Olympic TWINTERVIEW: ONE hour - FOUR experts - TEN questions

ONE hour before the Games officially were launched we gathered FOUR experts on urban planning, architecture, digitization, social design and creative economy to raise to them TEN questions about the ON and OFF Olympiad via TWITTER. Here are the participants:

Cany Ash, Ash Sakula architects, London

Seriously curious about how 2 b an architect now; creative use of space before, during & after construction; the myopic long view Ash Sakula Architects.

Cany Ash is also known for the Caranvaserai project: @CTCaravanserai The new trading post for East London in Canning Town. Micro enterprise and performance space.

@cany_ash

Bernd Fesel, ECBN and LABKULTUR.TV, Im Digital Drift

Culture Creative Industries ( CCI ) - Creative Cities - Digital Innnovation - Urbanism2.0 - Art changing Cities: Innovate.Create.BeHappy.

@Bernd_Fesel

Kat Davis, industri[us], London

A generalist & unabashed optimist. Draw a Venn diagram between urban design, architecture, social & green enterprise; I’d sit quite happily in the middle.

Kat Davis is also known for the project: @industri_us An engine of change in London's Royal Docks - transforming 'waste' materials through upcycling to encourage enterprise, innovation & training.

@katcreates

BOP Consulting, London and Edinburgh

BOP Consulting is a research, strategy and policy consultancy specialising in culture and the creative industries. Tweets by Chris Gibbon.

@BOP_Consulting

And here follows the evening's tweet thread:

QUESTION ONE: Was the idea of New Games given up for big event economics with LOCOG?

@cany_ash - Naively I thought that the creativity would be fully harnessed, but mostly it is an  unadventurous commercial event.

@Bernd_Fesel - London 2012 tries both, but I fear it will loose both.

@katcreates - Coordinating masses is now small task, we hope that logistics still allows Londons quirky side to shine through.

@BOP_Consulting - We´re glad culture got a mention - €130 m. for the Cultural Olympiad is great even from a €10 bn. budget.

Newham is a borough with incredible ethnic diversity ©Swantje Diepenhorst

@cany_ash - All of that...

@katcreates - All three - it´s about bringing different nations together in the melting pot that is London 2012.

@Bernd_Fesel - London 2012 costs billions. It must be about earning money by ALL.

@BOP_Consulting - A big part of all three but the change on our identity is most interesting.

Q3: Why not young urban (e.g. pop up) Olympic concepts in a city seen as epitome of creativity and innovation?

@cany_ash - More distribution of Olympic investment among creatives. The governments 'open for business' might be more visible.

@Bernd_Fesel - Citizen are young and urban; Olympic and Policy Makers are at least old, never pop up.

@katcreates - Pop-ups have become a trend in London, especially over summer months. We think it´s a great way to test ideas.

@BOP_Consulting - Look to the fringe events for that, like @BoldTendencies they happen in London every year unlike the Olympics.

Q4: Where are the creatives that are not part of the Cultural Olympiad?

@cany_ash - Some making money on projects with international clients some working in their hyper local community contexts.

@Bernd_Fesel - Designers, Architects and Communication - creatives are part, but not decision - makers. They have the wrong part.

@katcreates - Good question. Hackney Wick?

@BOP_Consulting - There are two Groups of artists, those that take money from the state and complain about Cultural Olympiad....

@LABKULTUR - BOP_Consulting - ....and those that don´t take money from the state and complain about the Cultural Olympiad.

Q5: Stratford, Hackney, Bethnal Green will they be the same after the games are over?

@cany_ash - Those places will be known more intimately by all Londoners and so the geography of London has changed completely.

@Bernd_Fesel - I hope for an unchanged identity with more chances for their own futures.

@katcreates - No. We hope the legacy plans work out but there needs to be time for local communities to adopt changes

@BOP_Consulting - You shouldn’t always fight change, but you should protect the existing community from the worst of it.

Q6: Do you consider the Cultural Olympiad a benefit for London and British artists?

@cany_ash - It is an enormous spectacle and has made lots of people happy.

@Bernd_Fesel - Yes, in the long run; during the Olympics artists feel marginalized or instrumentalized.

The word "serai" is Turkish for palace or camp ©Swantje Diepenhorst

@cany_ash - We are a studio interested in communicating the full potential of architecture.

We want to go beyond skin deep beauty and take full account of those 'soft' imperatives in our design.

@cany_ash - @CTCaravanserai is co created with many people who share this desire to 'try out' new responsive urbanisms.

Q8: @cany_ash: How can the @CTCaravanserai project influence sport fanatics toward e.g. gentrification?

@cany_ash - We hope that people will loiter on our site buy products from locals and enjoy 1 to 1 conversations @CTCaravanserai.

The Orbit digital render 2011 ©Anish Kapoor

a piece of art or is it …WHAT?

@cany_ash - It's overblown art with a fairly elegant fire escape.

@Bernd_Fesel - Best art piece since the Eifelturm: London is not the same afterwards. Kapoor pushes the city vision in orbit.

@katcreates - ... an intergalactic rocket launch pad?

@BOP_Consulting - It should have been integrated with the diving competition, giving it a practical use as well as aesthetic.

Q10: What would be your dream for the use of QE Olympic Park after 12 August?

@cany_ash - It must properly drop all the barriers and get quickly reabsorbed back into London..

I would like to see an active park full of experiments and fabrication.

@Bernd_Fesel - A liveable neighboorhood for Londons fringend middle and low income classes.

- With a park for a slow espresso and quick skate boards.

@katcreates - A great big 'Maker Faire,' for madcap inventioning!

@BOP_Consulting - We love the plans for it already – culture will play a big part and has a lot to contribute.

@LABKULTUR  - Thank you so much for being part of our London2012 Twinterview @cany_ash, @Bernd_Fesel, @katcreates, @BOP_Consulting Enjoy the Opening!

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