ArcelorMittal Orbit

The ArcelorMittal Orbit can be found in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park was designed by Sir Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond. The structure was funded by ArcelorMittal hence lending itself to the namesake. It is Britain’s tallest sculpture towering high at 114.5 metres eclipsing the height of the Eiffel Tower. The structure is made up of steel with 69% recycled materials, which were produced by ArcelorMittal’s plants in Europe, North America, Asia and Africa. The Orbit was re-opened to the public after the Olympics and Paralymics on 5 April 2014.

The views are at 76 and 80 metres high looking into distances of up to 20 mile, which is if you don’t go on a foggy and cloudy day. You can see many landmarks such as the O2, the Gherkin and the Shard from the Orbit. You can also view the city turned upside down from the two mirror sculptures created by Sir Anish Kapoor at opposite ends of the room. The mirrors also allows two people to be seen at opposite sides of the room standing at specific spots marked out by a pair of footprints.

There are two options on getting to lower grounds being the lift or the stairs as opposed to the only way getting up was the lift. The option of going down the stairs gave “Soundscapes” of different noises ranging from construction noises to market noises coming out of speakers placed throughout the journey down the stairs. The stairs are 350 metres long with 445 steps with an occasional checkpoint telling you how many steps are left to the bottom.

Here are some quotes said about the ArcelorMittal Orbit:

"A bold, beautiful and magnificent sculpture that also showcases the great versatility of steel."

Lakshmi Mittal

"It would have boggled the minds of the Romans. It would have dwarfed the aspirations of Gustave Eiffel."

Boris Johnson

"It is an object that cannot be perceived as having a singular image, from any perspective."

Anish Kapoor

#ArcelorMittalOrbit

Bricks in the Sky

LEGO bricks have rained upon the ArcelorMittal Orbit as they bring the Bricks in the Sky exhibition to the skyline of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The exhibition will be running from Sunday 15 to Sunday 22 February 2015 to coincide with children’s half-term.

Warren Elsmore was present to build live a 2 metre high ArcelorMittal Orbit constructing of 100,000 bricks. So that’s an 80 metre high architecture in just 100,000 for you! Also on display is two pieces created by Elsmore in which he reconstructed the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park into a LEGO miniature, which were commissioned by the LEGO Group and Visit Denmark for the Denmark Hospitality House for the Olympics. The pieces were displayed at Team GB’s headquarters during the Paralympics. The displays were built at around 1:500 scale with 250,000 bricks used. The project clocked up over 300 hours in a 5 week time scale to meet the start of the Olympics.

The exhibition features miniature-sized figures and landmarks such as the O2, Nelson’s Column, Battersea Power Station, St Paul’s Cathedral and Elizabeth Tower (famously known as Big Ben). Other iconic symbols featured were the red telephone box, the routemaster bus and the black cab.

There are numerous activities on offer such as watching the work of Warren Elsmore in progress, using the interactive boards which gives a panoramic view of London, enjoying the views from outside the window or out in the open air and there is a table of LEGO to get yourself into for pure blissful enjoyment.

There is an opportunity to get a free souvenir photo by tweeting #BricksintheSky which will feed on to a print machine on base level all the way at the bottom of the Orbit. The photo itself very much resembles a Polaroid frame design.

#BricksintheSky

 

 

A Conversation with Oscar Wilde

On Adelaide Street, you’ll find a peculiar-looking granite slab with a head protruding from one end and you’ll find Oscar Wilde smiling back at you, with supposedly a cigar in hand. By that it is A Conversation with Oscar Wilde created by Maggi Hambling.

A committee was set up called “A Statue for Oscar Wilde” which aimed put a statue in place in tribute of him. The statue was funded by donations from fans of Oscar Wilde’s works. Designs were submitted by 12 artists which was thinned down to 6 artists. From the 6 artists, they created models for the statue, which ultimately led to Maggi Hambling being chosen as the finalised choice of what the statue will become. The idea of it was to set yourself down for a moment to converse with Oscar Wilde. The statue was unveiled by Stephen Fry in 1998.

The statue shaped like a sarcophagus is made of granite and Oscar made of bronze. Oscar’s figure seems very much to flow out and shape to form seaweed, especially given the green textures that comes off of him. Originally, it had a bronze cigar in his hand but was said to be removed as a result that the cigar was being apparently stolen from him on multiple occasions. A quote from his play Lady Windermere’s Fan is seen on the other end:

“We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars.”

#OscarWilde

Richard Wilson's 20:50

Robert Wilson’s 20:50 was created in 1987 and now resides in the basement level of Saatchi Gallery in Gallery 13, which has since become a permanent installation from 1991. An extremely high volume of oil was used to create an illusory reflection creating great depth and level of space in the confines of room which was inspired by Wilson’s interest in construction and engineering. Another striking piece to the artwork is the thick smell that comes from the oil that radiates around the room.

#SaatchiGallery

Gay Sports Fair 2015

Gay Sports Fair was held this year at the Kia Oval Cricket organised by The List. It was held on the Tuesday, 27th January 2015 between the hours of 18:00 to 22:00. There were over 25 sport organisations and related clubs, campaigns and organisations.

There were opportunities to get signed up to some sporting clubs to find out further information and an opportunity to join. Pride in London were there to recruit volunteers to the run-up of Pride in June this year. Tasters were provided by Body Plus Nutrition and Saviour Tea of weight management food and herb-blended tea. Chance to win tickets were given out for the London Gay Symphony Orchestra by tweeting image with the event’s hashtag.

Organisations in attendance included:

• Body Plus Nutrition
• CycleOut London
• East End Phoenix FC
• Outplay Squash
• Florida Keys & Key West
• Gay and Lesbian Underwater Group (GLUG)
• Gay Football Supporter’s Network
• GMFA
• Goslings London Badminton Club
• Hackney Women’s Football Club
• Ishigaki
• Just A Ball Game?
• Kings Cross Steelers
• London Frontrunners
• London Gay Boxing Club
• London Lesbian Kickabouts (LLKA)
• London Raiders
• London Romans FC
• London Royals HC
• London Spikers Volleyball Club
• London Titans FC
• Mens Package
• Open Athletics
• Out To Swim
• Pride in London
• Saviour Tea
• Sport in the City
• Stonewall FC
• The London Otters Rowing Club

The next Gay Sports Fair won’t be until next year but you can still attend to the events ahead this year such as the Pride Volunteering Fair and the Gay Wellbeing Fair.

#GaySportsFair