Vanamie Art and Info Blog

When London bids to participate in the (2012) Olympics, it means business. And culture. Which is why the bid comes accompanied by a wonderful program: 40 Artists, 40 days. Basically, it is a publicity for Britain and its artists:

In the final 40 days of the campaign we want to raise awareness of this wider Olympic opportunity, and encourage support for London 2012, by creating a unique countdown calendar that will focus attention on Britain’s exceptional creative talent. We have asked 40 leading artists to provide a work, either original video, music, text, performance or visual art, which will be showcased here on Tate Online as a message of Olympic support, with a new piece being added every day until you can enjoy all 40.

The diversity is fantastic, as is the quality and the nearly always contemporary edge. On the site you'll find excerpts of dances (some quite interesting) , music, literature about music in England, and much, much more. My big disappointment was the work One Story Building by Blast Theory (you know I like them). But not because it's bad. It's an "interactive work" where you call a number and have to answer a series of 2000 (2012?) questions:

In this interactive work, the participant drills through two thousand either/or questions. Starting with the question ‘Urban or Rural?’, the piece moves from the expansive into the cloistered, finally arriving at a secret and private space. Reminiscent of ‘10×10’ by Charles and Ray Eames, it uses this swoop in scale to explore the taste of the participant, whilst gently mocking the notion of interactivity itself.

Single Story Building can be accessed anytime of day by phoning 0871 504 3987. Use your phone's keypad to navigate through the work. Calls are charged at the national rate (8p/min from a landline).

And I can't even tell you what's it like - it's a number I can't access from Lisbon. Anyone in Britain can give some feedback (wink at Lunettes Rouges)?


(via)