The opening ceremony is a giant “Welcome!” party thrown by the host country. How did Japan welcome the world this year?
Olympics
Posted inNews
Giant Balloon Face Floats Over Tokyo
The eerie aerial piece was created by the artist collective 目 (“Mé”) and features an anonymous face chosen from over 1,000 submissions.
Posted inNews
Chris Ofili and Naoki Urasawa Among Artists to Create Posters for 2020 Olympics
Twenty posters to commemorate the upcoming Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics have premiered at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.
Posted inIn Brief
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Medals Will Be Made from Recycled Gadgets
The Medal Project will mine gold, silver, and bronze from nearly 50,000 tons of donated e-waste.
Posted inArt
Dismantling the Myths of Sports
BERLIN — Today, more than ever, athletes are presented as role models.
Posted inArt
The Wind-Powered Kinetic Sculpture Pulsing Behind the Olympic Cauldron
The kinetic sculpture behind the Rio 2016 Olympic cauldron is so hypnotic you might not have noticed the flame itself is rather tiny compared to past games.
Posted inArt
The 2016 Rio Olympics Medals Embrace Sustainable Design
Athletes at the Rio 2016 Olympics will be taking home bits of recycled mirrors, car parts, and X-ray plates in their medals as part of design aimed at sustainability.
Posted inNews
Crimes of the Art
On this week’s art crime blotter: A €25-million Picasso painting is seized aboard a superyacht, the designer of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games logo is accused of plagiarism, and a hitchhiking robot is destroyed.
Posted inNews
The Smithsonian Begins Talks to Create Its First International Venue in London
As part of a major reuse project for London’s Olympic Park, the Smithsonian Institution may create its first long-term, overseas exhibition venue.
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The Fight for Japan’s Modernist Architecture
Tokyo’s skyline has been increasingly crowded by construction cranes since Japan’s winning bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games.
Posted inArt
Of All Stripes: Designing the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics
The 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics were visually defined by a palette barely touched by patriotic red, white, and blue. Rather, designer Deborah Sussman — with her husband, architect Paul Prejza — colored the city with environmental graphics that buoyantly exuded the hues of the diverse cultures in LA.
Posted inArt
Back When the Olympics Had Art Competitions
With the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics kicking off today, most people’s minds are turned to thoughts of curling, figure skating, bobsledding. But did you know that once upon a time, the Olympics included art competitions? Yup. From 1912 to 1948, awards were given out for works of art in roughly five different categories — architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture — for artworks inspired by sport.