Tokyo 2020 Olympic Cauldron Ignites Games In Beautiful Yet Eco-Friendly Display
Image via nendo
On Friday, July 23, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics opening ceremony finally took place after what unbearable anticipation of the delayed games. Although pared down compared to what other opening ceremonies have done without COVID interruptions, the Tokyo 2020 ceremony certainly didn’t lose out on the wow factor, showcasing breathtaking works of art in celebration of the event finally arriving.
“You have always believed in yourselves, and you have made tremendous efforts in what you do,” Hashimoto Seiko, the president of Tokyo 2020, told athletes. “You will treasure these moments forever.”
Highlights include a live performance recreating pictograms used to depict each sport, performers donning blue and white round masks and mittens to match the images. The featureless figures seemed to come to life with them posing rapidly to match all the pictograms—50 disciplines in 41 sports—designed by Masa Hiromura. And it’s pretty impressive how similar the designs and performers looked, featured side to side. There was also a stunning drone light show, arranged over the top of the stadium in the checkered logo designed by Asao Tokolo.
But, of course, the tradition of transferring the flame of the torch to the Olympic cauldron was a spectacle not to be missed. As highly decorated tennis star Naomi Osaka moved up the stairs with the torch, an otherwise inconspicuous white sphere revealed itself to be the Olympic cauldron for this year’s Games.
Designed by Canadian architect and founder of Japanese design firm nendo, Oki Sato, the cauldron was created with sustainability in mind, a theme that runs throughout the Games. Mansai Nomura, the Chief Executive Creative Director of the planning team for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies at Tokyo 2020, had conceptualized “all gather under the Sun, all are equal, and all receive energy,” and the cauldron’s design was thus based off that. Its exterior is made from hot-pressed aluminum, and the internal units are extensively covered with polygonal mirror panels.
And, for the first time, hydrogen is being used to power the Olympic flame. Previous flames were running mainly on propane since the first cauldron was lit in Amsterdam in 1928, with efforts for a low-carbon torch London 2012 running short on time and Rio 2016 utilizing a smaller cauldron to reduce the required amount of fuel instead. The hydrogen used in Tokyo was produced at a Fukushima facility, which is recovering from the earthquake that struck it in 2011.
A symbol of hope and life, the cauldron represents “not only the Sun itself, but also the energy and vitality that can be obtained from it,” writes nendo. Think blooming flowers, growing plants, a reverence for life, and the feeling of lifting your palms to the summer sun.
Image via nendo
Image via nendo
Image via nendo
Image via nendo
[via Artnet, images via nendo]
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