Artist suspects foul play over Olympic ceremony

An artist is demanding answers as to why the illustrations and concept he presented in 2009 as part of a bid for Arts Council England (ACE) funding appear to have inspired the design of part of the Olympic Games opening ceremony. Prompted by ArtsProfessional’s coverage of a dispute over the selection process for the £0.5m Artists Taking the Lead (ATTL) competition in Yorkshire, Lee Merrill Sendall, one of the shortlisted artists for the grant in that region, has stepped forward to defend the artistic work he first presented to that competition. Determined to get to the bottom of how a “very close representation” of his shortlisted concept appeared as the centrepiece of the Olympic Opening ceremony, he is considering how to gather the necessary financial resources to pursue an Intellectual Property case against the designers of the British meadow scene that opened the Games. He wants to be given “proper credit” for having been the inspiration behind the Olympic tableau and will be making every effort to find out how the strong visual and conceptual sim­il­ar­it­ies between his ATTL project plan and that scene came about.

Sendall’s proposal for a project entitled ‘Large Spiral Mound’ was one of the 133 projects submitted in 2009 to ACE’s Artists Taking the Lead competition in Yorkshire, which aimed to give artists the opportunity to create a significant legacy for the Olympic Games in that region. As creators of one of five projects shortlisted to go forward to the final stage of the selection process, he and Artist Dominic Heffer prepared detailed visuals of his concept for a “neo Neolithic mound” in a rural setting to support their bid, producing both images and descriptions of how that scene would develop over many centuries. Along with all the other submissions by shortlisted grant applicants across England, the details of Spiral Mounds were presented on an ACE website and the public were invited to comment on the ideas. But at no stage was copyright of the artists’ ideas released: indeed ACE hoped that, after the competition, unsuccessful finalists would “be able to explore alternative routes to realising their project.”

Sendall’s bid was unsuccessful, and although he was keen to see his artistic concept realised, no funding was available. He told AP: “In all honesty I had moved on, only slightly sullied by the experience, until the Olympic Games opening ceremony. I began receiv­ing mes­sages both online and by text from people who were wondering if I had some involve­ment with the plan­ning of the open­ing. To my surprise a very close representation of my shortlisted concept appeared to be the centre piece: a spiral mound in a pastoral landscape.”

He continued: “…the opening ceremony setting bore a striking resemblance to some of the artwork that was part of my proposal in 2009. In particular a set of postcards painted by my friend and collaborator Dominic Heffer, which showed a fantastical representation of our proposed mound through the ages – the year 2012 being of particular interest… Even a cursory look at some stills from the event show some remarkable similarities, not only conceptually but down to some of the smaller visual details in our illustrations… if it inspired the producers of the opening ceremony, some recognition of my bid to create one for real could have made a huge difference to its viability.” Sendall describes the apparent use of his concept as “insulting and troubling”, saying that the “theatrical use of the notion for the opening ceremony somewhat cheapens the whole concept’s value to me.”

In its guidance notes on ATTL submissions, ACE reassured applicants that it was “committed to ensuring that artists retain control and ownership of their original work” and AP has clarified with ACE that this includes offering administrative assistance to artists needing to establish their ownership of a concept submitted as part of a funding application. But the biggest hurdle for Sendall is to obtain legal backing to ensure that he has a strong enough case in law to make it possible to pursue his concerns. Sean Egan, Head of Arts and Media at Bates Wells & Braithwaite London LLP, said: “If it is the case that the creators of the opening ceremony were aware of the image then the similarity is so striking that we would expect Lee to have a good case for copyright infringement.”