The numbers calculated up to the end of July, announced today, show that 9.6 million people have taken part in free events and exhibitions as part of the London 2012 Festival so far. This includes 2.9 million participants in Martin Creed’s London 2012 Festival commission Work No. 1197: All the bells in a country rung as quickly and as loudly as possible for three minutes to herald the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The overall figures for the period are expected to grow as more data is collected.
Among the millions of people and organisations taking part in Creed’s mass participation artwork were HMS Belfast, Big Ben, The National Assembly for Wales, The Northern Ireland Assembly, the Scottish Parliament, as well as 68,000 people who activated the artist’s free and exclusive ringtone, Work No. 1372, from the official London 2012 App. The event was broadcast live by the BBC on television, radio and online to an estimated audience of over 12 million people, and #allthebells was the top trend on Twitter in the UK throughout the morning of 27 July.
Ruth Mackenzie, Director of London 2012 Festival and the Cultural Olympiad said: “We are delighted that so many people across the UK have taken part and have enjoyed London 2012 Festival events in such huge numbers. So far, over 9 million free opportunities have been taken up to get involved and we are really happy to have a further 5 million free opportunities still to come, and many more exciting events to attract audiences”.
The 12 week UK-wide London 2012 Festival started on 21 June and features more than 25,000 artists featuring in more than 12,000 events and performances. The party continues in full swing across the UK beyond the London 2012 Olympic Games Closing Ceremony, with many more spectacular London 2012 Festival events taking place right up until the final day of the London 2012 Paralympic Games on 9 September.
This week sees the opening of the most ambitious Edinburgh Festivals season ever presented.
With a starring role in the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival, Edinburgh’s Festivals have increased their programming ambitions this year and have created a number of large scale, one-off, signature events as part of the London 2012 Festival. Already world-class cultural brands with a truly international appeal, the 2012 programmes will place the Festivals at the heart of the UK cultural offer. The London 2012 Festival events illuminate the ambition and vision of the world’s leading Festival City. Prominently featured are showcases of the most exciting contemporary culture and ambitious collaborations between Scottish and international artists - asserting the true internationalism of Edinburgh’s Festivals and making them an even more vital part of the cultural offer during the Year of Creative Scotland.
Highlights include:
• London 2012 Festival is collaborating with seven of Edinburgh's celebrated festivals: The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, and Imaginate Festival.
• Hundreds of runners in specially designed light suits transform Edinburgh’s iconic Arthur’s Seat for NVA’s Speed of Light as part of the Edinburgh International Festival.
• The Edinburgh International Book Festival presents the Edinburgh World Writers' Conference, which returns for the first time since the legendary 1962 conference which gathered together some of the most important writers of the 20th century.
• Lowland Hall at the Royal Highland Centre has been transformed into a dedicated theatre space for major Edinburgh International Festival presentations as part of its contribution to the London 2012 Festival performance programme.
• The work of world-renowned theatre directors Ariane Mnouchkine, Silviu Purcărete, Christoph Marthaler, Grzegorz Jarzyna and Dmitry Krymov will be showcased at the Edinburgh International Festival.
Launching the festivities in Edinburgh is Timeline, Turner prizing-winning artist Susan Philipsz’s first ever exhibition in Edinburgh, a multi-site sound installation placed in an invisible line through the Scottish capital. Created in response to one of Edinburgh’s famous landmarks – the One O’Clock Gun – the piece is activated once a day as the gun sounds, with speakers creating an echo through the city (FREE, Edinburgh City Centre, 2 August – 2 September 2012).
Embracing the Olympic sporting theme, NVA’s Speed of Light, in partnership with the Edinburgh International Festival, brings the iconic peak of Arthur’s Seat to life in a mass choreographed act of walking and endurance running, as hundreds of runners wearing specially designed light suits take to the intricate path networks below. Members of the audience are invited to become part of the work, carrying portable light sources set against the dark features of the hill (Arthur’s Seat, 9 August – 1 September 2012).
Also taking place outdoors is Caroline Bowditch’s major multi-artform performance piece UNLIMITED: Leaving Limbo Landing in air, in water and on land featuring the stories of 12 East Londoners’ brought to life by a powerful all female cast of dancers and aerialists as part of the Made in Scotland programme at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe (FREE, St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, 16 - 20 August 2012).
As part of the Edinburgh International Festival’s contribution to the London 2012 Festival, the 4,500 square metres of Lowland Hall at the Royal Highland Centre, Ingliston, has been specially transformed into a performance space designed to accommodate shows of a huge scale. Three productions will take place in the historic venue: 2008: Macbeth sees acclaimed Polish director Grzegorz Jarzyna’s relocate Shakespeare’s work to a contemporary and brutal Middle East, produced by TR Warszawa (11 – 13 August, 15 - 18 August 2012); Theater Basel’s witty production of Meine Faire Dame - ein Sprachlabor, loosely based on My Fair Lady, directed by Christoph Marthaler, one of Europe’s most acclaimed and influential directors, who skilfully blends music by Lerner and Loewe, Weber, Wagner, Ravel and Bryan Adams into a subversive, profound and amusing examination of linguistic confusion (14 – 15 August, 17 - 19 August 2012); and legendary French director, Ariane Mnouchkine’s production Les Naufragés du Fol Espoir (Aurores) performed by Le Théâtre du Soleil, which transforms Lowland Hall into a spectacular world of the imagination and fantasy. Mnouchkine’s work has rarely been seen in the UK because of its sheer scale and complexity, and this is her first production in the UK for 20 years (23 – 25 August, 27-28 August 2012).
Other highlights of the performance programme in Edinburgh include: the world premiere of visionary Romanian theatre director Silviu Purcărete’s version of Gulliver’s Travels exploring cultural and social aspects of contemporary society (King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, 17 - 20 August 2012); the world premiere of Russian artist and director Dmitry Krymov’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (As You Like It), commissioned for the World Shakespeare Festival (King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, 24 - 26 August 2012); and a compelling and provocative performance of Shakespeare’s tragic poem The Rape of Lucrece by acclaimed singer Camille O’Sullivan in a Royal Shakespeare Company production as part of the World Shakespeare Festival (Royal Lyceum Theatre, 22 – 26 August 2012).
The London 2012 Festival has collaborated with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s largest arts festival, to bring some of the biggest names in comedy to the stage. BBC Comedy Presents includes comedians such as Christopher Brookmyre, Shappi Khorsandi and Jenny Eclair. The best of the Fringe’s comedic talent will also take part in a specially billed, anarchic eight-hour show on BBC Three’s Comedy Marathon, which will be broadcast live and online. Internationally acclaimed comedian Laurence Clark brings his new show Inspired to the Fringe as part of UNLIMITED; and Tales of the Riverbank Comedy Barge - Pleasance Ahoy! finishes its epic journey by canal from London to Edinburgh. This week’s live pop-up comedy gig takes place at Falkirk Wheel Visitor’s Centre (8 August, 4PM) and the Cargo in Edinburgh (12 August, 4PM).
Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Edinburgh World Writers' Conference, an ambitious programming partnership with the British Council, will be launched to mark the 50th anniversary celebration of the seminal 1962 Edinburgh writers’ conference, which brought together some of the most important writers of the 20th century. 50 world renowned writers from 25 countries will gather for the five-day series, and features a stellar line up including Egyptian writer Ahdaf Soueif, Scotland’s Irvine Welsh, Turkish author Elif Shafak, and British writers Ben Okri and Nick Laird (Charlotte Square Gardens, Edinburgh, 17 - 21 August 2012).
Also gathered in Edinburgh this August are Fringe directors and organisers from around the world, who will be taking part in the first ever World Fringe Congress. The congress’s mission is to inspire the Fringe community and foster international collaboration to create a lasting network and help Fringes to work in partnership to achieve their aims (16 - 19 August 2012).
At the end of Edinburgh’s summer festival calendar, the Edinburgh Mela is a joyous riot of sounds, sights, colours and tastes, and will feature a performance by Red Baraat, the larger-than-life drum 'n' brass band from New York City. Presented by Asian Arts Agency, the nine piece band fuse the infectious North Indian rhythms of bhangra with funk, jazz, Latin and go-go and their sound is big, brassy and full of energy. The group’s debut UK tour forms part of London 2012 Festival (2 September 2012).
On behalf of Edinburgh’s Festivals Kath Mainland, Chair of Festivals Edinburgh said: “Working together, Edinburgh’s Festivals have developed collaborative programming approaches in 2012 which have been inspired by the values of the movement of the Olympic & Paralympic Games. They celebrate the internationalism of the Festivals and will see over 75 countries represented at, and promoted through, the Festivals in 2012. While world-class athletes and the new generation of sporting talent have been competing in London, world class and emerging artists are currently taking to the stages and spaces of Edinburgh, as they do every year. There has never been a more exciting year to visit the Festival City to experience the most prestigious arts festivals in the world. We have worked closely with LOCOG and the Cultural Olympiad team to develop, explore and maximise the benefits offered through London 2012 and a number of the Festivals have specific projects which are part of the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival.”
Jonathan Mills, Director of the Edinburgh International Festival said: “2012 represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Festival and for Scotland and we have planned on a scale of ambition that was commensurate with events across the UK, creating a programme that was uplifting, vibrant and energetic. Through major works on the scale of NVA’s Speed of Light on our city mountain Arthur’s Seat, the conversion of the vast Lowland Hall into three magnificent theatre spaces for major European directors, Purcarete’s Romanian perspective on Gulliver’s Travels, Polish and Russian perspectives on Shakespeare and a telling of Rape of Lucrece through torch songs we have put together a rich programme on a large scale which makes a wonderful and distinct contribution to the London 2012 Festival and the UK’s cultural and sporting celebrations”.
Elsewhere across the UK, the London 2012 Festival continues its programme of events, with hundreds of free events and performances at over 900 venues nationwide.
Events inspired by Olympic and Paralympic values
Comedy Gold - World Record Improv - Neil Mullarkey and special guest from the Comedy Store Players, Richard Vranch, invite you to join them in setting a new world record for the world’s biggest improv team. This is a free event, but book tickets in advance from www.barnsleycivic.co.uk (Building 21, Elsecar, Barnsley, 10 August 2012, 6PM)
The Olympic Journey: The Story of the Games exhibition tells the Olympic story through the endeavours of ancient and modern Olympians. Visitors will be taken on a journey from ancient Greece, the original home of the Olympic Games through the vision of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the man behind the revival of the Games many centuries later. The experience will continue with the stories of some of the iconic Olympic athletes including Steve Redgrave, Cathy Freeman, Kelly Holmes, and Jesse Owens. Staged at the Royal Opera House for free and for the duration of the Olympic Games, it will include unique artefacts, animation, film and audio from The Olympic Museum in Lausanne being shown in London for the first time (FREE, Royal Opera House, 28 July – 12 August 2012).
Playing the Games, a celebration of cultural and sporting talent at the Criterion Theatre, London. Bringing culture and sport together, past and present Olympians will take to the stage for a series of lunchtime discussions about their life and work, interviewed by television and stage personalities. These feature Stephen Fry interviewing Chris Holmes (6 August 2012,
1PM), Stephen Daldry interviewing Haile Gebrselassie (7 August 2012,
1PM) and Clive Owen interviewing Adrien Niyonshuti (10 August 2012, 1PM). The programme also includes a night of ‘Sporting stories before bedtime’ with Brian Blessed, Stephen Fry and Eddie Izzard (10 August 2012).
Heatherwick Studio: Designing the Extraordinary – the first major solo exhibition of the work of Heatherwick Studio, one of the most inventive and experimental British design studios practising today. The exhibition includes a newly installed model of Thomas Heatherwick’s design for the Olympic Cauldron, which was unveiled to the public for the first time at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. Alongside this, there is a recorded interview with Danny Boyle, Thomas Heatherwick and exhibition curator Abraham Thomas, discussing the work. (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 31 May – 30 September 2012)
The World in London, a major public art project initiated by The Photographers’ Gallery brings together 204 specially commissioned photographic portraits of 204 Londoners, each originating from one of the nations competing at the Games. Leading national and international artists including Stephen Shore, Martin Parr, Mary McCartney and Rankin, alongside emerging names, have been commissioned by The Photographers’ Gallery to photograph the sitters over the last two years. The 204 portraits will be exhibited for free viewing as large-scale posters in Victoria Park in East London (FREE, 27 July - 12 August 2012), and Park House in Oxford Street, London (FREE, 27 July - 30 August 2012).
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games Posters have been created by twelve leading contemporary artists, with screen prints and lithographs of the works displayed free at Tate Britain. The official posters for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games are by Fiona Banner, Michael Craig-Martin, Martin Creed, Tracey Emin, Anthea Hamilton, Howard Hodgkin, Gary Hume, Sarah Morris, Chris Ofili, Bridget Riley, Bob and Roberta Smith and Rachel Whiteread (FREE, Tate Britain, 21 June – 23 September 2012).
London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic medals exhibition at the British Museum tells the story of the production of the medals for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The free display includes objects from the 19th-century Shropshire games alongside medals from the 1908 and 1948 Olympic Games held in London (FREE, British Museum, 8 February – 9 September 2012).
BT Road to 2012, a three-year project and the National Portrait Gallery’s largest commission, reaches its conclusion with the opening of the final exhibition in the cycle, BT Road to 2012: Aiming High. Forty new portraits of some of the key players in London 2012, including Lord Sebastian Coe, Mark Cavendish, Fran Halsall and Danny Boyle, by photographers Anderson & Low, Jillian Edelstein and Nadav Kander, are on show (FREE, National Portrait Gallery, 19 July – 23 September 2012).
UNLIMITED, involving deaf and disabled artists, is the UK’s largest programme of its kind, with 29 commissions. It encourages collaborations and partnerships between disability arts organisations, disabled and deaf artists, producers, and mainstream organisations. This week’s highlights include the previously mentioned events Laurence Clark’s Inspired and Caroline Bowditch’s Leaving Limbo Landing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as artist Maurice Orr’s The Screaming Silence of the Wind, which comprises five multi-sensory installations of paintings inspired by the barren, raw landscapes of Northern Ireland and Iceland (Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart, 6 – 23 August).
Richard Long has created the BOX HILL ROAD RIVER, a 100m-long artwork, painted directly onto the surface of the famous Zig Zag road in the Box Hill Reserve, Surrey. The work follows on from the traditional road graffiti created by fans during the Tour de France where well-wishers often leave chalk messages on the road for specific teams and cyclists. Painted at one of the best vantage points for spectators of the Olympics road races, the artwork is made from bright white road paint and is a lasting legacy of the London 2012 Games (from 28 July 2012).
Art in the Park – a series of inspiring artworks have been installed in and around the Olympic Park, commissioned by the Olympic Delivery Authority. Artworks include: Fast, Faster, Fastest, Jason Bruges Studio’s exciting new interactive light project installed on one of the Stadium bridges; Info Spectrum, internationally renowned artist Carsten Nicolai’s colourful representation of five Olympic Rings as a dramatic, oscillating sound wave, using the colour spectrum of a sunset; and RUN, internationally-renowned artist Monica Bonvicini’s flagship artwork for the Copper Box. Also in the Olympic Park is Orbit, by acclaimed British artist Anish Kapoor, which was realised with the support of ArcelorMittal and the Mayor of London. Standing at 115 metres, Orbit is the tallest art structure in Britain, offering stunning views over the Olympic Stadium, Olympic Park and the whole of London. (27 July - 9 September 2012, Access to Olympic Park ticketholders and accredited media only).
Yoko Ono’s IMAGINE PEACE, a worldwide initiative of anti-violence, continues at live sites around the country (Various cities, 21 June – 9 September 2012). This ongoing project uses the Internet, posters, thoughts, badges and a multitude of other media to communicate its message of peace to the global community. Yoko Ono stated: “Let us come together to realize a peaceful world”. A major exhibition of the artist’s work is also on show at the Serpentine Gallery as part of the London 2012 Festival (FREE, Serpentine Gallery, 19 June – 9 September 2012).
The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2012, created by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Wei Wei, the design team responsible for the celebrated Beijing National Stadium that was built for the 2008 Olympic Games. This year's Pavilion features eleven columns characterising each past Pavilion and a twelfth column representing the current structure, supporting a floating platform roof 1.4 metres above ground (1 June - 14 October 2012).
Blue Crystal Ball: Samsung’s Olympic Games Media Art Collection presents nine new media works from European and Asian artists for the International Olympic Committee collection. The art of Crystal Ball aims to communicate the Olympic legacy to the next generation by reflecting the values of the Olympic movement (FREE, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, 11-12 August 2012).
Highlights of London 2012 Festival events opening across the UK this week:
Benjamin Britten: Noye’s Fludde – NI Opera stages Britten’s much loved children’s opera against the beautiful setting of Belfast Zoo, with the story brought to life by a huge chorus of local children along with professional opera singers and musicians. (Belfast Zoo, 10 -18 August 2012; for tickets, visit www.niopera.com)
Atom Egoyan presents the Irish premiere of his 2002 film installation Steenbeckett, created by the renowned Armenian director as a response to Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, and features an obsolete editing machine, 2000 feet of 35mm celluloid and a video projection of a solitary man musing on memory as he eavesdrops on his younger self. The installation is part of the Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival, the world’s first annual festival to celebrate the work and influence of Nobel Prize-winning writer Samuel Beckett. (FREE, The Clinton Centre, Enniskillen, 11-27 August 2012).
World Shakespeare Festival continues to celebrate the global appeal of William Shakespeare. Highlights for this week of the London 2012 Festival include:
• Coriolan/us - The story of Caius Martius, Coriolan/us is a re-imagining of Shakespeare’s original, set in an era of 24-hour news and celebrity culture. Co-directed by Mike Pearson and Mike Brookes, the team behind the award-winning production of The Persians, the play will staged as a multimedia performance in a 90m x 50m aircraft hangar in the Vale of Glamorgan (Hangar 858 Picketston, RAF St Athan; 8 August -11 August 2012, 15 August -18 August 2012, Press night 9 August 2012)
• Y Storm is the first Welsh language adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. With live music, circus and magic, the play is directed by Elen Bowman and has been translated by Gwyneth Lewis. (Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru, Llandow, 7 August – 11 August 2012)
• Julius Caesar, Shakespeare's great political thriller finds dark contemporary echoes in modern Africa, directed by RSC Artistic Director Designate Gregory Doran and featuring Paterson Joseph as Brutus. (Noel Coward Theatre, London, 8 August – 15 September 2012)
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream- Russian artist and director Dmitry Krymov presents the global premiere of his unique take on Shakespeare's greatest comedy (Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 10-18 August 2012; Edinburgh International Festival, 24 – 26 August 2012)
• Troilus and Cressida –Working for the first time together, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Wooster Group present an Anglo-American production of Shakespeare’s epic Trojan play. Co-directed by Elizabeth LeCompte and Mark Ravenhill, in a series of special performances (Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, 3 August – 18 August 2012; Riverside Studio, London, 24 August – 8 September 2012, Press night 8 August 2012)
• Shakespeare: Staging the World – the BP Exhibition, a major exhibition on the world and works of William Shakespeare, providing an insight into the emerging role of London as a world city four hundred years ago interpreted through the perspective of Shakespeare’s plays (British Museum, 19 July – 25 November 2012).
BBC Proms, the world’s biggest classical music festival, this year forms part of the London 2012 Festival. The eight-week season of concert and events launched on 13 July and features the world’s leading artists and orchestras, the largest number of new commissions for a Proms season, record youth participation and a celebration of London and composers and pieces considered to have changed the world.
• This weekend three BBC commissions receive their world premieres by national youth orchestras: Agro Alegría by Tim Garland, performed by the National Youth Jazz Orchestra under Mark Armstrong (10 August); Gavin Higgins’s Der Aufstand, premiered by the National Youth Wind Orchestra under James Gourlay (12 August); and Gavin Bryars’s After the Underworlds, presented by the National Youth Brass Band under Bramwell Tovey (12 August).
• Also receiving its world premiere is James MacMillan’s highly anticipated new work Credo, in a performance led by conductor Juanjo Mena with BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Chamber Choir, Northern Sinfonia Chorus, and Rushley Singers (7 August); and Saturday sees the performance of three premieres at the Proms Saturday Matinee concert given by the Britten Sinfonia at Cadogan Hall: the world premiere of Brian Elias’s Electra Mourns and UK premieres of Michael Finnissy’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s Gigue Machine performed by pianist Nicolas Hodges (11 August).
Free events in the forthcoming London 2012 Festival programme:
As well as a special programme of free events and exhibitions based on the values of the Olympics and Paralympic Games and the theme of Olympic truce, there are hundreds of opportunities still forthcoming for everyone across the UK to take part in the London 2012 Festival.
Flags is internationally renowned German artist Hans Peter Kuhn’s new innovative installation artwork set on and against the backdrop of the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. The artist has placed flags along the length of the bay of Port Noffer and on the banks of the cliff face. (FREE, Giant’s Causeway, Belfast, 20 August – 4 November 2012)
YesYesNo - Connecting Light is a major new art installation along the line of Hadrian's Wall, designed by New York based digital arts collective YesYesNo with Zachary Lieberman. Using a series of weather balloons lit by internal LED lights, the installation will become a line of pulsating colours as messages are sent along the Wall. The installation will be visible in the evening and accessible to visitors at several locations. (FREE, Hadrian’s Wall, Various Sites, Hexham; 31 August – 1 September 2012)
See No Evil 2012 is the UK’s largest permanent street art project and the biggest urban arts festival in Europe, attracting 30 of the world’s leading urban artists to create temporary and permanent street art in the centre of Bristol. (FREE, Nelson Street, Bristol, 13 August – 19 August 2012).
As part of See No Evil, a visual spectacular, Mail, Maps and Motion, will be presented by Joanie Lemercier of world-renowned projection experts AntiVJ and Adrian Utley of Portishead, who have been commissioned to collaborate on an immersive performance in the Passenger Shed in Bristol Temple Meads Station with supporting special guests and a host of performers including Will Gregory of Goldfrapp.
(FREE, Temple Meads and Temple Quay, 17 August 2012).
Arthur Bispo do Rosário – An exhibition bringing together over 80 artworks from one of Brazil’s best-loved artists, Arthur Bispo do Rosário (1909-1989). The works range from sculptures to hand-embroidered banners and garments, showcasing the variety and creativity of his work (FREE, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 13 August – 28 October 2012).
Tino Sehgal – The Turbine Hall Commission – Anglo-German artist Tino Sehgal undertakes the annual commission for Tate’s Turbine Hall, producing its first live commission, involving movement and conversational interactions with visitors. In this free exhibition, opening on 24 July, gallery-goers engage with Sehgal’s characters directly, creating social situations through the use of conversation, dance, sound and movement, as well as philosophical and economic debate (FREE, 24 July – 28 October 2012).
The Tanks: Art in Action: Tate Modern has opened up a number of former industrial spaces to form the world’s first museum galleries dedicated to live art, performance, installation and film works. Over 40 established and emerging artists from across the world will fill the spaces with their work over a 15-week programme. (FREE, Tate Modern, London, 18 July – 28 October 2012). This week sees the launch of Tania Bruguera: Immigrant Movement International, with Cuban artist Tania Bruguera bringing her self-initiated socio-political movement to London’s Tate Modern. Through a series of installations, talks and free public events, the exhibition aims to ask and answer questions about the nature, conditions and representation of immigrants in modern society (7 – 15 August). Other highlights include Sung Hwan Kim’s specially commissioned installation that plunges visitors into a fantastical world of optical illusions, drawing on a rich history of performance and film (18 July – 28 October), as well as two recent Tate acquisitions, Suzanne Lacy’s The Crystal Quilt (1985-87) and Lisa Rhodes’ Light Music (1975) (until 28 October).
We Face Forward – Art from West Africa Today is city-wide exhibition of contemporary art from West Africa, featuring paintings, photography, textiles, sculptures, videos and sound works from a wide range of internationally acclaimed artists West African artists (FREE, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; The Gallery of Costume, Platt Hall, Manchester; 2 June – 16 September 2012).
Hang On A Minute Lads, I've Got A Great Idea... is a new commission by artist Richard Wilson, featuring a full-sized replica coach balanced on the rooftop of the iconic De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, an installation inspired by the final scene of the film The Italian Job. Defying formal notions of architecture and engineering Wilson brings a thought-provoking and sometimes gravity-defying spectacle to the public (FREE, 7 July – 1 October 2012).
Tracey Emin – She Lay Down Deep Beneath The Sea contains a mixture of new and existing works exploring the themes of love, sex and romanticism, presented presented at the award-winning Turner Contemporary in her hometown, Margate (FREE, 26 May – 23 September 2012).
Mandala, a bold fusion of South Asian dance, music and ground breaking 3D projection sees Birmingham Town Hall and Nottingham Council House lit up in spectacular evening displays. (FREE, Birmingham Town Hall, Birmingham; Nottingham Council House, Nottingham, 7 September – 9 September 2012)
Bandstand Marathon – Communities in Tune, Using the nation’s bandstands as community hubs, The Bandstand Marathon aims to bring UK society together through live music. This year, the challenge is to run 500 events simultaneously nationwide and to showcase performances from all the cultures and communities of Britain. (FREE, Bandstands around the UK, 9 September 2012)
Showtime is London’s largest ever, free outdoor arts festival, presented by the Mayor of London. Running for seven weeks, Showtime aims to bring the magic of hosting the Games to every corner of the capital, and will feature a mixture of the best street arts, including circus, carnival, theatre, dance, music and opera all presented by artists from the UK and abroad. This week: Victoria Park, London (8-12 Aug 2012); www.molpresents.com/showtime (FREE, 21 July – 9 September 2012)
Audiences across the UK should also look out for London 2012 Festival’s free pop up events which are taking place nationwide including comedy gigs, visual art installations, music concerts, and outdoor events. Highlights include Sacrilege, Jeremy Deller’s life-size inflatable replica of Stonehenge that has now been extended to new locations nationwide due to its popularity; What You Will: Pop Up Shakespeare - To Be or Not To Be, created by Mark Rylance will see 50 actors interact with the public in various London streets, bringing to life Shakespeare’s most famours characters and the ongoing tour of Tall Tales from the Riverbanks on a comedy barge. To find out more details of events popping up near you, sign up for email updates at www.london2012.com/festival.
All the London 2012 Festival events can be found at www.london2012.com/festival. Follow us on twitter @London2012Fest http://twitter.com/london2012fest and find us on Facebook www.facebook.com/London2012Festival.
A selection of press images of the key events from the London 2012 Festival can be found here: http://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/locog?nav=pr169131706
If you require more images please contact the London 2012 Festival Press Office, details below.
The London 2012 Festival is the finale of the Cultural Olympiad. Since the Cultural Olympiad started in 2008 over 18 million people all over the UK have already participated in or attended over 9,000 performances and more than 8,000 workshops as part of Cultural Olympiad programmes inspired by London 2012 and funded by our principal funders and sponsors.
Principal Funders of the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival are Arts Council England, Legacy Trust UK and the Olympic Lottery Distributor. BP and BT are Premier Partners of the Cultural Olympiad and the London 2012 Festival.
Supporters of the London 2012 Festival are BMW, Eurostar, Freshfields, King’s College London, Panasonic, Samsung, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Arts Council of Wales, BBC, British Council, Creative Scotland, DCAL, DCMS, Festivals Edinburgh, Mayor Of London, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, Visit Britain and Visit Scotland.
Notes to Editors:
For more information on the London 2012 Festival:
London 2012 Festival Press Office
Telephone: +44 (0)203 2012 021
Email: press@london2012festival.org
For more information on London 2012:
For further information please contact the London 2012 Press Office on +44 (0)203 2012 100 or visit the website at www.london2012.com.
Find out the latest from London 2012 HQ on our blog http://www.london2012.com/blog , follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/london2012 or download the Official London 2012 Join In app.
The Official London 2012 Join In app is a free mobile guide to help you plan, enjoy and share your Games experience. From the Olympic Torch Relay to the Olympics and Paralympics, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, plus all the cultural, city and community celebrations happening across the UK, the Official London 2012 Join In App is your essential companion. It is available now at app stores and athttp://www.london2012.com/mobileapps/
London 2012 Festival Press Office
Open daily: 20 June – 9 September 2012
In addition to the continuing media centre at LOCOG’s Canary Wharf offices, throughout the twelve weeks of the London 2012 Festival, there is a fully staffed London 2012 Festival Press Office conveniently located at King’s College on the Strand, serving journalists based in London or visiting from the rest of the UK and overseas.
The London 2012 Festival Press Office provides a welcoming central London location for media, with a programme of regular briefings, interview opportunities, with space to work and free Wifi. The Press Office is staffed with a specialist team of cultural press officers, who act as a single point of contact for all London 2012 Festival-related media enquiries.
Office location: King’s College London, Strand Campus, Strand, London WC2R 2LS
Office hours: 10AM – 7PM daily (20 June – 9 September)
Closest Underground Stations: Temple, Holborn, Charing Cross
Telephone: +44 (0)203 2012 021
Email: press@london2012festival.org
London 2012 Games partners:
The Worldwide Olympic Partners who support the London 2012 Olympic Games and the National Olympic Committees around the world are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos, Dow, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Procter and Gamble, Samsung and Visa.
LOCOG has seven domestic Tier One Partners - adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB. There are seven domestic Tier Two Supporters – Adecco, ArcelorMittal, Cadbury, Cisco, Deloitte, Thomas Cook and UPS. There are now twenty-eight domestic Tier Three Suppliers and Providers – Aggreko, Airwave, Atkins, Boston Consulting Group, CBS Outdoor, Crystal CG, Eurostar, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, G4S, GSK, Gymnova, Heathrow Airport, Heineken UK, Holiday Inn, John Lewis, McCann Worldgroup, Mondo, NATURE VALLEY, Next, Nielsen, Populous, Rapiscan Systems, Rio Tinto, Technogym, Thames Water, Ticketmaster, Trebor and Westfield.
There is one domestic Tier One Paralympic Games-only Partner, Sainsbury’s and two domestic Tier Three Paralympic Games-only Suppliers, Otto Bock and Panasonic. The London 2012 Paralympic Games also acknowledges the support of the National Lottery.
