Show 114: Lament for the London Olympic Site by Stephen Cornford

A site-specific field recording composition.
In 2012 the Olympics will come to London. The site, situated in north east London between Stratford, Hackney Wick and Pudding Mill Lane, currently a hotchpotch of industrial estates, disused waterways, railway sidings, traveller ‘s homes and allotments will soon be the biggest building site in Europe. In just over five years the entire area will be cleared, it’s map re-drawn ; transformed firstly into state of the art sports facilities, then re-regenerated to provide more homes yet another shopping centre and eventually re-sold to the public. The same public who, through government compulsory purchase order, have just bought the land once and will of course foot all the bills in the meantime. The latest leap in the budget for the whole project will likely cost the arts council 35% of its annual government subsidy.