The Olympic City

Abstract

Since 2008, photographer Jon Pack and filmmaker Gary Hustwit have sought out the successes and failures, remnants and ghosts of the Olympics in cities including Athens, Barcelona, Mexico City, Lake Placid, Los Angeles, Montreal, and Rome. Their photographs document structures, streets, signage, and ephemera as a way of acknowledging and analyzing a complex set of relationships between the past and the present. Pack and Hustwit are creating an archive of imagery which not only illustrates the successes and failures of variations on a legendary sporting event, but their project offers a possible guide to the dos and don’ts of contemporary built environments.