The Cultural Olympiad has a serious image problem: hardly anybody knows what it is and most of those who do can’t see the point of it.
But a glimmer of hope appeared yesterday with the announcement of a dozen ambitious, uplifting and occasionally eccentric public art commissions to mark the 2012 Olympic Games.
They are the successful applicants from more than 2,000 entries for £5.4 million put up by the Arts Councils of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales under the banner of Artists Taking the Lead.
The winning schemes include a three-mile high tower of vapour rising from a dock in the Wirral, a trio of 30ft crocheted lions and a small island from the Arctic being tugged around the south west coast to provoke discussions around climate change and national identity.
It may be no coincidence that the selection process bypassed most of the beauracractic hoops usually associated with public art. Artists submitted their proposals in 400 words and were picked from regional shortlists by a panel of their peers.
The Cultural Olympiad was conceived as a celebration of British creativity but appeared to be drifting alarmingly until a strong board of cultural heavyweights was installed to oversee strategy in July.
Confidence in the whole enterprise has been palpably enhanced as a result.
Tessa Jowell, the Olympics Minister, described the Cultural Olympiad yesterday as an “equal partner” with the summer games themselves and the Paralympics. She said that they would would help Britain to stage an event in line with the principals espoused by the Olympic movement’s founder, Baron Pierre de Coubertin: a “festival of the mind and a festival of the body.”
Lord Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog), declared: “My God, we are in great shape!” and said that the cultural Olympiad offered a “an opportunity for us to define ourselves as a nation.”
If that is the case, then it looks like we are increasingly a people in thrall to vast participatory spectacles.
Arts Council England hoped that Artists Taking The Lead, one of the major strands to the Cultural Olympiad, would stimulate a British equivalent to The Sultan’s Elephant, a giant French mechanical beast, seen by a million people in London over one weekend in 2006.
The nearest direct heir will be the West Midlands commission: a giant puppet of Lady Godiva, powered by cyclists who will process through Coventry at the head of a “cast of thousands” before converging on London. The Welsh Arts Council is funding a travelling arts space recycled from an abandoned aeroplane to “nest” in different parts of the country, having been towed into each new site by a team of local athletes and youth groups. The East of England will witness a fiesta around ideas of identity, home and nationality including a touring exhibition of ephemera shown in disused shops, four feasts for 1,000 people, brass bands, kite flyers, free runners, the composer Michael Nyman and the choreographer Wayne McGregor.
Other commissions are more self-contained and quieter. Shauna Richardson, a Leicestershire artist who described herself as a “crochetdermist” is spending the next two years knitting her small pride of crocheted lions, each of which will be the size of a small house.
She said that the idea reflects the East Midlands’ textile heritage and the region’s historical connection to Richard the Lionheart, who had three lions as his insignia. The sight of three giant wooly lions in a taxidermists’ case should also make people happy. “I think it’s fine to smile about art and it’s supposed to be extremely accessible,” she said while stroking a small and very handsome prototype. “Old ladies love it.”
The winning commissions are:
East region - On Landguard Point by the Pacitti Theatre Company
A feature film, starring large numbers of the local community alongside leading live artists to be created from a series of spectacular outdoor events across East Anglia.
East Midlands - Lionheart by Shauna Richardson
Three 30ft lions will be hand crocheted and displayed in a huge taxidermy style case in Nottingham.
London - Bus-Tops by Alfie Dennen and Paula Le Dieu
LED panels on the roofs of bus stops aim to provide Londoners with a new way to display their creativity, express what is special about their London and to talk to one another.
North East - Flow by The Owl Project and Ed Carter
An environmentally sustainable watermill will be created to float on the River Tyne, forming an interactive arts space full of fantastical mechanical devices.
North West - Projected Column by Anthony McCall and Fact
A monumental spinning column of cloud and light will rise as far as the eye can see from Birkenhead’s disused Morpeth dock, directly opposite the city of Liverpool.
Northern Ireland - The Nest by Brian Irvine and John McIlduff
This is a warehouse installation made from donated personal possessions that aims to inspire a new musical composition for a large chorus to be assembled in Northern Ireland.
Scotland - Forest Pitch by Craig Coulthard
A full size football pitch will be created within woodland to the south of Edinburgh. The pitch will host two football matches made up of amateurs from around Scotland. Once the matches are over, the pitch will be left to return to nature, creating a new environment within the forest.
South East - The Boat Project by Lone Twin
The people of the South East will be asked to donate wooden objects of personal significance to help create a beautiful sea-faring boat. Once complete, the boat will sail the south east-coast and become the focus of celebratory arts events.
South West - nowhereisland by Alex Hartley
The artist will bring the island to the south-west of England. The island will navigate the coast accompanied by a travelling embassy, exploring issues of climate change and land ownership.
Wales - Adain Avion by Marc Rees
A travelling wingless silver bird, recycled from an abandoned DC9 aeroplane, will “nest” in locations across Wales, and be transformed and animated by the local communities who take ownership of it.
West Midlands - Godiva Awakes by Imagineer Productions
Coventry icon Lady Godiva will be recreated as a giant human puppet and lead a cast of thousands in a processional performance, before making her journey to London.
Yorkshire - Leeds Canvas by Leeds Canvas
This is being billed by the organisers as an “unprecedented collaboration” between the city’s artists, arts organisations and internationally renowned Quay Brothers. It will use the buildings, streets and people of Leeds as the canvas for a month-long series of works.
The winning artists in the nine English regions, all chosen by a panel of artists and producers, receive £500,000 each.
The Northern Ireland commission is awarded £190,000, Scotland receives £460,000 and Wales£230,000 to complete the work. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are all Lottery-funded commissions.
