Mediabox is showcasing the work created for the London-Delhi project, more of which can be seen at the Spectacle website. The training and networking day incorporating Spectacle work is taking place on the 24th March at Oxford House in Bethnal Green.
As the 2012 Olympic Games fast approaches the London 2012 Organising Committee and London Councils have announced the landmarks chosen by Londoners to feature in a celebratory set of London 2012 ‘Landmark London’ pin badges to go on sale this year. Londoners had from Monday 14 September until midnight on Sunday 18 October 2009 to cast their vote from a list of nominations. Winning landmarks range from visitor attractions, theatres and museums to windmills, clock towers and bridges.
The winning landmark for the London Borough of Wandsworth was announced as Battersea Power Station. A Grade II listed building built in 1939. It was the first in a series of generators set up as part of the National Grid power distribution system, standardising the supply of electricity in England.
However, by 2012 the developers of the Power Station may well have removed the landmark’s iconic chimneys. This is just one of the drastic changes currently planned for this highly popular building.
Read more Blogs about Battersea Power Station.
Information about Spectacle’s Battersea Power Station Project.
Lance Forman is managing director of H Forman & Son, a salmon smoking factory, that has been based in East London for over 100 years. In these interviews he speaks about the obstacles his business has had to overcome in connection with the Olympics.
After having build a brand new factory with a grand by the LDA, H Forman & Son were faced with a compulsory puchase order by LDA and the task to relocate, along with 250 other businesses.
Part 1 deals with the history of the factory and the bad luck the company has faced during the past 10 years.
Part 2 is an account of the negotiations and dealings with the LDA
Part 3 takes a different view on the Olympic Legacy
Part 4 talks about the public presentation of the Olympics
Part 5 is the story of the search for a suitable site for a new factory
Part 6 tells about the last obstacles that had to be overcome when building the new factory
In The Fog of Games, the first casualty is the truth. The Olympics are brief and transitory television events that disguise and justify mega projects of vast urban restructuring that permanently distort our cities for the benefit of a few business interests. Common features of such projects are unprecedented land grabs, the peddling of myths of ‘regeneration’ and ‘legacy’ benefits, the sweeping away of democratic structures and planning restraints, the transfer of public money into private hands, and ‘information management’ to hide truths and silence critics.
Mark Saunders from Spectacle will be showing clips of Spectacle’s ongoing Olympic Project The Fog of Games: Legacy, Land Grabs and Liberty.
Also Reporting the London Olympics Martin Slavin from Games Monitor website will discuss the gap between the media image of the Olympics and the historical impact they have had on communities.
This free event will take place at The London School of Economics on Thursday 28th May at 7pm. Everyone is welcome.
For more information on Spectacle’s Olympic project visit our Olympic project page
To see more clips from our Olympic project please visit the the Spectacle Archive Page
An interview is now online with Johnnie Walker from the Hackney and Leyton Sunday league about the effects of the Olympics on Hackney Marshes football. To view this interview and other clips from our Olympics project please visit the Spectacle website.
It has been revealed that several firms working on the Olympic site, including Sir Robert McAlpine who is building the stadium, were subscribed members of the Consulting Association which is accused holding sensitive information on 3,213 workers. This information came to light after a raid by the Information Commissioners Office.
Contract journal writes
‘Union leaders are demanding the Olympic 2012 site is purged of all blacklists held on construction workers.
Olympic Stadium builder Sir Robert McAlpine is believed to have spent nearly £30,000 last year alone on information to vet potential employees.
Unite joint general secretary Derek Simpson is calling for an immediate probe into all Olympic contractors caught up in the Consulting Association scandal.
He said: “On the basis that many of the employers concerned will be winning billions of pounds worth of public and private sector work, the government should announce an immediate investigation into the practices that exist in the industry.”‘
source:http://www.contractjournal.com/Articles/2009/03/11/65585/construction-unions-demand-olympic-blacklist-ban.html
For more information on Spectacles Olympic Project please visit our Project Page
For Spectacles latest film on the Olympics please visit our archive page.
An interview with Katie Andrews on the consultation process of the London Olympics taking place in east London. Katie Andrews talks about the ways in which there was a lack of communication and information being delivered to the members of the public prior to the bid being being put in for the olympics to be held in London.
To watch interview click below:
The current batch of medals being won by team GB in Beijing seem to be centre around sports mainly, not exclusively, practised by the well-off. These include sports such as sailing and rowing that require large amounts of expensive equipment. The idea of the Olympics having a large number of participants maybe distorted if further focus and funding is given to these already affluent sports because they are going to bring in Gold.
However smaller sports that are not going win gold or clubs that are not linked to the olympic triumph will lose out on funding. This is highlighted by the example of the Europa Gym in Erith, Kent which is facing closure despite playing a vital role in the community. Its rent has recently increased by £30,00 forcing, Yvonne and Len, who run the gym, to sell their house and move into the property. Despite providing an essential space for gymnastic and boxing in a deprived area as well as featuring in the award winning dance film ‘GOLD’ by the Spectacle, the gym receives no core funding and is being left out to dry by the Sport England.
Is the legacy of the 2012 Olympics going to be a full trophy cabinet or really engaging young people with sport?
For more information on Spectacles Olympic Project please visit our Project Page
For Spectacles latest film on the Olympics please visit our archive page.
