Olympic and Paralympics Legacy
Olympic and Paralympics Legacy
The best athletes, trainers, psychologists and doctors came from around the world to Vancouver to compete in the Olympics. Amongst these people were many who were motivated by a joy of movement. Setting up situations, where the synergy between movement-artists from other countries advances the knowledge base, will reduce obesity and substance.
We will facilitate workshops that assists participants learn the joy of movement, and while doing so will create an artistic functional beauty by which to remember the games.
Bike stand commemorating 2008 summer Olympics in Toronto’s Chinatown
Background
Throughout many cities in North America: Toronto, New York, Des Moines, Louisville, Winnipeg, Ottawa, LA….a new functional art form has emerged: sculptures that serve as bike-stands, tree-guard-bike-stands.
Sculptures in LA, NY, Louisville
History in Toronto
Over the past 7 years, with the assistance of the art group at Parkdale Activity Recreation Center [PARC], a center for psychiatric survivors, we have placed 50 sculptures on the streets of Toronto. Support has come from 3 BIAs, Toronto Arts Council, the City’s mural project [the Economic Development Corporation], the Royal Ontario Museum. The City has developed size safety and functionality guidelines and installs them free of charge on City property. The majority of sculptures have been fabricated by members of the homeless population as part of a skills training program.
Bike stands in Parkdale
Bike stands at Yonge and Lawrence. The three sculptures to the right designed by grade 5 students.
The Royal Ontario Museum
Above sculpture is patterned after sculpture in Chinese tomb
William Thorsell, the ROM’s CEO said the City should have “thousands more of these all over town”. He said it was a “liberating of the creativity’ in this City. See ROM video on bikestandart.net.
Workshops Details
At community centers the design workshops will begin with a mind body exercise where participants will explore the physical and mental parameters of various Olympic and Paralympic sports and try out some of the movements in that sport. The workshops teach them fun with movement, shows them the rewards of a healthy lifestyle.
Photos of the participants will be taken during these workshops.
Participants will use photos of other participants and photos of skilled athletes in the sport that is being studied, as drawing aids so as to create parts of the bike stand sculpture.
For example participants will work to imitate athlete above, photos will be taken of the participants, drawings made from these photos. These drawing will be paced around the diagram of the short track [shown below].
Integrated into the artwork will be some of the cultural and history of the City, for example participants will draw cultural icons to be placed in the center of the short track. The final artwork will be a bike stand sculpture cut out of plates of steel interconnected so that it captures the spirit of the race.
Each sport and each area in the City will be documented with a unique piece of art.
The after school program at the Stathcona Community Center has a Paralympic Athlete Mary Benson and her trainer Shannon McDougall teaching kids cross country skiing. They will be drawing the head and legs of the Chinese dragon-bike stand [above] and each other in skiing poses. The drawing of the participants will be placed on the dragon.
The process will be documented with a media lab managed by Micha Dahan so that the best techniques both in the 1st and 2nd half hour can be passed on to those in the program as well as physical education and art teachers in other cities. Promotion clips can be used by sponsors from any of the footage taken.
The bike stand sculptures will tap the creativity and experience from all sectors. To date there have two new design concepts developed while in Vancouver that will make this City unique. We are making the necessary links with staff at the Emily Carr School, tapping the creativity of the people at that institution and learning new skills.
Sculptures will be fabricated as a part of a skills training program with the homeless population. This program will have as part of the 5 hour work day a paid one hour movement workshop with sports trainers, dancers and other movement artists. The first half hour will explore new mind body relationships, the second hour will focus on awareness of one’s total body movement, this half hour is to enable participants to be tuned into potentially dangerous equipment.
Summary
Repetitive defeat leads to passivity, apathy, obesity and substance abuse. Our goal is to link art and sport [movement] in a way that provides an enjoyable situation for all participants,