Olympics and culture: tracings, projections and intersections

The Olympics and Culture project examines cultural connections between Japanese artefacts and contemporary attitudes to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, developed as an exhibition and symposium between Loughborough University, UK and Joshibi University of Art and Design, Japan. Andrew Selby was a co-director of the project, supported by Nomura. His works assimilate Japanese traditional cultural emblems, artefacts and customs and re-purpose and re-imagine them through the sports recognised by the Olympic and Paralympic movement. The intention of the exhibition and symposium was to draw strands of collective ownership by re-interpreting traditional cultural heritage and imbuing it with recognisable and identifiable contemporary associations with Japanese life to symbolise the galvanising effect sport participation and spectatorship has on societies.