In the days before the Tokyo 2020 opening ceremony, a giant head emerged, floating over the city. Entitled “Masayume” (which means “a dream come true” in Japanese), this oversized balloon by artist collective Me (“eyes”), was part of the Tokyo Tokyo Festival, as an arts response to the Olympic Games.
Art has long accompanied the arrival of the Olympics in a city. Budgets might vary, but the Games are the largest event out there. Local organizations and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) all seek to capitalize on the attention the Games garner by generating extracurricular cultural moments that echo the athletic accomplishments in the stadiums.
From Leni Riefenstahl’s film, Olympia, at the 1936 Berlin Games, to “Speed Skater,” Andy Warhol’s print for Sarajevo 1984, artists have contributed to modern Olympic narratives in iconic ways. The purpose of these interventions, not to mention their desired audience, has varied considerably.
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