If you've ever wondered what it feels like to perform as an Olympic athlete, or star in your own urban spectacle, head out to Stratford High Street on 25-27 June to take part in Hyperlympics, a project by the critically-acclaimed, Vienna-based architects feld72 for the East London focus of the London Festival of Architecture 2010, coordinated by The Architecture Foundation.
feld72's interactive and mobile public intervention will take four of the components of an Olympic track sport - a commentator, bleachers, speakers, and a screen - and, using custom-made bike-drawn trailers that will be driven and parked along the High Street, figuratively transform this public space into an Olympic playing field. High Street 2012 is the section of streets from Aldgate to Stratford, which represents the last 6km of the Olympic marathon route, and the ancient gateway into the City of London.
Hyperlympics is a development of feld72's PublicTrailer© project, earlier instalments of which have featured in the 2009 Shenzhen and Hong Kong Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, and the 2010 Milan Furniture Fair, which transformed bicycle trailers with different functions into interactive tools for occupying the city. Previous examples of the PublicTrailer© have included the mobile Karaoke trailer, and a Speaker's Corner. Easily transportable, and ecological too, the trailers welcome interaction from all members of the public and create a powerful "army" of moving tools for public space.
For more information please visit the LFA website.
Supported by Arts Council England. Bicycles kindly supplied by Go Pedal! The High Street 2012 is supported by Design for London and the London Borough of Newham.