With thousands of Olympic-related events going on across London, we cut through the nonsense and select only the very best.
We've got pretty mixed feelings about the Olympics. On the one hand you've got draconian security measures, hypocritical corporate sponsorship deals, forced eviction of local residents and businesses, surface-to-air missile launchers on blocks of flats in Bow, dubious policies regarding legacy and affordable housing, colossal sums of public funding (£11 billion at the last count) at a time of enforced national austerity, and, of course, Anish Kapoor's overgrown themepark monstrosity, the catchily branded ArcelorMittal Orbit.
On the other hand, there's, um, well there's lots and lots and lots of events going on. The emphasis is obviously the Olympic boroughs themselves, but there's more or less tangentially Olympic-related stuff going on across the whole of London (and, indeed, throughout the UK) all summer long. For the moment, let's leave aside questions about the purpose of public art, about the impact on the rest of the UK of the Arts Council's focus on the East End, about why Jeremy Deller needs so much taxpayer funding, and, indeed, about whether any of these events actually needed the Olympics to occur at all. Instead, we thought we'd simply pick out the best stuff going on.
It can get pretty confusing trying to navigate your way through sundry umbrella festivals and organisations – the Cultural Olympiad, London 2012 Festival, CREATE, LDA, Design for London, BT London Live, Unlimited, London Life, World Stage London... – and there is a whole heap of box-ticking community rubbish, 'youth' advisory panels, and second-rate public art installations. In amongst it all, however, are some gems. Here they are...
From 31st May
Horniman Gardens @ Horniman Museum
Following a £2.3million upgrade, the Horniman Museum's 16.5 acre Display Gardens open this May, well in time for the Olympics. Designed by Land Use Consultants, with funding from Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery, the garden's new centrepiece is a pavilion for education and events, whilst existing structures like the Dutch Barn and Charles Harrison Townsend-designed bandstand have been restored. Our favourite element is the Animal Walk – complete with alpacas, goats, chickens and ferrets. Cute!
7th June - 6th July
Coral - ReKindling Venus @ Royal Observatory Greenwich
This looks super cool. To coincide with Venus' transit of the sun (apparently one of the rarest occurrences in astronomy) planetariums across the world – including the Peter Harrison Planetarium in Greenwich – are screening Lynette Wallworth's sumptuous film, Coral - ReKindling Venus. Produced in collaboration with Forma and featuring music from Antony and the Johnsons, Max Richter and others, the film explores the fragility of the earth's coral reefs through a beautiful cascade of sea anenomes, jelly fish and brain corals.
11th June - 11th July
Wide Open School @ Hayward Gallery
Not dissimilar in some ways to Christoph Buchel's Piccadilly Community Centre at Hauser & Wirth last year, this summer sees the Hayward Gallery transformed into a school programmed entirely by artists, as part of Festival of the World. With seminars, workshops, collaborative projects, lectures and performances, this is a far cry from any school we've been to. Highlights include Susan Hiller on political dreams and Wolfgang Tillmans discussing the science of photography with Professor Peter Torok.
22nd June
Prometheus Awakes @ Queen's House
For one night only, as part of the Greenwich+Docklands International Festival, Graeae theatre company and La Fura dels Baus present their take on the classic Prometheus myth. In this spectacular reworking, an eight metre-high figure of the Greek titan rebels against the Greek god Zeus in order to give fire to mankind. Featuring both disabled and non-disabled performers, Prometheus is manoeuvred by large cranes and controlled by no less than six puppeteers. Big, bold and really rather impressive.
2nd July
With One Voice @ Royal Opera House
Another one-night special, this time courtesy of award-winning charity Streetwise Opera. Part of the London 2012 Festival, With One Voice sees the Royal Opera House taken over by 300 performers, all of whom have experienced homelessness at some stage in their lives. With over 50 acts – including cabaret, folk, opera and films – the event looks to showcase the skills of a frequently marginalised group on possibly London's grandest stage.
6th - 7th July
BLOC Festival @ London Pleasure Gardens
After several years at Butlin's in Minehead, this July sees electronic music festival BLOC pitching up at the London Pleasure Gardens – way out east in the shadow of the incredible Millennium Mills. With a floating cocktail lounge, art hotel, marina and nature reserve, the Pleasure Gardens look set to be one of the best 'legacy' elements of 2012. Nobody seems to have been inside yet – rumours of asbestos abound – but we're assured that all will come together in time for BLOC. With the likes of Snoop Dogg, Aphex Twin, Richie Hawtin and Hudson Mohawke all on the line-up, let's hope so.
6th July - 22nd September
Stadia @ Sir John Soane Museum
The wonderful little Sir John Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields launches the Museum gallery space (newly restored by Caruso St John) with an exhibition examining the origins of the sports stadium. From the ancient stadia at Olympia and Nemea in Greece and the Colisseum in Rome right up to Zaha Hadid's Aquatics Centre for London 2012, the exhibition looks at the ways in which architects through the centuries have been inspired by sporting ideals to create some of the largest and most technically complex buildings ever.
13th July - 9th September
The Barking Bathhouse
By some distance our highlight from the otherwise patchy CREATE2012 (Frieze, David Bailey, Jeremy Deller – yawn) is the Barking Bathhouse. Designed by Something & Son, the guys responsible for the notoriously awesome FARM:shop in Dalston, the Bathhouse combines a spa with a bar and free social space for people to meet and chat. The wicked-looking structure will play host to a programme of health-themed events during the summer, and the different sections will be relocated for local use afterwards. Legacy-tastic.
From 18th July
The Tanks @ Tate Modern
Tate Modern's much publicised new space launches with a fifteen-week festival that kicks off this July. Housed in what used to be the oil tanks of the former Bankside power station, The Tanks are the first museum galleries in the world to be dedicated exclusively to exhibiting live art, performance, installation and film. Naturally, Platform have pointed out the irony in the removal of the word 'oil' from the name of the new space, despite Tate continuing to take money from BP – one of the proud partners of the 2012 Olympics, incidentally.
27th July - 27th August
The World in London @ Victoria Park
Initiated by the recently refurbished Photographers' Gallery (who must be rolling in cash right now), The World in London is a large-scale outdoor photography exhibition taking place in the rather lovely Victoria Park in Hackney. Normally 'outdoor photography' means a bunch of rubbish posters, but with the images (204 portraits of Londoners, each from one of the Olympic nations) taken by the likes of Yadav Kander, Catherine Yass, and the completely brilliant Tom Hunter, this one should be a little bit different.
Click here to see all London exhibitions.
Return to Spoonfed's London Art homepage.
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