Unpicking the Olympic regeneration of East London

A Mute magazine production - Wed 20 Jun 2012, 6:30pm

Book here Free Word Lecture Theatre

Artist, writer and photographer Alberto Duman, in association with Mute Magazine, invites Ben Campkin, Owen Hatherley and David Cross to respond to a series of videos, objects and documents that question the official story of East London’s regeneration.

The discussion will centre on three ‘artefacts’: a short film promoting East London as a regeneration supernova, the Adidas-sponsored outdoor gyms, also known as adiZones, and the inescapable mass of the ArcelorMittal Orbit tower. Each brief presentation will be followed by a short response from the three invited speakers and then offered to the audience for further discussion.

When the world-class city is marketed as a commodity on the global investors’ stage, how can we understand the role of its citizens? Are we the unpaid producers of the value repackaged as world-class status?

What can we make of sponsorship opportunities in mega-events such as the Olympics, which extend beyond the timeline of the event into a legacy framework that protects their status as permanent branding and frames their contribution as public service?

Has the role of landmark art and architecture at the heart of notions of cultural regeneration reached its terminal point with the ArcelorMittal Orbit in the Olympic Park?