It is the highest sculpture in the United Kingdom but it is also an attraction that thrills visitor’s of all ages. It is the ArcelorMittal Orbit, the spectacular tunnel slide designed by artists Anish Kapoor and Carsten Höller for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Surrounded by a flame-red trellis, a 114.5 metre spiral tower offers breathtaking views of London from two terraces suspended 76 and 80 metres off the ground respectively. For the brave-at-heart, the real adventure starts here - flying down the highest and longest slide in the world at 24 kilometres an hour! But the surprises aren’t finished yet - through concave lens placed on the panoramic platform, you can look at the world upside-down while the descent of the spiral staircase offers some unexpected sonic experiences. Whoever wants to learn more about this curious work of art will find all the information right there in a specially dedicated area. Created for the London Olympic Games in 2012, the ArcelorMittal Orbit is a behemoth made from recycled steel and inspired by the double helix of DNA, held together by 600 hundred star knots and thirty-five-thousand bolts. Synonymous with innovative design and playful invention, it has transformed the landscape of East London, showing the numerous faces of a versatile and resistant material - from the red trellises to the polished-steel mirrors, from the spiral staircases to the Corten steel that forms the upper canopy.
Shao Fan, tradition and contemporaneity without mediation
Shao Fan’s first London exhibition presents ink paintings that rethink tradition as an active system. His work moves between painting and sculpture, balancing cultural memory and contemporary image.
The National Gallery presents an exhibition on Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller’s landscapes. The show highlights his direct observation of nature and a rigorous approach to composition. Light, seasons and structure define a modern vision of the landscape.
Peter Grimes returns to London in a contemporary staging focused on the tension between individual and community. Britten’s opera remains a study of how societies construct and enforce exclusion.
The Design Museum in London presents the first international retrospective of Nigo, a journey through three decades that reshaped the relationship between streetwear, luxury and global pop culture.
.jpg/jcr%3Acontent)
