This morning I was at Tate Britain for a very different sprint than I'm usually used to. I was with other Olympians and athletes to be part of Martin Creed's Work No. 850, running down the gallery to launch the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad and Open Weekend.
The group:
The thought behind the artwork, as written on the sign in the Gallery
Before we ran I was quite apprehensive about it - mainly we were sprinting straight toward a wall. We were briefed by the artist beforehand so we knew what it was about - he told us we had to run like our life depended on it.
Warming up:
With Kelly Holmes and Iwan Thomas:
Seb stretching:
We ran in 30 second intervals, creating a natural, constant flow, and I really enjoyed it - though you did have to brake really hard at the end. It's a unique thing to be able to do and it was great to be part of quite a modern work of art, running alongside rooms with fabulous, more traditional art.
It felt really good. I really support Martin's idea and I'm an artist myself - after sport, art's my second passion, so being part of it this morning worked for me really well. I haven't done much sport or athletics-oriented artwork so far, but I'm looking to do more now. Finding time is hard, both art and sport take quite alot of time, and I'm still competing. But maybe one day I'll get my work at the Tate...
