tagged: beijing paralympics

heathrow terminal 5 isn’t the celebration of modern british design it could have been, but oh my is the structure impressive. these joints really elegantly buttress the arching span of the terminal^[1], and they’re HUGE: thats a simply massive wedge of metal the pylons are bolted to. that, and the last time i saw them, they were bright pink prototypes in the foster associates exhibition at the pompidou…

diary | 03 sep 2008 | tagged: vj · beijing paralympics

beijing airport, on the other hand, doesn’t fail to impress with its sense of space and flowing roof, largely because its footprint is simply massive: no need to stack football pitches upon football pitches as in terminal 5. here is james, known for his work with the light surgeons, tasked with documenting the programme thats brought us out here…

diary | 04 sep 2008 | tagged: vj · beijing paralympics

…which is (to oversimplify) a british council project working with young people, hosted as part of the paralympics here in beijing.
young advocates programme: http://www.yaponline.org/index.jsp
yap youth forum in beijing: http://www.yaponline.org/youth-forum.jsp
oh - and just when you’d appreciated the scale of the beijing airport terminal, you take a shuttle train out and under a few more identical and identically sized terminals, eventually walk out into what you think is the outside, just to find yourself in another cavernous hall. scale… scale…

diary | 04 sep 2008 | tagged: *spark · vj · teaching · beijing paralympics · yeast

well, who said car parks have to have their sections numbered

diary | 04 sep 2008 | tagged: vj · beijing paralympics

30 desks… not quite filling the room. not your average digital media workshop venue, this.

diary | 04 sep 2008 | tagged: *spark · vj · teaching · beijing paralympics

…so how you going to take those ones back on the plane, eh nick?

diary | 04 sep 2008 | tagged: vj · beijing paralympics

mmm. trying to eat a mould coloured lollypop with anonymous black goo in the middle, which was kinda funny until there was suddenly raw sewage in the air despite being in the vicinity of embassies.

diary | 04 sep 2008 | tagged: vj · beijing paralympics

kelly and steve just having got their tickets - we’re going to the paralympic opening ceremony, school trip style.

diary | 05 sep 2008 | tagged: *spark · vj · teaching · beijing paralympics

simply stunning. the best architecture i’ve experienced in the year, probably years. postcard from a distance, it simply gets better the closer you get into and through it.

diary | 05 sep 2008 | tagged: vj · photo · beijing paralympics

spectacular, it was. the paralympics opening ceremony might not have had quite the lavish and epic reach of the olympics that i saw broadcast, but it did have soul - and watching a wheelchair bound athlete pull himself up a rope to the top of the stadium to light the olympic flame was something both awe-inspiring and humbling: when he paused to get his composure back 50 meters up and still a little of the war to go, i’d wager there were 90,999 other people also experiencing a deep moment of reflection.

diary | 06 sep 2008 | tagged: *spark · vj · photo · teaching · beijing paralympics

its soo good. and this is with the reflection in the lake cropped out.

diary | 06 sep 2008 | tagged: vj · beijing paralympics

and so it starts. 27 “young advocates” drawn from china, the uk and beyond, of mixed abilities, ranging from learning difficulties to physical impairment, representing those who’ve achived great things in their communities back home to those picked out of special schools… and in some cases all in those in the one person.
yeast culture ran the film making workshop and the digital media workshop, and i was a leader for the latter. in what could have just been a get media-savvy and learn powerpoint thread, we instead delved into the power of the image; communication beyond photos and text. and they learnt photoshop, and when to abandon photoshop in favour of print-outs, scissors and card.
here is kelly during our (ahem) ‘monkey see, monkey do’ afternoon of photoshop tutorials.

diary | 07 sep 2008 | tagged: *spark · vj · teaching · beijing paralympics · yeast

no arms but want to play the piano? yes you can.

diary | 09 sep 2008 | tagged: *spark · vj · teaching · beijing paralympics

steve with the final day’s project: watch a 10-word play developed by another workgroup, and turn it into an animation. this is the moment when they realise that stop-motion is a long-haul game…

diary | 10 sep 2008 | tagged: *spark · vj · teaching · beijing paralympics

the other play, caught in the moment.

diary | 10 sep 2008 | tagged: *spark · vj · teaching · beijing paralympics

while excessive taking group photos seems is definitely endemic here, its nice to see all the group in one.

diary | 10 sep 2008 | tagged: *spark · vj · teaching · beijing paralympics

here’s the presentation in pdf form that was built-up during the workshop, finished by me and shown to all at the final showcase. i’m quite proud of it, and watching your computer turn pin-yin into chinese characters for the first time is pretty cool.

diary | 11 sep 2008 | tagged: *spark · vj · teaching · beijing paralympics · yeast | downloads: yeast-yap-dmshowcase-web.pdf

from our “moonbase alpha” out-of-town paralympic training facility, to the ambassador’s residence for a final showcase in front of prince edward, no less.
and on the way in, passing the crazy cctv building. not the best angle here, but: wow, and eeek!

diary | 11 sep 2008 | tagged: vj · beijing paralympics

although it meant i had to forgo the celebratory beers-in-the-sun after the showcase, i managed to get the digimedia showcase onto the plasma screens at the reception - so we got to show some work as well as the film that yeast facilitated documenting the whole forum. that film really did the job: well done james.

diary | 11 sep 2008 | tagged: *spark · vj · teaching · beijing paralympics · yeast

the beijing yap forum a success, onto some rest and recreation… you’re not going to fly straight back unless you have to, are you now. first up, check mao overlooking tienammen.

diary | 12 sep 2008 | tagged: adventures · beijing paralympics