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Visualising an Opening Ceremony

Rachel, Artist in Residence

Visualising an Opening Ceremony

Rachel, Artist in Residence,
03 Mar 2009
We were huddled together around a table in Brighton to discuss and consider a vision for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies for London 2012.

Each one of us was very pleased that we were there, that our individual creative voices were contributing towards laying the foundations for an event that will be watched by 80,000 people in the Olympic stadium and four billion people around the globe through the digital networks. It is impossible to imagine four billion people!
And why this particular group of individuals? Because each one of us is passionate about the notion of a mass spectacle.

As an opener, Martin Green, Head of Ceremonies at London 2012, and Leon Cambell, Producer, Ceremonies at London 2012, brought us up to speed by sharing video-snippets from the last 4 Games Ceremonies; Barcelona, Australia, Athens and Beijing. And it wasn’t long before we were all vociferously condemning and condoning. It was a great starting-point. And a bunch of creative individuals was never going to pull its punches.

So what shape should the ceremony take? What vision of Britain do we want to share with the world? What represents our identity as a culturally diverse nation? As always, it seemed very easy to address what we don’t want the ceremony to be about - but then interestingly there began to emerge a number of issues that we were all in agreement with; sustainability, legacy, and most important beauty. All sorted then?

Well not quite! But certainly a starting point at which we were each able to begin testing our ideas. And from these personal beginnings a collective voice did also begin to emerge, a clear indication that we do have a common sense of the human expression that is the Games. And if we can tap into this we will indeed contribute to a ceremony which will be capable of touching everyone. So we collaborate in a universal landscape where politics, religion and conflict play no part.

And as British citizens there is only one thing that we ask of ourselves - are we all on board for London 2012? And if the answer is yes, then the roadshow - so to speak - has already started and all we have to do is create an Olympic and Paralympic ceremony in which as Britons we are united, sharing and expressing a global vision and of our pride and sense of honour to be hosting the greatest sporting championships in the world.
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8 Comments on this post
15 March 2009, telegram/germany said:

I share your opinion that the Games should have a human expression as they have become gigantic and overdrawn (and inappropiatly expensive?) in scale.The idea of "simple" Games is to come down to a scale of humanity with nothing bombastic/gigantic and no emotiveness.I would avoid militaristic elements in the Ceremonies like soldiers that bring in the Olympic flag or "air force shows" and so on. Is this supposed to visualise the Olympic value of peace?In this context the charity project "Olympic Aid" of Lillehammer 1994 comes to my mind - it supported victims of the Bosnian war. That is indeed a human Olympic expression!I also wouldn´t reduce the Ceremony to a presentation of the hosting country - it´s more a question of balancing out with a celebration of the world community. Otherwise you get a one sided view according to "Hey look at us, we are the best".I would think about the official motto of 2012 first and visualise it at the Opening Ceremony. In Beijing is was "One World - One Dream" - then you have a basic statement or direction for the Ceremony.It is not good to put single elements together without a uniting line.It makes no sense to think about the motto in a late stage!

12 May 2009, TrisL said:

It is good to hear that plans for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies are starting to be planned. Although i must stress that i, and many many other individuals over the UK would not be happy if you focus only on the 'Multiculturalism' of this Country as i would find it offensive to my Culture. I am Welsh and would be very proud to see if you, as organisers, would scratch your heads a little more and consider portraying the History and Culture of England, Scotland, (Northen ) Ireland and Wales as well as the 'Multiculturalism'. As i know that one of the key elements of the 2012 Games is 'Equality' then consider this, as many will turn out happy and the visitors all over the world would recognise the true side of Britain. Satisfying the native British is good, but staying true to your Culture as well is even better.

13 August 2009, TimL said:

The plans for the opening and closing ceremonies sound like they are coming together. I would agree with TrisL that to focus only on the multicultural would be a mistake. Our multicultural aspect must be celebrated but I was concerned that it seemed that faith was not going to be allowed a place within the celebrations. Our Christian heritage is one of the founding aspects of what has made Britain what it is today. Christianity is also relevant and celebrated in the majority of the world (other world religions are also of course part of our heritage but Christianity has been the most influential). To ignore "faith" as an element of the celebrations is ridiculous as the majority of the world recognises the importance and life giving significance of belief. In fact Christianity and other religious belief is growing faster now than at any previous time (apart from the small corner of western europe we happen to be part of). If we are inviting the world to Britain then recognising and celebrating the values of faith would make the vast majority of the world feel affirmed, valued and included.

17 October 2009, R Williams said:

An Olympics that ignores our history may make the Nottinghill types feel all warm inside but won't the world expect to see an expression of British culture and history? Some of the largest television audiences have been of Royal weddings for example. Our multiculturalism and togetherness is something to be proud off and this should be represented in the context of what people love about Britain in the first place. The history of Britain and its place in an ever changing world through music and literature could be the theme. Our contributions to pop music, the moving image and the greats of literature. Stonehenge, Shakespeare's Globe, football, the Crown Jewels, Olympic Rings - all giant circles in a circular stadium. I think we are in desperate need here of inviting Prince Charles, Mick Jagger, Guy Hendrix Dyas, Damon Albarn, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh and Stufish to make sure the world gets what they want here! More hairs standing on the back of the neck rather than sanctimonious lecturers. This is not an esoteric 'give um what's good for um' art exhibition, its a party and yes, dare I say it , an advert for Britain!

12 February 2010, Matt Woods said:

I hope the ceremonies draw on our sporting history and tradition, given that we invented and codified many of the most popular sports in the world.

It would also be nice to see an emphasis on "the Sea" given not only its role in making Britain such an internationalist nation, but also our strength in Sailing and Rowing!

Finally, no opening ceremony would be complete without the music of the brilliant John Williams. Olympic fanfare and Olympic spirit are the soundtrack to the Olympics for millions and are THE Olympic theme tunes for generations.

14 February 2010, Docs said:

I'm also with what a lot of other people have said here, yes it should be partially about our multiculturalism, but I'm afraid that from the amount that a lot of videos and blog posts have been emphasising our multiculturalism that it's going to be JUST about that, and ignore our wonderful and rich history.

Although I'm proud of how diverse our country is, I'd like to see some real 'Britishness' displayed to the world too, it's what a lot of people love about our country and will be tuning in to see.

I look forward to seeing the ceremonies at London 2012 and I wish you luck with the planning!

06 March 2010, kkksssddd said:

OMG BRITAIN ISNT THAT CULTURALY DIVERSE! only 8% of the population isnt White British!

I think its great that people are promoting learning about other cultures. However we should remeber that London has a history of thousands of years, and tbh multiculturalism has only been a part of that history for about 50 years. I think the emphasis should be on out British traditions and History. I think ethnic minorities would agree that is imortant not to just focus on multiculturalism as it is a very small part of what this country is about! There is SO much British Culture to draw from, and It would be a real shame ifit was just an hour of African dancing, followed by Bangra music.

The Athens Olymics was 100% Greek culture and they have lareg black and muslim population, so really the opening ceremony only needs to have a "touch" added to show our multiculturism (ie a 5 min feature toward teh end)

05 October 2010, dno221 said:

i want to see lots culture and amazing music pushing boundary's appealing to all age groups, i don't want to see an x factor finalist singing or American style r&b/rap its not really us, we have lots of amazing artists in the country lets use them!

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