The Fantastic Factology

Date
9 February 2011

The Fantastic Factology want you to enter your fantastic facts as a part of a series of interventions for the Olympic Park. The program is the work of London based artists and designers, The Klassnik Corporation, Riitta Ikonen and We Made That. Other exciting plans are to include the planting of designs for wild-flower meadows in the south-east corner of the Stadium island and distinctive entrances to The Greenway.

The Fantasticology project. What is that, and what else does it involve beyond Fantastic Factology?

Fantastic Factology is one of our Fantasticology series of projects commissioned by London 2012. Collectively these projects are designed to reveal both the factual and the incredible, the local and universal in the landscape of the Olympic Park. We’re exploring different ‘ologies’ through each of our interventions and we have been working in collaboration with the Olympic Delivery Authority’s Arts and Cultural Strategy teams. 

Our Fantastic Archaeology proposals (currently on site) are a series of planting designs for wildflower meadows as a floral celebration of the industrial heritage of the site. The planting will recreate the footprints of the industrial buildings sited on the previous estates; a giant google-earth memorial scheme made in wildflowers.

The Fantastic Factology project, our most recent, is drawing from local communities and global experts to create moments of curiosity in the Park.

What have you got planned for the Fact-Fest Workshops and how can people get involved?

The Fact-Fest workshops will be a chance to contribute and unearth facts through hands on activities, hosted by the inimitable Riitta Ikonen. The first is at Stratford Old Town Hall on Saturday,12th March, but we’ll be announcing another soon on the project website. Themes for the first workshop include local industrial history, science and biodiversity. One of the activities we’ll be running is an ‘alternative measurement workshop’… Q. How big is your longest long jump? A. Twelve cabbage wide, three squirrels long. All the workshops are free to attend and all are welcome – they should be lively, exciting events!

Fantastic Factology requires a bit of story telling in itself to get people to understand what you are trying to achieve. What methods have you deployed to hook people into your approach?  

We wanted the project to be an open, democratic and generous process. It’s quite a unique opportunity for people to contribute a nugget of knowledge, experience or something fantastic to the Park (as long as it’s under 160 characters!). We’re deploying ourselves in several ways, and casting a wide net both virtual and face-to-face. We’re gathering fantastic facts via our dedicated website, holding special ‘Fact-Fest’ workshops and collecting a series of postcard submissions from expert contributors. We welcome your facts!

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James Gilpin

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