As part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, the Academy of Saint Martins in the Fields and Central Saint Martins collaborated to create the intriguing Musical Torch installation. Last October, the team worked alongside children from three Islington schools in London to create original music through a series of experiments conducted right in their classrooms. Their music creation eventually found its way to a public exhibition at King’s Place, a leading arts centre in the UK and Europe.
An integral member of the team was 2011 DesignSingapore Scholar, Kevin Yeo, who is currently pursuing his Master’s degree for Creative Practice in Narrative Environments in Central Saint Martins, London. Kevin worked together with his course mates Elisa Magnini, Alexander Schnell Srameh, Amy Wallace and Seung Youn Lee on the project.
See the video about the workshop:
The students from Islington explored music and art through a game of Chinese whispers. Each class worked together to create a piece of music in a morning workshop, then passed it on from the first class to the next as inspiration, and the Musical Torch was eventually passed along the line of five classes.
The Musical Torch installation was one of the featured activities in Music Nation, a part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. In the final installation, the children’s music emerged from large colourful tubing that wrapped round enormous pillars in the building, looking like an invasion of the space. In addition, the children also created unique hand sculptures, represented by a single bold colour, which became part of a large-scale painting machine (which resembles a music box of giant proportions).
The final installation was first displayed at King’s Place on 3 March 2012 as part of Music Nation. It is currently on display at The Crossing at Kings Cross from the 22 April – 5 May. It will also be on display at Celebrating London 2012, an event on 8 May, organised by University of the Arts London to celebrate the community’s involvement in the Olympic and Paralympic related activities. The students’ contribution and involvement with the Musical Torch will be recognised at the event.
About Kevin Yeo
DesignSingapore Scholar, Kevin Yeo, has worked on many interesting projects including the ‘One’ 360 European Tour for U2 and the revamp of musician Brian Eno’s website. He also collaborated with Brian Eno and Wordsalad on ‘Tales of the Afterlives’ at the Sydney Luminous Festival 2009. His winning design at the Hugo Boss Visual Display competition was used to launch the Berlin Bag at Ropponggi Hills (Tokyo, Japan) in 2008. Kevin received two nominations for the D&AD Global Student Awards – for the Graphic Design category in 2007 and the Music Video category in 2008.
About the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad
The London 2012 Cultural Olympiad is the largest cultural celebration in the history of the modern Olympic and Paralympic Movements. Since 2008, the Cultural Olympiad has featured programmes and projects inspired by London 2012.
