Olympic Ceremonies as Relational Machines

Paris 2024's Techniques of (De)mobilisation
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-3-032-27599-8
Verlag: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Buch, Englisch, 164 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm

This book offers a fresh way of understanding Olympic ceremonies by presenting them as living systems shaped by people, technology, and shared emotion. It argues that these events act as future-making mechanisms, guided by “multitudes” of artists, policymakers, and soft activists who collectively shape what ceremonies can express and imagine.

Across its five chapters, the book shows how Olympic ceremonies operate as “relational machines” in which social groups interact with computational, technological, and audiovisual installations. This perspective reveals the limits placed on creative freedom, while also highlighting the non-utilitarian, atmospheric, and affective nature of ceremonial events. Through examples such as the Paris 2024 opening ceremony, it explores how designers balance official expectations with imaginative storytelling, exposing the tensions that define modern large-scale public gatherings.

The book will appeal to students and scholars of international events and Olympic culture, as well as professional bodies, organisers of major ceremonies, and sports journalists.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Tzanelli, Rodanthi

Fachgebiete

• Geowissenschaften Geographie | Raumplanung Humangeographie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Sozialphilosophie, Politische Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Freizeitsoziologie, Konsumsoziologie, Alltagssoziologie, Populärkultur
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Kulturwissenschaften

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1: Identifying a research lacuna.- Chapter 2: Designing and colouring ‘planet Olympics’.- Chapter 3: De-functionalising the opening ceremony.- Chapter 4: Beyond the ceremonial script: Kin-making and affective transversality in Act III.- Chapter 5: Welcoming fractured ecologies: Olympic ceremonial culture as an art of living.

Über Autor(innen)

Rodanthi Tzanelli is Professor of Sociology of Culture at the University of Leeds, UK. Her work explores the intersections of cultural theory, mobilities research, and cultural globalisation, with particular emphasis on forms of travel, digital cultures, and the aesthetics of planetary futures. She is Director of the Mobilities Research Area at the Bauman Institute, UK, and Communications Coordinator for RC50 (International Tourism) of the International Sociological Association.