The River and Rowing Museum were proud to host Motion and Repetition by local artist Allan Henderson last weekend.  The free exhibition was part of the London 2012 Open Weekend – a series of events across the UK, over 24 – 26 July 2009 enabling access to excellence in the arts, culture and sport and marking the three year countdown to the until the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Over 750 events across the UK were part of London 2012 Open Weekend, exceeding last year’s total of 655. London 2012 Open Weekend is part of the Cultural Olympiad and supported by BP, the Premier Partner of the Cultural Olympiad.

The exhibition focused on rowing as a way of exploring the theme of ‘motion’, as part of an exciting ongoing project with the Great Britain Lightweight rowing team.  Henderson hopes to develop these ideas and work with other sporting bodies and other disciplines within science and medicine to continue to explore this theme. The exhibition generated significant local interest, with hundreds of additional visitors to the Museum over the course of the 3 day installation.  

Motion and Repetition at the River & Rowing Museum was one of many other London 2012 Open Weekend events around the country.  Full listings, including the River & Rowing Museum’s events can be found at www.london2012.com/openweekend.

The weekend also provided an opportunity to learn more about Our Sporting Life at the River & Rowing Museum: Our Sporting Life is a long-term project developed by the Sports Heritage Network to contribute to the Cultural Olympiad leading up to London 2012. It is designed to realise the unique potential of sports heritage and to excite and inspire a wide range of audiences by asking ‘What does sport mean to you?’

London 2012 Open Weekend enables everyone to share in the excitement of the Games, be inspired to get involved, unleash their creativity and try something new by accessing excellence at events across sport, art and culture taking place over the weekend.

Alan Henderson:  “I was delighted to have the opportunity to showcase my work at the River and Rowing Museum and at the high level of interest it generated.  Motion and Repetition represents a new area for me, with multi video installation and images.  I'm excited to be following up with the London 2012 team who filmed the exhibition and look forward to further developing and enhancing my work with the GB rowing team.  I hope to exhibit again in this great venue in the future and thank everyone for their support."

London 2012 is the first Organising Committee to create such a wide platform of public participation in the Games, taking the values, ideals and benefits of the Games to people and communities like never before.  Opportunities such as London 2012 Open Weekend are encouraging participation and recognising the contribution people, places and projects are making to the success of the 2012 Games.

This year’s London 2012 Open Weekend follows the success of last year’s event, which launched the Cultural Olympiad and enabled over 700,000 people to become involved with the Cultural Olympiad.