London 2012: Sacrilege at Greenwich Peninsular

Jeremy Deller’s Sacrilege – a massive bouncy pop-up Stonehenge for adults and kids – is part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. It’s playful, inclusive and deceptively exhaustive. It was inflated and heavily used nearby the 02 in Central Park on Greenwich Peninsula this weekend.

It’s a thought-provoking thing too.

I’ve long resented children who get excited about a bouncy castle. It shouldn’t be just for them. I’m still a kid. I’d still like to have fun. Little wonder I found it difficult to resist.

If I was a parent I suspect I’d probably find them stressful affairs. The kids would want to go on them. I’d have to fork out. Then I’d have to watch as they leap around excitedly and then knock into another child. And then the tears would come. Where is the joy in a bouncy castle?

Sacrilege confronts that parental anxiety (and non-parent resentment) by allowing both child and adult to participate. As participants remove their shoes and prepare for their first leap, they unwittingly abandon their inhibitions. Adults reconnect with their childhood, children look on in utter disbelief.

A lovely, lovely thing.