Could this be the best non-sporting related Olympics news EVER? Is the Blur and Gorillaz man actually going to be the artistic director for the 2012 London Olympics? According to the Independent, he’s in with a pretty good shot. Reportedly Albarn is the frontrunner for the artistic director gig, currently nudging out film director Stephen Daldry.
If Albarn is successful, would this then mean that the London Ceremony might actually be genuinely culturally relevant and worth watching for reasons other than guffawing at how much money is being spent per second on elaborate detritus? Actually, Bjork in Athens in 2004 was pretty OK. And the fireworks and absurd amount of drummers in Beijing were better than OK. But the vast majority of Olympic ceremonies are pretty lame and long-winded on the whole.
So, I get the feeling that Albarn, if given full creative control, could quite comfortably produce the best Olympic ceremony since well before Christ was kicking about. It’s still early days of course, but one thing that could work in his favour was that Albarn already has some Olympic related experience under his belt. Albarn and his Gorillaz companion, artist Jamie Hewlett, created the above sequence for the BBC’s coverage of the Beijing Olympics. Which raises the question, will cartoon apes converge on London in 2012? I truly hope so.
lozloz
5 months, 2 weeks ago
i really hope this comes to fruition. the chinese opera ‘monkey’ which damon masterminded with jamie hewlett (from which the animation originates) is proof that he can turn his hand to pretty much any challenge. the diversity of the projects he involves himself in is inspiring, would be a great choice to fly the flag for the uk. either him or thom and jonny