplatform Commissioning Editor, Factual at Channel 4. “It does exactly what we look to do – use multiple platforms to deliver stories in ways which fundamentally change the audience experience and increase the impact of the idea. To allow viewers to preview the exhibition for themselves straight after the programme, before the doors even open, is really exciting for us.”