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Monday, May 14, 2012

First view from the ArcelorMittal Orbit tower – video



"Jonathan Jones takes a trip up the ArcelorMittal Orbit tower in the Olympic village in Stratford, east London, and speaks to the artist Anish Kapoor and engineer Cecil Balmond about the £22.7m structure. The London mayor, Boris Johnson, who persuaded the steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal to provide £19.6m towards the cost, reveals his view on the finished tower while Newham residents living in its shadow share their mixed opinions" (Guardian Online)

The views are awesome. You'll also hear a bit about Tatlin's tower, intriguingly not quite ruled out by Kapoor as (perhaps satirical?) source, as well as Babel, of course, but also Trajan's column/tower. It's a fine bit of work by the Guardian, as long as you take the Jonathan Jones' somewhat flighty interpretations with a pinch of salt. He is amusing with it, though. (Ed.)

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