The Beijing National Stadium as Media-space

Abstract

This essay examines the Olympic Games as a media-space which comprises both physical and mediated spatial attributes. Focusing on the Beijing National Stadium it addresses the new post-geographical spatial experiences that are produced by the layering of physicality and digitization. Drawing methodologies from the fields of ethnography, media studies and design studies, we aim to develop an interdisciplinary approach which critically explores the multiple and intertwined dimensions of these hybrid spatial articulations. This takes into account the new transnational public realms that have been opened by diverse forms of social media, and the proliferation of actors in the dissemination and shaping of the Olympic event and its architectures.

Star Architects, Urban Spectacles, and Global Brands: Exploring the Case of the Tokyo Olympics 2020

“…Daniel Dayan has applied the notion of hijacking to the event, arguing that the “Olympics are constantly being, or threatening to become, ‘hijacked’ by a wider range of agents: local and global markets, governments, celebrities, political activists, terrorists” (Dayan, 2008: 399, cited in Kang and Traganou, : 152–153). Related to this observation, Miah et al .…”

“…The term “citizen journalists” refers to “the expansion of journalistic expertise that is achieved by the multiplicity of publishing channels which became available with the rise of new media” (Miah et al, : 455, 486, cited in Kang and Traganou, : 153). It is argued that since the advent of the web, its communities are expanding as a shared platform of cultural specialists or intermediaries (Bourdieu, : Featherstone, ) and ordinary people, so that the hierarchal ordering of influence in cultural production has shifted.…”

“…Voices that were formerly unable to participate in social and political discussion are now able to take part in various online dialogues. Such public platforms make up the so‐called blogsphere (Kang and Traganou, : 155), which has become a public sphere for exchanging and discussing architectural dialogue amongst citizens. Given such conditions, public concern over the Olympic National Stadium became one of the central topics in the wider discussion of Olympic events.…”

“…But it was too late to subvert negative public opinion and to establish confidence and trust between Zaha Hadid Architects, the government, and the citizens. The Olympic stadium is a space produced by wider socio‐political contexts (such as star architects, the bureaucracy, and capitalism), but it is also a space mediated by the public and can be reconstructed and influenced by an unprecedented degree of audience participation though such broader dialogues between internet users (see Kang and Traganou, ).…”

The Beijing Olympics: complicit consumerism and the re-invention of citizenship

“…The Beijing Olympics are interesting in as much as they provide a focal point for the above tensions and for the debates about how the Chinese Government projects itself to both its international and its domestic audiences (e.g. Kang & Traganou, 2011). Of course, in many respects, the Beijing Olympic Games were a spectacular success.…”