Museums, Art, and London in the Olympic Games
With London as the news epicenter of the world on the occasion of the 2012 Olympic Games, London art, museums, galleries, theaters, and other cultural spaces have adapted to the sports-dominated moment, presenting events connected with the Olympiad.
The Tate Gallery has arranged an exhibition of Olympic posters, with the participation of artists like Tracey Emin, Martin Creed, and Chris Ofili, who were given complete freedom to design their entries. Sir Nicholas Serota, the Tate's director, expressed his enchantment with "such dazzling images" created by the artists. The show will remain open through September 23rd.
The Portrait National Gallery presents "The Road to 2012", a photographic exhibition comprised of 100 portraits, takes over the past three years, to people connected to the games in some capacity. It will remain open through September 23rd as well.
At the Victoria and Albert Museum, designers of the cauldron that will keep the Olympic flame ablaze between July 27th and August 12th at the London Olympic Stadium present their inventions through September 30th.
As part of the operation 'The World in London," 204 photographers have captured images of 204 Londoners, representing the 204 nationalities competing in the games. This tribute to the English capital's cultural and ethnic diversity can be seen at Victoria Park through August 12th.
The London 2012 Festival, a cultural event held in parallel to the Olympic Games, offers 12,000 events with the participation of 25,000 artists from the 204 participant nations, among them we can note the presence of the acclaimed Argentine director and pianist Daniel Barenboim leading the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, and the young Venezuelan director Gustavo Dudamel, with Venezuela's Simón Bolívar Orchestra.
The festival, scheduled through September 9th, will be presented in 900 different stages throughout the United Kingdom and offers 10 million free tickets.
