Twelve British artists have been selected to create posters for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and no, Damien Hirst is not one of them. Fiona Banner, Michael Craig-Martin, Martin Creed, Tracey Emin, Anthea Hamilton, Howard Hodgkin, Gary Hume, Sarah Morris, Chris Ofili, Bridget Riley, Rachel Whiteread, and Bob and Roberta Smith will be responsible for the visual identity of the games.
As part of the Cultural Olympiad, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) teamed up with the Tate and the Plus Tate Group (which consists of 19 galleries across the UK) and put together a list of over 100 artists to design posters. The final 12 were selected by a panel that included Tate director Nicholas Serota, Tamsin Dillon (head of the public art organization, Art on the Underground), and Ruth Mackenzie (director of the Cultural Olympiad). Posters and limited edition prints will be available for purchase this fall. Register at http://festival.london2012.com for advance information.
Meanwhile, it will be Anish Kapoor’s sculptural observation tower outside the main stadium that will dominate the Olympic landscape. Dubbed the ArcelorMittal Orbit, the 377-foot-tall skeletal metal structure, commissioned by the city and largely funded by steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, is about halfway finished and scheduled for completion in March 2012. Click here for time-lapse footage of its construction.
Seb Coe, Tracey Emin, Director of the Tate Sir Nicholas Serota, Martin Creed, Michael Craig-Martin, Jonathan Edwards, Gary Hume, Cultural Olympiad Director Ruth Mackenzie and Howard Hodgkin. Photo couresy LOCOG.
