Arbel originally won the competition with a design which transformed a seemingly typical medal into a locket. The main idea behind this scheme included putting a memento from the games into the compartment part of the medal, forcing the Olympian to engage with his or her prize on a daily basis, rather than putting it in glass box on a shelf. Like in many winning competition designs it was altered due to cost.
Other notably interesting Olympic medals are the Albertville and Nagano medals made of glass, the Lillehammer medal made of granite, and the Beijing medal made of jade.
This new design makes people question the ideas of tradition with its super sophisticated and modern shape. The world is used to a flat circular medallion attached to a ribbon worn around a neck. Recently though many countries feel that they have to change the traditional idea of the Olympic medal to stand out. Why can’t the traditional model stand? Why must each country redesign the prize and take risky measures that may turn out poorly like the 2006 Torino medal which looked like a giant washer on a string? These new frilly designs take away the prestigious look and make this highly coveted award look like a cheap piece of jewelry.
What is also really interesting is that fact that the image on each medallion is cut from a larger image, giving each medallion a very specific uniqueness. This creates a new sense of engagement where in theory each medal winner could match their medal up with others connection and eventually completing the larger image. This idea is one that stems to the heart of the olympics, one that is about the world coming together, regardless of political, religious or cultural differences. One can imagine the winners approaching other medal holders and attempting to complete the puzzle, this is truly remarkable.
ReplyDeleteThese medals for the Vancouver Olympic reminds me of the surrealist period, of that image of a melting clock. Nevertheless, the prestige of these medals will be called into question with new designs. I do believe that prestige fades with new designs (unless the new design reflects something of great significant). Although people want these medals to "stand-out", a new design at every olympics seems to do the opposite: there are too many designs that none really stands out of the crowd, therefore, losing its prestige. I believe that a tradition design, even if it lasts for 20 years before a redesign, will make these medals more commendable than something that have the chance of looking like knickknack around the house.
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