That sculpture

I will be THERE tomorrow Alie - I am usually a big fan of Anish Kapoor so I will let you know what it looks like close up.

I must admit I can't get to grips with it at all. Does it look better in the flesh as it were?

If anything it looks worse the closer you get. I know people thought the Eiffel Tour was a monstrosity when it was erected by the orbit really is one

Did someone say "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" ? don't think so in this case but may be proved wrong.

Heavens above - how ugly is that? - how expensive is that?

Is that actually meant to be a work of art? It looks a mess to me.

Yuk!

Needless to say, I like it. Think it goes well with the area.

Well I like it too! Not as red as I expected in real life, but quirky and memorable - a bit like the opening ceremony.

Saw it on Monday, and have to say it wasn't as awful as I'd expected. But I don't particularly care for it...

Oh, but wasn't the men's cycling amazing today? They won gold and broke world records in the qualifying rounds.

No accounting for taste I spose.
.....my sister says, how is it even relevant to sport? Don't see the point myself.

At least that unfortunate new logo hasn't been much in evidence.....

I don't think it's meant to have any relevance to sport – just an ego trip for Lakshmi Mittel. I am not impressed and don't like it – but, I suppose, chacun à son goût. However, it is in a public place…

Oh I see. Funny things people decide to spend their money on - I have just read his wiki entry... a chance encounter with Boris at the urinals, OK.
Very chunky steel construction - coincidentally came across the same method in picture of new telescope built in Namibia.
www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/hfm/HESS/
That aside, as an enormous work of art - surely one of the biggest in the world.
It is also interactive in that people can go up and look down - which is v popular if you consider the Eye and many other towers. So will bring tourists into Stratford.
It is also a landmark within the Olympic Park - which is enormous! Picture wembley stadium surrounded by half a dozen other major stadia and you will get the idea of the scale - lots of space between the venues as it is intersected by canals, river, railway lines etc. A good brisk half an hour's walk at least from one end to the other.
I had a good look at the Orbit yesterday - close up and not so close up.
I have seen lots of Kapoor's work before - it is often Red and otherwise grey so no surprise re colours. I think he is the best thing in Uk modern sculpture (and art) by a mile. He often does BIG but this is very very big. I don't know of anyone else who could have pulled this off. Gormley would have wanted to do a very big person...
I think it is one of those things that does not grab me instantly but as you look at the different angles it makes me think of the structure of DNA (discovered in the UK), the UK's and the immediate area's industrial past (we did invent steel production) and also, an exuberant fountain - gravity defying arcs - which makes me think of the exuberance of the olympics.
I recommend a visit. A photo on a page is not what it is for. I would like to go back one day to look at it again and go up it, when things are a little quieter over there!

Jess - You've helped me see the Orbit in a new light - a good new light.
I'd only seen pics of it, and now I'm doing a bit of Olympic watching am seeing it on the tv too, but even so - it's very difficult to get a good grasp of it's impact ........... as you say, a photo on a page is not what it's for!
So thanks for this. Hopefully I'll see it one day.

It costs a bomb to go up it - £15 so I've heard! I think it looks ghastly and an eyesore for the area but I guess people thought the same of the Eiffel Tower.