We are the home of southeast higher education partners working together to contribute exciting programmes and events for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad

Invite To Tonight's Exhibition

Where:Foyer, TVU's St Mary’s Road Campus, W5 5RF
When: 26th May, 6pm
The Faculty of the Arts at Thames Valley University would like to invite you to the private and press view of the Creative Campus Initiative (CCI) Exhibition. This exhibition is a celebration of the dynamic programme of cultural events and artworks created in response to the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics and features new art from students, practising artists, and the local community engaged in commissions by the CCI. It will also showcase CCI competition winners from schools and colleges. This is your opportunity to view ‘Liquid Athletes’ fresh from its huge success at the Kinetica Art Fair 2010 and many other artworks and projects all made possible by the CCI. www.tvu.ac.uk/cci

Moving Stories

Where: TVU
When: 26th - 29th May
The flipbook is an classic means to create the illusion of movement. Participants will create imaginative stories that reflect the themes of CCI. The mass participation project invites participants to create a flip book animation of any London 2012 event.

The Busk Factor

Where: Drayton Court Hotel, West Ealing
When: Thursday 6th May
Featured on the BritEvents website.

In an inspiring evening of international entertainment, The Busk Factor promoted the London 2012 Olympics in an event billed as 'X Factor meets Eurovision'. The organisers, Holli Sullivan and Kat Downs, believe busking is strongly associated with London. Their project responded to the Cultural Olympiad's aim to "promote London as a major cultural capital" by celebrating buskers as a great representation of the talent on London's streets. The project contrasted mainstream art, backed by big budgets and marketing, with buskers who showcase raw talent on next-to-no budget. More info: kat_as_in_meow@yahoo.co.uk and sunshine_holli@hotmail.com

Caryatid

Where: TVU
When: 26th - 29th May
Phil Hawks' Caryatid is an animated, interactive life drawing that draws inspiration from the home of the modern Olympics; the Caryatid Porch in Athens. More info: phil.hawkes@tvu.ac.uk

Degree of Difficulty

Where: TVU
When: 26th - 29th May
With the TVU Orchestra. Degree of Difficulty is a musical celebration of Olympic Diving. This original composition by Laurence Llewellyn is for a small ensemble, capable of being produced synthetically, live, or in combination. It will describe the elements of approach, takeoff, flight and entry in five categories – forward, back, reverse, inward and twisting. The visuals use film footage of top British divers in training for international competitions and the 2012 Olympics. The film has been created with the cooperation of British Swimming and the Southampton Diving Academy. More info: Laurence.Llewellyn@fandc.com

Sports all Sorts

Where: TVU
When: 26th - 29th May
Drayton Manor High School and Brentside High School from West London are producing digital shorts that explore the modern pentathlon. Fencing art work by Harry May of Drayton Manor High School. More info: jane.dunstan@tvu.ac.uk

Documentary Photography

Where: TVU
When: 26th - 29th May
Matthew Lea and first-year photography students are working on documentary projects that relate to the 2012 London Olympics. The students will peer-assess their work. There will be a competition and prize-giving for the best three portfolios of work and the winning students will exhibit their work. More info: matthew.lea@tvu.ac.uk

Feeder colleges' creative challenge

Where: TVU
When: 26th - 29th May
Five West London schools and colleges created innovative artefacts that reflected the themes of CCI. The participants were mentored by TVU students and invited to TVU for taster sessions and master classes. The artefacts were judged by a panel of experts in April and the winners's work will be on exhibition. Projects included a series of films produced by Abbotsfield and Swakeleys Sixth Form which used the positive messages of London 2012 to explore social issues affecting young people in London. Barking College and Sir George Monoux Sixth Form College used film to investigate the positive impact London 2012 will have on travel and tourism in London. Both films were filmed at various sites across London. Fencing art work was by Harry May of Drayton Manor High School. Participating schools and colleges: Drayton Manor School, Barking College, Sir George Monoux Sixth Form , Abbotsfield & Swakeleys Sixth Form, and College of North West London. The winning artefact was "Wheelchair Basketball" by Jessica Da Silva. More info: zohra.hussain@tvu.ac.uk

Female Boxing

Where: TVU
When: 26th - 29th May
A series of documentary photographs explores female boxers. Women's boxing, one of the sport's biggest growth areas, becomes an official Olympic sport for the first time at the 2012 London Olympics. The number of registered female boxers has seen more than a 100% increase in the last four years and most of these have been among girls aged between 11 and 17. More info: m17rce@googlemail.com

Five

Where: TVU
When: 27 May (highlights)
Patrick Pinnock will collaborate with Ballet Russe, Acton High School, Villiers High School, Westminster University and The Chocolate Factory to write five songs that reflect the five events of the modern pentathlon. The five songs are performed live by the artists and participants from the schools in a concert at the CCI exhibition. British record producer Robin Millar will review the final mixes of the songs before they are made into a DVD. A concert will be held where the five songs will be performed by the artists with the participation of the schools. More info: patrickpinnock@ymail.com

Liquid Athletes

Where: TVU
When: 26th - 29th May
An MA Student group at TVU will create Liquid Athletes, a synthesized abstraction of the physical, psychological and external elements that are involved in the creation of the ultimate Olympic performance. Artists: Ryan Best, Immo Blaese, Sally Butterfield, Panos Diamondis, Nimra Javaid and Marcin Wysocki. More info: Sally.butterfield@gmail.com

Motus

Where: TVU
When: 26th - 29th May
The Latin word for movement is motus. Sport is movement. The level of mastery of these movements translates into either victory or defeat. Sound is movement. Air particles suddenly set into harmonious motion that our hearing system translates into what we humans call sound. Motus brings these worlds together, sound and sport, both born from movement, and transforms athletes into musical instruments, matches or races or combats into live performances. In Motus, Antonio Castells-Delgado and Sebastian Lexer aim to create an interactive live fencing combat/performance, where the movements of the fencers and sabres dictate the music. More info: Antonio.Castells-Delgado@tvu.ac.uk

New Choral Work

Where: TVU
When: 27th May
Paul Ayres composes a new piece for the London College of Music Chamber Choir. The singers will perform in ancient Greek and modern English and the work will be scored for flexible choral ensemble, so that it can be subsequently performed by community groups, choral societies and school choirs. Sometimes the women’s and men’s voices alternate with each language, sometimes they’re simultaneous, and sometimes the performers are, literally, “singing from the same hymn-sheet”. The music endeavours to capture a kind of Olympian ideal of striving, of working hard at the limits of physical strength. More info: paulayres@clara.net

Promoting 2012

Where: TVU
When: 26th-29th May
Judy Coulton, Steve Middleditch and Levels 5 and 6 Advertising students have taken on two briefs to contribute to the Creative Campus. Level 5 students worked on a brief to promote the Creative Campus Flip Books. They produced advertising for all media forms to inform and involve the TVU community. Level 6 students took the Pentathlon as their brief and generated a wealth of ideas designed to attract tourists to return to Britain in 2012. More info: judy.coulton@tvu.ac.uk

The Modern Artathlon

Where: TVU
When: 26th - 29th May
Students visit four locations around London and photograph the interesting things they find in each area. They return to produce a visual response in different media/formats, including drawings; films; typography; travel posters; magazines and typography. More info: phil.hawkes@tvu.ac.uk

Sonic Cycles

Where: TVU
When: tbc
Using a static bicycle installation, Sonic Cycles aims to capture the 'real sounds' of people cycling by recording and photographing people on their bicycles. This animated montage was inspired by the success of the Olympic Cycling team at the Beijing Olympics, the music of Kraftwerk and their anthemic soundtrack ‘Tour De France’. It explores the parallels between the growth of cycling as a sport and as a way to commute to work. Many people see images of cycling either from professional events or trade adverts; but very few people associate different sounds with cycling. Even professional cycling has the sound masked by motorbikes or cars providing support to the cyclists. The artwork captures and documents the many different sounds and accompanying images of cycling -from the sound of gears changing to a flat tyre, a squeaky brake to the sound of a wheel rotating, from the sound of racers shouting at each other to a child screaming with joy. The images and sounds you see and hear were all recorded across the landscape of London’s cycling community and embrace the multi-dimensional character of being a cyclist anywhere. By Graham Berridge and Lucie Hernandez. More info: graham.berridge@tvu.ac.uk

The Unsung

Where: TVU
When: 26th-29th May
Through a series of portrait photo stills, Nikki Little explores the unsung heroes of the Olympics and Paralympics: the volunteers. The volunteers are often anonymous and overlooked, a blur in the background; yet they are integral to the success of the Olympics and Paralympics. These images capture the hidden face of the Olympic and Paralympic volunteers. More info: evilnik@hotmail.com

Bolt

Where: TVU
When: 26th - 29th May
Bolt is an interactive kinetic sculpture, made out of perspex, wood and bronze. Carol MacGillivray's sculpture plays with the interchangeability between the human and the mechanical and explores our perception of non-linear dynamics. Chaos is introduced into a system that is predictable in principle but unpredictable in practice, resulting in what appears to be a defiance of gravity. More info: Carol.macgillivray@tvu.ac.uk

Vocal Athletics Gala Event 2010

Where: Lawrence Hall, TVU
When: 6th May (5pm)
A live celebration of the singing voice took place on 6th May in Lawrence Hall (Student’s Union). Contemporary singing lecturer, Kim Chandler, hosted an event featuring LCM vocal students celebrating the athletic aspects of the singing voice. TVU alumni and the Guinness World Record holder for largest vocal range, was invited for an interview. This event culminated in a ‘Vocal Athletics’ competition inspired by London’s upcoming Olympics and Paralympics event in 2012. More info: kim@kimchandler.com

World Nation

Where: TVU
When: 26th - 29th May
World Nation is a moving sound and videoscape of multi-coloured and multi-voiced elements informed by deconstructing notions of nationality and identity in flags and anthems. By Oliver Rullet and Paul Ramshaw. More info: olivier.ruellet@tvu.ac.uk