Memory Marathon
Photo: Angus Mill
Memory Marathon followed on a 26 mile walk through the five East London boroughs hosting the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In an unbroken relay, I walked with local residents who recalled personal memories of the Olympics.
A narrative unfolds as viewers see the contrast between the spectacular venues and athletic feats that participants describe, and the landscape that the walkers and artist inhabit.
Participatory performance and film, produced by Film & Video Umbrella. 2009-10
Camera & Edit: Bevis Bowden
Audio: Ross Adams
Now available online on the FVU player: https://www.fvu.co.uk/watch/
Project website: http://www.memorymarathon.info
"Beijing 2008, Athens 2004, Sydney 2000, Berlin 1936, Mexico 1968, London 1948, Barcelona 1992, Calgary 1988, Moscow 1980, Munich 1972…
"Memory Marathon is artist Simon Pope’s extraordinary 80-minute film bringing together East London’s collective Olympic memories in a portrait reflecting on the enduring importance of personal recollection during times of major cultural and political change.
"On 7 November 2009, Pope walked 26 miles in twelve hours through the five East London boroughs hosting the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Starting out at dawn from Thamesmead in south-east London, and arriving twelve hours later at the entrance to Olympic Park in Stratford, Pope accompanied over a hundred local residents through Greenwich, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Waltham Forest.
"In an unbroken relay, in which each resident walked a 400-metre section of the 26-mile route alongside Pope, they were asked to speak about a personally significant moment from Olympic history, before passing the microphone to the next person. Recruited from the boroughs adjoining the Olympic site, and reflecting the diverse make-up of those communities and the inclusive, international spirit of the Games themselves, the participants’ collective act of commemoration draws from a huge reservoir of sporting and cultural memory, encompassing both triumph and disaster, and highlighting the global, the intimate and the everyday.
"Pope’s Memory Marathon traces a specially planned route linking historic film locations that pinpoint moments of transition and regeneration in London’s past, in a contemporary city whose architecture and infrastructure continues to change with extraordinary rapidity.
"In March Memory Marathon becomes an installation at Dray Walk Gallery at the Truman Brewery. There are also screenings followed by a Q&A session with Pope at Stratford East Picturehouse, Greenwich Picturehouse and the Rio Cinema in Hackney.
"Evoking the lasting impressions of TV sports coverage and exploring the role of moving images in shaping and mediating our experiences, Memory Marathon is Pope’s second major collaboration with Film and Video Umbrella. His interest in walking pervades much of his artistic output, which utilises and mobilises the physical and mental in acts of memory that create new visual constructs of familiar places."
Exhibitions & Screenings
February - March 2010
Dray Walk Gallery, Truman Brewery, London, E1 6Q
20 - 21 September 2014
Art Moves Festival, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London
7 September 2013
6 July 2012
Screening at Sugarhouse Studios, Stratford, London
10 - 21 July 2012
Exhibition, John Hansard Gallery Central, Southampton
12 July 2012
Screening at Whitechapel Gallery, London
27 - 29 July 2012
Screenings at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
Memory Marathon was initially presented in March 2010 through an exhibition and screenings across London. In 2012, the film was re-presented at various venues in July to coincide with the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Memory Marathon was conceived and produced by FVU. Commissioned by the Olympic Delivery Authority and funded by the London Development Agency and Arts Council England.
Presented by FVU.
ADDTIONAL SCREENING:
Memory Marathon 11:10am – 12.30pm Thursday 3 March 2011 at ARTPROJX at the SVA THEATRE, NEW YORK in association with THE ARMORY SHOW & VOLTA NY
INTERVIEW
Interview: in Aesthetica (2012) - here
Credits: Memory Marathon is conceived and produced by Film and Video Umbrella.
Links:
Images from The Guardian's website
Martin Belam's blog post - a participant's view of the project
Trailer
'Memory Marathon: One Year On' (2011)
