It’s our beloved monthly First Thursday again and the place to be for February 2nd’s instalment is the Olympic Art Gallery, Shoreditch.

The artist Matteo Merla is doing a mashup. Merla is attempting to prove that mashups are not the sole preserve of web development geeks. And what are the ingredients of Merla’s mashup? Essentially there is art of course; in this case randomly drawn portraits, there is crowd-sourcing; to give it a social media edge and of course there is a heavy dollop of that event of the year: the London 2012 Olympic. In fact the London 2012 Olympic have inspired the project.

Entitled I Want To Tell You, Merla’s art project is an interactive event. His crowd-sourcing attempts start by requesting his guests on the day to adopt a portrait and this is where the fun begins. More to be revealed, by the gallery, on the day. The portraits are impromptu drawings of randomly chosen faces that Merla has spotted and memorised. The exciting bit is that you get to be a part of a special installation during the London 2012 Olympic fortnight.

I Want To Tell You is at the Olympic Art Gallery. It opens on Thursday, 2 February, 6pm till 10pm. The Olympic Art Gallery is at 195 Shoreditch High Street, London E1 6LG. The nearest tube stations are Liverpool Street (Central/Circle/Hammersmith & City/Metropolitan lines) and Shoreditch High Street (Overground line). The exhibition/events goes on till Sunday 12 February 2012.

First Thursday is a monthly event. On the first Thursday of every month the galleries and museums of east London open their doors late for a chance to see amazing art, culture and events after hours.

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