Fattylympics Street Art Coming Your Way!

Pivo has made some beautiful street art for the Fattylympics and has kindly made the images available for people to download, colour and paste up. Aren't they gorgeous! There will be more images as the Fattylympics draw closer. Please print and share them where you see fit. Pivo says: "The files are A3 but people will be able to scale them down to A4 if that's as large as they can print."

Pivo continues:

"In a nutshell, I make life size portraits of people that are a response to the things that concern me and put them up on the streets where anyone can see them. Although I don't like what the concept of street art has come to stand for, I do still think it's an amazing format to challenge the use of public space and break down the barriers between art in galleries and the places real people inhabit. I founded a collective called the Caged Bird Club to put exhibitions up in the streets and celebrate the work of all the untrained but highly creative folks out there. I also design posters for other artist collectives and am interested in working with activists to develop graphics that help spread the word about things they are working on.

I live in East London but it was my friend in America who brought the Fattylympics to my attention. I was so excited to see that people were doing something that touches on all the things that terrify me about the You Know Whats (body fascism, rigid gender distinctions, gentrification or outright social cleansing, the total repression of dissent, corporate dominance, nationalism, the list unfortunately goes on) and when it was clear that it was being done in a satirical way, I immediately signed myself up.

The participatory and non-competitive nature of the Fattylympics made me think that I should incorporate some of those good DIY values into what I was able to offer. I will be creating a series of posters with all different types of people on them that people can download, colour in their own distinctive style and display in their windows, offices, schools or wherever. My hope is that they can be a way for us to proudly proclaim that actually we'd rather live our lives based on cooperation, community and amateurish fun in East London (kind of like we did back when celebrities didn't live here and nobody gave a shit about us).

Have fun colouring in!"

Pivo Fattylympics Street Art - glasses (.pdf, 414kb)

Pivo Fattylympics Street Art - hat (.pdf, 385kb)

Check out more of Pivo's work here: http://andsomeplyers.blogspot.co.uk

Where We're At

It's 83 days to go until the Fattylympics. 83, as you will know, is an auspicious number, according to Wikipedia it is the natural number following 82 and preceding 84. Whoo! Hot stuff!

This is where we're at:

Lots of people have volunteered including a brilliant musician, who has offered to compose the Fattylympics Anthem; someone in Germany who is going to make some bunting; people who want to document the day; people who want stalls; someone who is making gorgeous posters; builders and makers of all stripes. We have an official Fattylympics Torch on the way, and medals made of doughnut hair forms, and wooden disks. Kay and I have been planning the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and we might just have enough events, more about them later. We have sublime Fattylympics mascots in the form of Egg'n'Spoon, custom Fattylympics sweatbands, and we've bought insurance too.

There's still room for more volunteers, why not offer your services?

The bad news is that we realised that the Fattylympics clashes with Pride, and probably some other things too. This is a shame. But we've decided to keep going because not everyone likes Pride, not everyone is gay, lesbian, bi or trans (true!), and maybe at least some people will prefer to be hanging out in a park in East London messing around with us.

In other news, a group of fat people in Los Angeles are going to organise their own mini sister-event in solidarity. The Fattylympics is an international affair! More about that when we have pics and video.

Finally, there's The Weigh In, a new fat-friendly social space that takes place in London once a month. Come along, no doubt there'll be some Fattylympics talk there later this week.

Over and out.

Have a free or cheap stall at the Fattylympics!

Would you like to have a stall at the Fattylympics? We have a lovely accessible indoor space with room for people to set up stalls and activities, and windows that look out onto the rest of the Fattylympics.

Stalls are available for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. We're looking for things that fit with Fattylympics values, maybe you'd like to sell plus-sized clothes or organise a clothes swap, perhaps you have art and crafts for sale, or would like to use an indoor table for an activity in the afternoon. Perhaps you have an organisation, or want to start one. Maybe you make, sell or distribute zines and books. Maybe you have things to eat and drink that you'd like to sell or give away.

Use the volunteer form to get in touch and propose a stall. Non-commercial stalls are FREE whilst commercial stalls cost only £10 per table. The money raised will go to future fat activities and events.

Small print: all stallholders will be expected to take responsibility for their own stall. It might be possible that a Fattylympics volunteer can cover you for a short break but this is not guaranteed. All stallholders are responsible for their own set up and take down. The venue is open to stall holders one hour before the public are admitted and one hour at the end of the day.

Propose a Fattylympics Event!

There will be four participatory competition events at the Fattylympics. One of these events is spoken for, but there are three remaining slots that need filling.

We are inviting proposals from people who want to create Fattylympics events for these three slots. We're looking for events that are:

• Hilarious
• Visually appealing, eye-popping
• Make you feel glad to be alive
• Congruent with Fattylympics themes of DIY, satire, making things together, community, imperfection
• Accessible to people with all kinds of bodies and abilities
• Not insulting to anyone, least of all fat people (parody is encouraged, but ask us and other people if you're worried about what is and what isn't insulting)

Please be aware that the Fattylympics values non-competitiveness. In devising your event please avoid creating winners at the expense of losers, consider events where everyone wins, and be imaginative in the ways that special awards for particular kinds of merit can be given.

What's in it for you?

• Amazing, fun-filled, beautiful times with incredible people
• A chance to create something really great at a unique and never-to-be-repeated event
• A lovely afternoon messing around in the park
• An opportunity to make something meaningful in the face of the You Know Whats

You will need to be able to attend the Fattylympics on 7 July 2012 in East London in order to set up and manage your event. There are three spaces available: a hard surface, a playing field behind the venue, and a grassy area out the front of the venue. These are public spaces, so please bear in mind that there can be no amplification beyond a megaphone and a whistle; that any mess you make must be easily tidied and won't get us into trouble with the park management. Please refrain from using the language, trademarks and symbols of the You Know Whats. Each event has been allocated 30 minutes, with ten minutes at the beginning to set-up.

You are welcome to promote your own stuff in the event, but you should not treat it as an advertisement. There will be general Fattylympics banners and decorations around the place, but if you need special equipment, you will have to make/acquire it yourself. There may be help available for transporting things to the venue. We cannot pay you but we have a very small amount of money to cover some costs. We will supply judges and stewards.

Proposing an event
ANYONE CAN PROPOSE AN EVENT! Group proposals are also welcome and encouraged. Your proposal should be no longer than two pages and should include:

• Your name
• Contact details
• An explanation of what you'd like to do and in what space you'd like to do it (hard surface, playing field, grassy area)
• Pictures, diagrams, links etc
• A list of things you'll need help with
• Potential costs
• A plan for encouraging people to participate

The proposal does not have to be perfect, just send in some ideas and we can work something out.

Please send this information to beefergrrl@hotmail.com

Deadline for proposals is Friday 30 March 2012

THANK YOU!