London 2012 is just around the corner…

21. Aug, 2008 Comments Off

Yet more Olympic flavour, but hold on! It’s not Beijing related bitches and there ain’t no basketball involved – it’s protest art for London 2012.

Apparently there is a massive blue fence blocking off places where Olympic construction is underway in London, an eyesore described by Iain Sinclair in the London Review of Books thusly “a vicious slither of blue: like disinfectant running down the slopes of a silver urinal trough“.

The Office for Subversive Architecture decided to bring openness to the construction and allow people to see and experience the work being undertaken. To do so they erected “Point of View” the first viewing platform for the 2012 Olympic Games. Very nice work.

I think London is going to be an interesting test for the state security apparatus. The UK has such a rich and storied history of resistance and activism and the Olympic games are one big target for anti-capitalist and globalisation protestors as well as all the other various groups that get involved in the WTO et al protests. In China the state can repress without fear of retribution, but in the UK the state is somewhat more hampered – they can’t very well just shoot the suspected ringleaders with impunity in the lead up to the games now can they? I’m looking forward to the protest attempts that will unfold in the lead, should make for some interesting viewing.

More after the jump.

Via Rebel Art